Welcome!

Hello! And welcome to the site!

I began my genealogical journey in 1992 on a trip to the local library. It was by chance, really, but I was addicted from the first census page I saw. I've learned a LOT over the years, but still have a LOT to learn.

I have researched all lines of my tree, but it is my surname "Cagle" that has always been my drive.

John G. Cagle of Littlerock was the grandfather of Cagle surname research. He passed many years ago...his old type-written, photocopied books and newsletters now hard to come by. Others have contributed. Some names I'm familiar with are Lee Cagle, Ashley Cagle, Cindy Mears, and Mary Jane Balmer.

Like many amateur genealogists, I subscribe to Ancestry.com. It's pricey, I know, but those of us who remember clunking along for hours with old reels of microfilm genuinely appreciate what the internet has brought to the game.

Unfortunately, along with the blessings of punching buttons and getting information at light speed, comes the vomitorium of millions of pages of lazy research. Almost daily, I look at a Cagle tree on Ancestry and wonder where the poor person came by their information. Mostly, I assume, they mindlessly cut and pasted. Or, perhaps they misunderstood a census or book.

Now, don't think that I myself am above a little cut-and-paste work. I've done my fair share. But, one day, as I clicked through endless trees of Cagles, none in agreement with another, I thought to myself: "I wonder if these people are even REAL PEOPLE, much less whether their parents are correctly attributed! Why am I even bothering with this!?"

This self-examination led me to make a revolutionary change in my Cagle research: I vowed to begin, not at the bottom, but at the top. I would start my tree with Leonhardt Kegel and work DOWN. The great majority of problems with Cagle research is found within the first three generations. This shouldn't be a surprise. You know, record keeping and all... . But, I strongly feel that if we can come to some general consensus on the first three generations, everything else will work itself out.

How will we do this? Well, quite simply, evidence. Evidence can be a lot of things. Public records, books, family Bibles and oral traditions, DNA tests... . We have tools and resources that John G. Cagle never dreamed of. Let's make them work!