Everett Loyd Casteel (1907 - 1993)

Born 5 Sep 1907 in Sherman, Grayson, Texas, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Ollie Elizabeth Fisher — married 10 Nov 1934 in Dallas, TX, USA

Husband of Irma (Wolf) Casteel — married 9 Feb 1946 in Paris, Seine, France

Husband of Juanita Carroll (Gash) Casteel — married 14 Jun 1980 in Sonoma, California, United States

Descendants

Died 28 Jul 1993 at age 85 in Arnold, Calveras, California, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sharon Casteel [send private message]

This profile is part of the Casteel Name Study.

Biography

Everett was born around 5 September 1907 in Sherman, Texas; he appears there with his parents on the 1910 census.^[1] By 1920 the family was in Waco, Texas.^[2]

By 1930, Everett had enlisted in the Army; on the 1930 census he appears on an Army base in Hawaii.^[3]

Everett married Ollie Elizabeth Fisher in Dallas, Texas in 1934. The exact date is uncertain; the family bible records says 10 November 1934^[4], but the Dallas County marriage license says 5 December 1934^[5]. Possibly one was a church marriage and one a legal marriage, or possibly Ollie's family fudged the bible date to suggest more time between the marriage and the first children; Ollie gave birth to twin daughters Joan and Jeane in July 1935.

At the time of his daughters' birth, Everett was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.^[6] He appears to have left the Army shortly afterwards.

Obscurities and Shady Doings

On 16 November 1936, the Dallas Morning News records that Ollie Casteel filed for divorce from E. L. Casteel. It's not clear whether the divorce was finalized at this time, though the family believes Everett and Ollie did ultimately divorce. The birth certificates for all Ollie's later children through 1947 list Everett as the father, even though Ollie remarried in 1944 and Everett in 1946.

On 8 November 1939, the Dallas Morning News ran an article about the conviction of Everett Casteel for stealing mail, saying that he had been caught in 1936 and that he left the state before his trial; he was later found working as a clerk for the criminal court in Chicago.

A marriage record exists in Cook County, Illinois for an Everett Casteel and Marie Young in 1938; this is consistent with the time that Everett was living in Chicago, but more research is needed to determine whether this is the correct Everett.^[7]

Ollie gave birth to a son David in August 1939, who has Everett listed as the father on the birth certificate^[8]; it's unknown whether Everett was actually David's father, and David died before DNA testing was available.

On the 1940 census, Ollie and two of their older children are living with her parents in Dallas, and Ollie is listed as widowed. There is, however, an Everett Casteel listed on the 1940 census of Canadian County, Oklahoma, as an inmate in the Southwest Federal Reformatory; that's most likely this Everett serving his time for the mail theft.^[9]

In October 1940, Everett registered for the draft in Chicago, Illinois, so he was presumably out of prison at that point.^[10] He named Clive Chapman as a friend who would know how to contact him. The address given on the draft card is Clive's address, 2312 Jackson in Chicago, but it's crossed out and has 200 W. Belknap, Fort Worth, Texas written over it.

Later Life

After his prison term, Everett may have returned to the military. An immigration record from 10 October 1946 has him arriving in New York from Germany on the USAT. General M. B. Stewart.^[11] The record says he'd left the U.S. in January 1945 and that his passport was issued in Paris in November 1945.

It's not clear whether Everett ever lived with Ollie again, or indeed whether their marriage was ever legally ended. Ollie had two more sons in 1943 and 1944, and a daughter who died at birth in 1948; all have Everett listed as the father on their birth certificates, but it's likely he wasn't the biological father of any. DNA testing does show that Ollie's 1943 and 1944 sons had the same father, but suggests that it was a different father than her earlier children; the 1943 and1944 sons match in the half-uncle range to a child of one of Ollie's daughters and a child of Ollie's son David.

In February 1946, Everett married Irma Wolf in Paris, France. Irma returned to the United States with him a couple of months later. They were living in the Chicago area around 1950 when their child was born; by 1958, when Irma applied to become a U.S. citizen, they were living in Alhambra, California.^[12] Irma died in 1971.^[13]

Everett married at least once more, possibly twice. An Everett Casteel maried Juanita Smith/Gash in 1980.^[14] A California divorce record exists for an Everett L. Costle and Leola Hickham,^[15], but that Everett's middle name appears to be Lee, and his (step?) daughter's marriage record says he was born in Montana.^[16]

When did Everett die?

Ollie Fisher's parents told their grandchildren that Everett was killed in World War II in France; son David said he distinctly remembered having seen Everett's grave in a US military cemetery somewhere outside Freiburg, Germany.^[17] However, US Army records show no record of Everett's being killed in action, and the 1993 California death certificate for Everett Loyd Casteel has the correct birthplace, mother's name, and right general birthdate.^[18] So, it seems more likely that the "killed in war" story was a fiction by the family to conceal Everett's absence.

Timeline

5 September 1907: Everett is born in Sherman, Texas.

1910: Living in Sherman with his parents.

1920: Living in Waco, Texas with his parents.

1930: In the Army, stationed in Hawai'i.

