History & descendants
Our Story
A tribute to our heritage, curated with love and dedication by the Reunion Steering Committee across more than 40 years.
Hendersonville roots
Where does the Cash-Neill family come from?
The Cash-Neill family traces its roots to Hendersonville, North Carolina in the late 1800s. On one side stood Rev. John Wesley Neill (1868 - 1932), a minister and educator whose name is honored on the memorial marker of the historic Ninth Avenue School, where he served as one of its early principals. He built his family with Emma Angeline Lance Neill (1873 - 1904) and, after her passing, with Lula Love Liggins-Neill (1872 - 1953).
On the other side grew the Cash family, recorded under Marion "Bud" Cash (1871 - 1930) and Maggie Washburn Cash (1883 - 1921). The two lines were joined when Otis Benjamin Cash, Sr. married Margaret Lucille Neill, and again when James Roosevelt Cash married her sister Julia Whitney Neill.
Fifteen children are recorded to Otis and Margaret across the family branches, eleven of whom survived childhood. Their descendants became ministers, Marines, engineers, educators, entrepreneurs and artists, spreading from North Carolina to California, Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia, Colorado and beyond.
Through the years
A legacy in motion
1868
Rev. John Wesley Neill is born
The minister and educator whose faith and love of learning still define the family.
1871
Marion "Bud" Cash is born
Head of the Cash line recorded in the family chart with Maggie Washburn Cash.
Early 1900s
Two families become one
Otis Benjamin Cash, Sr. marries Margaret Lucille Neill; James Roosevelt Cash marries Julia Whitney Neill. The Cash-Neill family is born.
1920s - 1940s
Fifteen branches take root
The children of Otis and Margaret grow up in Hendersonville and begin families of their own.
1980s
The archive begins
David L. Cash, Sr. begins compiling photographs, records and stories, a devotion carried across four decades.
2020
The reunion goes virtual
"Our Roots Run Deep": the family gathers online and the modern reunion era begins.
2022
Home to Hendersonville
About 50 family members reunite on-site and online, walking the very streets where the story began.
2024
Raleigh, North Carolina
"Ain't No Family Like the One We Got": unity, love and strength in Raleigh.
2025
The reunion returns online
On July 19, 2025 the family fills the screen again, honoring Patriarch David Cash and Matriarch Rose Cash-Kittrell.
Today
The story continues with you
Monthly calls, quarterly newsletters and a family tree that keeps growing.
It runs in the genes
A family built on education
The love of learning that Rev. J.W. Neill carried into the Ninth Avenue School never left the family. His granddaughter Eleanor Virginia Warren Lewis graduated from Ninth Avenue High School with honors in 1953 and taught for years in the Denver Public Schools. Today the Cash-Neill Education Fund invests directly in the family's young scholars, awarding every high school and GED graduate and the winners of the Youth Essay Challenge.
From honor roll certificates read aloud on the family call to college visits celebrated in the newsletter, education remains the family's proudest inheritance.
The family archives
Treasures from the albums
A glimpse of the photographs and records preserved by the family. Know a face or a story? Share it on the next call so we can label every treasure.
A work in progress, like every good story
Add your chapter to our history
Countless hours from the Reunion Steering Committee built this page. Photos, dates, corrections and stories are always welcome.