NGS 2005 Gregath Information
Authors & Books  Schedule

Jimmy B. Cagle, Author to Sign Books at NGS

Jimmy B. Cagle will be signing his books at NGS/GENTECH 2005 in booth #417 Friday, June 3, from 12:15-12:45 PM.  Gregath Co. is pleased to be able to host one of their genealogical authors during this week of learning and discovery. 

His book, Cagle Families in the Southern States, Descendants of Leonhart Cagle ca 1684, published in 2000, includes many personal interviews, documents written by a close member of the family and legal documents.  Additionally, it uses the National Genealogical Society’s standard for linking families which is a great asset when one is dealing with so many individual records. 

Cagle wrote this book because there was no other book he could find that would help link all the many members of the vast Cagle family together.  Beyond that, is the fact that it was necessary for him to gather so much information on many branches of the family in order to connect his own branch back to the original immigrant, Leonhart Cagle (immigrated to America in 1732). “Certainly I thought it would be good to make the findings of my long years of endeavor available to all my family members and to Cagle family researchers repeating my same steps.” remarked Cagle, of his belief to publish as a way of helping others with their genealogy. 

Leonhart Cagle came to America in 1732 and landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He and his family settled in Lancaster and remained there for three decades before resettling into North Carolina.  The early Cagle families who moved through North Carolina are more representative of the Cagle families in the book than those who remained in the state. Most of the first three generations of the descendants of the six sons of Leonhart (David, John Dutchman, Henry, Leonard, Charles and George) are the foundation of the book and many lines are extended.

 “One of my main reasons for going to the extra trouble and expense of printing the book was that after almost twenty-five years of trying to keep all the information I had collected organized, I continually found myself trying to figure how all the thousands of individuals in my files related to each other.” Cagle notes.  There was no genealogical publication that the author could find to tie them together as does this book. 

The book is indexed and extensively footnoted to enable one to dig deeper into an individual if they so desire. It is also loaded with historical sketches and individual interviews. With this book, if one has the Census records on an individual who may not be in the book, generally, he can still connect all the way back to Leonhart, likewise back through the other five sons to almost any Cagle. 

In so much diligent research, there are bound to be some “skeletons in the closet” that are uncovered.  Cagle got his first hint of this during a second interview with an elderly Cagle family member, 97 years of age at the time. As a contentious oral interviewer, he received permission to audio tape the sessions and was always observant as to the possibility of overtiring the subject.  On the first interview when a certain point was reached, he had the feeling it was time to stop because of this reason, but he has since discovered it was due to the subject.  The second interview was quite full of information, so Cagle didn’t notice a comment she passed in a low breath.  Indeed, it was not discovered until later audiotape transcription.  She said, “Well, that may not be the exact straight of everything but that is how it has to be.”   Subsequent research indicated there might be good reason why she did not want to share everything she knew about, on that subject.  

A life long history buff, Cagle has been interested in genealogy for about 35 years.  “My mother and grandmother Cagle are probably the most responsible for my interest.” states Cagle.  In the early 1940s his Grandmother was incapacitated with arthritis and the grandchildren took turns staying with her. It was the author’s job to take care of all the chores. After dinner everyone would retire to the living room, lit only by the dim light of a flickering kerosene lamp; a perfect setting for a receptive young mind. “Grandma would tell me tales of her youth and living on Dutch Creek in Western Arkansas after she married my grandfather.  Actually I do not think I could have ever put my book together were it not for all the information she passed on to me in those wonderful evenings at her home.” remembers Cagle.  He can pinpoint the thing that really launched him into recording the family history as a single day in the early seventies. Cagle realized that he knew almost none of his family beyond his first cousins that had always lived nearby. Thus, he started writing and arranging interviews with anyone who was receptive and his personal archives has continued to grow.

This author doesn’t write about his family exclusively.  He wrote several family histories for the Heavener Area Historical Society that were published in the Centennial Heritage book of Heavener (LeFlore County), Oklahoma and surrounding communities.  Cagle is currently working on two different book projects. One, which is nearly complete, relates the experience of living for about a year on Andros Island, Bahamas, where the United States was building an underwater testing facility on the western edge of the Tongue of The Ocean.  The book is basically about the logistics, managing as many as fifty resident personnel on a tiny three acre island and all their problems, as well living in the community of Lisbon Creek and enjoying its, beauty, bounty and people.  The second book is about all the events Cagle can remember from the early 1930s and, at this time, the author is not too sure where it will end. The research for this second project, however, is complete.

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Page Last Updated: October 12, 2018