Sowege Waupaathee (Hokolesqua) Shawnee (1720 - 1789)

Born 1720 in Western Pennsylvania [uncertain]

Died 1 Apr 1789 at about age 69 in Virginia, United States [uncertain]

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Disputed Origins

If Jacob Castle had children, they undoubtedly had a mother. Who she was or if there was more than one is unknown. She may have been a Native American woman or she may have been White, we simple do not know.

There are no records that clearly identify any child of Jacob Castle. In a war pension application Bazel Castle mentioned his father Jacob in his war pension application,^[1] but there were multiple men named Jacob Castle living at that time and there is no document that ties Bazel to the Jacob who lived along the New River. If it is impossible to tie a child to this Jacob it is more impossible to tie the child to an unknown mother.

The basis of this biography seems to be the Shawnee Heritage books by Don Greene, which contain many gross errors. 2nd Chief Ben Barnes of the Shawnee Tribe in Miami, Oklahoma concurs. He does not believe that this particular woman (Sowege) existed. He also states that Sowege is not a Shawnee name and that much of the information purportedly about her would not be known, i.e. that she was from a particular clan.^{[citation needed]}

There is no record from which the name Mary Elizabeth can be extracted. No wife of Jacob Castle was ever mentioned in any document. If she was the wife of Kessel who was mentioned in the letter from Samuel Eckerlin to Alexander Mack describing the flood of August 1749,^{[citation needed]} her forename was not mentioned.

The marriage given below is for a woman named Mary Swan who married on 25 April 1764 in Hanover, PA. Her husband was William Owens. What does this have to do with Jacob Castle and his wife?

The place of death given for this woman does not exist and is a meaningless mish mash of place names: Pellissippi River, Indiana, and Virginia.

Jacob Castle has been described as a whole is larger than its parts. He lived a unique lifestyle, that of a frontiersman, much like his near contemporary Daniel Boone. And, like Daniel Boone, he has become a semi-mythical character.

But this is WikiTree, where we work on genealogy, not mythology. Until that time when solid evidence is unearthed, Jacob Castle's wife/wives should remain Unknown.

Those who claim descent from Jacob Castle should know that there is a Castle DNA project which is attempting to trace his descendants. So far, multiple who claim him as an ancestor do not have matching DNA, meaning some of them are not really his descendants. ^[2]

Related Dispute

Sarah Catherine Bokavar

Sowege Hokolesqua

False Biography

SOWEGE "Gliding Swan," a Pekowi Shawnee, married JACOB CASTLE, known as WHITE TASSEL, 1736 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.^[3]

She changed her name to MARY ELIZABETH. She was a Kispokotha (Warrior Clan) Shawnee. Waupaathee is "swan" in Shawnee, therefore Sowega must denote some effeminate action of a swan.,perhaps "Gliding Swan" or "Swimming Swan".

The Shawnee had 34 tribes (gens or clans) or name groups, as they are sometimes referred by. The Shawnee child is named by the elder of the tribe or gen of that particular division of the nation. In this case it would be the Kispokotha (Warrior Clan).

"They generally bestow a name descriptive of some act of the animal or bird which is the totem of the infant named."

"Women receive names within their totem that convey an idea of softness or effeminacy". In general Shawnee "names are always more or less descriptive of some event which has occured, or of particular anticipated points in the character of the person, or of the animal which is their totem or name group."^[4]

Therefore it is fairly safe to assume that Sowegae is a name that identifies some effeminate nature of behavior of a swan.

NOTE: There is no such word as Sowege in the Shawnee language.

Sources

1. ↑ U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Application Files, (Ancestry.com), Bazel Castle, 2 Feb 1834; link for Ancestry.com subscribers.
2. ↑ Jeanie Roberts, Jacob Castle and Sowega Gliding Swan (blog)
3. ↑ Can we confirm whether or not this is from Don Greene's work?
4. ↑ Trowbridge:1939,p.26

See also:

• Find A Grave Memorial# 139043975, Jacob White Tassel "the Hunter" Cassel, Castel, Non-Cemetery Burial, Specifically: Castle Indian Cemetery, Russell County, Virginia,[Find a Grave for Jacob Cassell]

• Virginia, Land, Marriage, and Probate Records, 1639-1850

Name Jacob Castle

Date 17 Jun 1752

Location Augusta Co., Virginia

Property 125 acres; mouth of Hawksbill of Shanando.

Notes This land record was originally published in "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County" by Lyman Chalkley. Remarks, 200 acres sold by Jacob Stover to Jacob Castle; Castle sold 75 acres to Jacob Coger 26 Jun 1740 and 125 acres to Elizabeth Downs, present wife of Edward Whats, 23 Sep 1742. Book 4-326^{[citation needed]} incomplete citation.

• Mary, in the Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940

Name: Mary

Gender: Female

Spouse: Jacob Castle

Child: Zachariah Castle

• Ancestors of Virginia (blog)