This summer, WCGS member Linda Fogle and husband Ron attended a milestone reunion for Ron's paternal Fogle family. The reunion recognized the date his 2nd Great Grandparents settled in Bonham, Texas. Linda shares her first-hand account as well as some reports from others below. Especially noteworthy is the typed account of rememberances from the Fogle grandchildren gathered at the 100th reunion in 1976.
The Fogles originally moved to the Bonham area in 1876 when Henry Fogle and his wife Mary Ann McCoy and their five children left their home in El Monte, California, to join a wagon train travelling to Texas, where Mary Ann’s father had bought land before his death in 1871. Two additional children were born after the family settled in Texas.
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| Currier & Ives lithograph, c. 1870 |
Fogle descendant Amy Neville reported in the local newspaper:
"... nearly 100 members of the Fogle family gathered this year to celebrate a remarkable milestone—the 150th annual Fogle Sesquicentennial Family Reunion, continuing a tradition that has brought generations together every year for a century and a half.
Family members traveled from across the country, with some making the journey from as far as 1,700 miles away, to reconnect, share meals, reminisce, and welcome the newest generation into the family's rich history. The reunion served as a reminder that while time and distance may separate relatives, the bonds of family remain strong.
The annual gathering has become more than a reunion; it is a living testament to the importance of preserving family heritage, honoring those who came before, and creating memories for those who will carry the tradition into the future. ..."
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Nearly 100 members of the Fogle family gathered this year to celebrate a remarkable milestone—the 150th annual Fogle Sesquicentennial Family Reunion. Click image to enlarge.
Fogle Family History shared by Linda This brief history of the Fogle family in America that starts with Henry's parents. "Phillip and Regina Fogle, my husband’s GG Grandparents, and their four young children, Mary Ann, Joseph, Lewis/Lawrence, and Andrew, sailed from Le Havre, France, on the brig Volga in September 1830 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in October 1830. No one seems to have found much information on the family until Phillip and Regina show up in the 1850 census in Adams County, Illinois, with two new young sons, Henry (whose descendants are represented at this reunion) and Frederick. I’ve located deeds where Regina Fogle purchased three tracts of land in 1844, 1845 and 1847. There’s no mention of Phillip on the deeds. Phillip apparently died about 1854 and sometime after that Regina and at least two of her sons moved to California and settled in the El Monte (Los Angeles) area. We know that Regina owned some land there and that she eventually sold some or all of it to Henry. It’s assumed he sold the land before he and his family joined a wagon train to Texas."
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Linda's first-hand account of the 2026 reunion follows"In July my husband Ron and I traveled to Bonham, Texas, to attend the 150th Fogle Family Reunion. Personally, I don’t think this was the 150th year that a reunion has actually been held. More to the point, I think it celebrates the 150th year that Fogles have lived in the Bonham area.
Approximately 100 people from around the country gathered to celebrate family and their shared history. The attendees represented the seven children of Ron’s great grandfather Henry Fogle and his wife Mary Ann McCoy. Local members of the Fogle family organized the reunion and provided beef brisket, fried chicken and drinks and attendees brought side dishes and desserts to share at the potluck lunch. The First Baptist Church in Bonham with its large kitchen and meeting areas was a perfect location for an event such as this. Tables were set up for people to share pictures and family memorabilia. A large indoor gymnasium provided plenty of room for children to burn off excess energy while adults met new cousins and shared family stories. Group family pictures were taken with someone holding a sign to indicate which one of Henry Fogle’s children the group was descended from. Unfortunately, the signs are difficult to read.
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Clockwise from top left: Chow line, John Edenbow Fogle Descendants (including Ron Fogle),
Fogle 2026 TeeShirt. Click image to enlarge. |
As one of Ron’s cousins was going through some of her mother’s memorabilia a couple of months prior to the reunion, she found an interesting piece of family history. It was a thin and fragile 45 rpm record recorded by Ron’s then 18-19 year old uncle just before he was shipped overseas in WWII. His cousin sent the record to a company who was able to recover the recording and she shared it on a family Facebook site. In the recording RL (he was always known by his initials only) sent greetings to his mother and sang “You Are My Sunshine.” RL was later killed on Okinawa and is buried in the Punch Bowl in Hawaii. When Ron and I were in Hawaii about 30 years ago, we made a trip to the Punch Bowl to visit his grave.
It’s always fun to discover new relatives at a family reunion. When we went to the Fogle reunion in 2024, Ron met a first cousin from California. As they talked, they decided they may have met in the 1950’s when they were young boys and Harvey and his family from California were visiting relatives in Texas. As Harvey and his wife were leaving to return to California and we were saying goodbye, Harvey commented he felt like he’d found a long lost brother in Ron. This year Harvey, who lives in Fresno, CA, was once again at the reunion and he met another new cousin who lives in Bakersfield, CA, only 110 miles south of Fresno.
Our first experience at a Fogle Reunion was in 1976 when the family celebrated their 100th annual gathering. At that time, a few of Henry Fogle’s grandchildren were still alive and attended the reunion. Someone at the reunion shared copies of a Fogle family history created from stories those grandchildren had heard from their parents (Henry’s children who were in the wagon train). I’m including a copy of it below because I think it’s so interesting."
Fogle Centennial Celebration 1976 Narrative
The Fogles and their family, including a six-week-old baby traveled with eleven other families. The long journey was as difficult as it was dangerous. This narrative account saved from the 100th reunion in 1976 collected from the stories of Henry's grandchildren still living at that time. They shared many examples of the hardships of the wagon train travels from California to Texas. The full account of the crossing and the successful life built by the Fogle family in Bonham, Texas is available at this link. Here are a few extracted passages:
Perils of the Journey"On their way to Texas, soldiers rode escort from one
Fort to the next for the Wagon Trains' protection. It is
said the train just ahead of them was massacred. Since this
was about the year of Custer's Battle of the Little Big Horn,
it's quite possible.
When the people in the Wagon Train came to the high
Mountains in order to cross over, they would unload a part
of their belongings and take the other provisions to the top
of the mountain, unload there and return for the other half
until everything and everybody had been transported safely
up and over the mountains."
The Indian Man and Hospitality
"An old Indian man followed them a number of days. They would not see him until night when he would slip up and sit under their wagons to get the corn that the horses would drop as they were eating. The people gave him his coffee and shared their food with him. Then one day he abandoned them."
Environmental Hardship
"Sometimes the dust from the stampede of the buffalo was so terrible they had to camp in the daytime because they could neither see or breathe or travel because of it. Sometimes at night the wolves and insects were so bad they would burn their bedding if necessary to smoke them away. Whatever was needed to survive, Fogle and the other men did."
Readers - What is the longest running family reunion that you have attended? If you have reunion stories, we would love to hear yours, too! Contact me or email the stories to: newsletter(at)wakecogen(dot)org. -CD
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