Casper Cable (Caspar Goebell)

Well, I am glad to be among the living, I am feeling almost back to normal. I will never be normal....but what you see is what you get.



A few days ago I received a phone call wanting to know the story about my fourth great grandfather. I figured if at least one person was interested you might be too. Here is the story of my fourth Great Grandfather Casper Cable (Caspar Goebell).


Casper Cable (Caspar Goebell) was my fourth great grandfather. He was born in Hanover Germany around 1755. For financial reasons his father had arranged a marriage for him to a lady that that was much older than he and her face was scarred from smallpox Deciding this marriage would not be for him as it got closer to the wedding date he ran away and joined the German Army. He was sent to the Province of Hessen Castle.


At that time Hessian troops were being hired by England to fight against the American Colonies in the Revolutionary War. Casper was one of 22,000 troops sent to fight in the war. He served under direction of Colonel Rall and after 5 weeks on a ship crossing the Atlantic they ended up in Trenton New Jersey.



On December 26, 1776 they were attacked by the American Continental Army Led by General George Washington. Most of the Hessian Soldiers were either captured or killed. Casper was taken prisoner and he figured the only way out was to fight for the colonies.


While fighting for the colonies under General Nathaniel Greene he was sent to the home of a Tory, Daniel Baker, to forage for food for the Army. He and his regiment had taken the contents of a smokehouse and were leaving when he saw a young girl with a baby. After finding out the baby was not hers he took back some of the meat. This lady later became his wife and they had twelve children.


At the Battle of Cowpens he was again captured by the British. He defected and went to Dry Run, Tennessee and that is where the family farm is today. His wife's family, except for her father, Daniel Baker (British Sympathizer), moved with them to Tennessee. Family tradition states that twice a year they went back to South Carolina to see him and took him supplies.


A lot of the descendants of Caper Cable moved to Cades Cove at the entrance of Great Smokey Mountain National Park. There are a number of historic buildings there that belonged to the Cables.


The cemetery where Casper and Elizabeth Cable are buried is located in a meadow near their home in Dry Run, Johnson County, TN. The plot was later farmed over and all the gravestones have disappeared except for the one of their son, Casper Jr. which has been relocated.


And that's it for Today.