The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: NC
Qualifying Service: Major / Patriotic Service
Author: David Miles Vaughn
Major William Cage, born in Virginia, 1745, moved to Chatham County, N. C., before the Revolution. He was prominent and popular, and when the Revolution began he was appointed Major and was chiefly active in suppressing Tories under the notorious Col. David Fanning. (For reference to his service as Major, see North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. 22, page 575.) It is said that he was taken prisoner at one time and remained for some time a prisoner of the British ... at the siege of Charleston.
After the Revolution he moved from Chatham County, N. C., to what was then Sullivan County, Virginia, or North Carolina, the boundary line being for a long time a matter of dispute, where as before he became a leading citizen.
For his war service he received land grants that included 200 acres in Greene County; 640 acres in Sumner County; 1800 acres in the Middle District; and 228 acres in Sumner County. The place he settled was later called Cage's Bend. In this area were the Douglas, Dillard, Crain, and Lindsay families, all Methodist converts, who began holding services in the Dillard home until a log cabin was built to meet the needs of the congregation. This log cabin was on the land of Lewis Crain and was called Crane's Meeting house. Francis Asbury and Leaner Blackmon preached at Crane's Meeting House. The name was later changed to Rehoboth Methodist Church.
He was a delegate to the North Carolina House of Commons from Sullivan County in 1783, his associate being Col. Abraham Bledsoe; he was elected to the next session when his associate was David Belsoe.
He voted against the first cession act; but became one of the moving spirits in organizing the new State of Franklin.
He was elected speaker of the lower house of the first assembly, and was the first treasurer of the State of Franklin. In l785 (corrected to late 1787) he removed to Sumner County, probably influenced to do so by the Bledsoes. When the territorial government was organized, he was appointed by Governor William Blount as sheriff of Sumner County in 1790 and by successive appointments he served until 1796 when he was succeeded by James Cage, his son. William Cage died at his home in Cage's Bend (of Cumberland River), March, 1811."
Major Cage, his son (William), and General James Winchester had a store on the banks of the Cumberland River at Cairo near Galatin, TN They imported goods from as far away as Baltimore & Philadelphia. They maintained an inventory of about $8000.00 in 1790. When the Major died his interest went to his son William.
The Cage home in Sumner County was a meeting place for area Methodists. Camp meetings were held regularly at Cage's Bend, near Galatin or Cairo on the Cumberland River. It is not known if Major Cage was active as a Methodist in the Watauga area. The uncle of his second wife was Samuel Doak, the famous Presbyterian minister and educator.
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