The Cargills of Graves County, Ky

Everybody has a story about how they got to where they are. And they are all interesting. None more than others. Just depends on the person reading it. This is the story of my family. This is not a genealogy book, but I did read one for a lot of the information. Some was passed on to me and some I learned by contemplation. Two especially prominent people were Donald Cargill who was hanged for preaching against the Episcopal Church and the other was John Finley whose granddaughter married a Cargill. Finley showed Daniel Boone the passage through the Appalachian Mountains and opened up Kentucky for settlement. An interesting story is about James Rogers Cargill who was hung three times by Union troops looking for his rebel son William. James survived the three hangings. Twice the soldiers let him down to talk where his son was, but he didn't tell. The third time he was hung, his daughter Eustacia cut him down from the tree branch when the soldiers rode off. James survived and after a few months he recovered from the damage to his throat. The book mentions The Cargill Brothers string Band featuring my grandfather on fiddle. His name was Acie Cargill. Also in here is the story of Cornelius Cargill who was an early settler who married six women. One at a time, of course. They were all widows and he outlived each of them. In fact, he died alone after his sixth wife died. He didn't marry a seventh time. My family were southerners from Virginia, then South Carolina, then Kentucky, but they were not slave owners. They fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy, but not as pro-slavery. They fought for independence and liberty. They didn't understand the Northern way of life. They wanted to live in Kentucky without and interference by the Union and they were willing to fight for that. They were not slave owners and were not involved in that evil activity at all.