5 December 1934: Marriage license for Everett Casteel and Ollie Fisher issued in Dallas, Texas.

July 1935: Everett's wife Ollie gives birth to twins in Dallas. Everett is stationed in San Antonio at the time.

1936: Everett is working as a mail carrier and is caught stealing mail; he flees to Chicago.

16 November 1936: Notice in the Dallas Morning News that Ollie Casteel has filed for divorce from Everett. (Divorce does not seem to have gone through.)

5 November 1938: An Everett L. Casteel marries Marie Young in Chicago.^[7] Age and location fits this Everett.

August 1939: Ollie Casteel gives birth to son. Everett is listed as father on birth certificate.

8 November 1939: Notice in the Dallas Morning News that Everett was found in Chicago and has been convicted of mail theft.

1940 census: Everett is in prison in Oklahoma.

16 October 1940: Everett registers for the draft in Chicago. At some point before 1946 he's in the Army again, but not clear when.

early 1943: Ollie Casteel gives birth to son in Los Angeles, California. Everett is listed as father on birth certificate.

29 March 1944: Ollie Casteel remarries in Los Angeles.

14 May 1944: Ollie gives birth to son in Los Angeles. Her husband is originally listed as father; birth certificate is later amended to list Everett as father.

9 Feb 1946: Everett marries Irma Wolf in Paris, France.

2 April 1946: Irma arrives in United States.

10 October 1946: Everett arrives in New York from Europe.

22 May 1948: Ollie gives birth to a child in Shreveport, Louisiana; the child dies shortly after birth. Everett is listed as the father on the certificate.

23 January 1950: Everett and Irma's daughter born in Chicago.

1971: Everett's wife Irma dies.

14 June 1980: Everett marries Juanita Gash.^[14]

28 July 1993: Everett dies in Calaveras County, California.

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2SM-ZPN : 29 October 2015), Everett Casteel in household of William Casteel, Sherman Ward 5, Grayson, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 73, sheet 3A, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,375,569.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHBQ-B8P : 14 December 2015), Everett L Casteel in household of William H Casteel, Waco Ward 2, McLennan, Texas, United States; citing sheet 16B, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,830.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH12-FF8 : 25 November 2015), Everett L Casteel, 1930.
4. ↑ Photocopied page from Fisher family bible
5. ↑ Dallas County marriage license Cert #103008, 5 December 1934. By B. H. Fly, Justice of the Peace.
6. ↑ "Mamma Expected Boy, But Stork Hoves to With Pair of Girls", Dallas Morning News, 9 July 1935
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q21L-MN8C : 28 November 2018), Everett L Casteel and Marie Young, 05 Nov 1938; citing Marriage, Cook, Illinois, United States, citing Cook County Clerk. Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 102483112.
8. ↑ "Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VDGK-BN7 : 1 January 2015), Everett L Casteel in entry for David Edward Casteel, 07 Aug 1939; from "Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing Texas Department of State Health Services.
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBJF-B63 : accessed 11 November 2016), Everett Casteel, Prairie Township, Canadian, Oklahoma, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 9-26, sheet 10B, family 1, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 3280.
10. ↑ Everett Loyd Casteel, serial number 241V, order number 3671, registration date 16 Oct 1940. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Multiple Registrations. WWII Draft Registration Cards for Illinois, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947. https://www.fold3.com/image/657023417
11. ↑ New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/24GR-N3S : accessed 10 December 2014), Everett Loyd Casteel, 1946; citing Immigration, New York City, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; FHL microfilm 2,295,940.
12. ↑ Petition for Naturalization, Irma W. Casteel, #207827. National Archives at Riverside; Riverside, California; NAI Number: 594890; Record Group Title: 21; Record Group Number: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009. Petitions, 1958 (Box 0528). Ancestry.com. California, Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Naturalization Records. National Archives at Riverside, Peris, California. Naturalization Records. National Archives at San Francisco, San Bruno, California. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/interactive/3998/40735_1220706418_0160-00898?pid=901468062
13. ↑ "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPHD-V7V : 26 November 2014), Irma Casteel, 16 May 1971; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} "California Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6J1-C2T : 27 November 2014), Everett L Casteel and Juanita C Gash, 14 Jun 1980; from "California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Sonoma, California, Center of Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
15. ↑ "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPT3-KGD : 15 May 2014), Leola B Hickam and Everett L Costle, Jul 1972; from "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Orange, California, Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
16. ↑ "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8DR-M94 : 10 December 2017), Evertte Lee Costle in entry for Donald Dean Jones and Dorothy Jean Costle, 01 Sep 1951; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 1,283,747.
17. ↑ Personal communication, David Edward Casteel, Waskom, Harrison Co. TX, around 1998.
18. ↑ "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPV6-JYG : 26 November 2014), Everett Loyd Casteel, 28 Jul 1993; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.

• Maternal relationship is supported by an autosomal AncestryDNA test match between Everett's grandchild JR and tester SC, whose common ancestors are Joseph Miller and Tabitha Grant. However, as JR and SC are fourth cousins once removed, further triangulation is needed to DNA-confirm the relationship to WikiTree standards. JR and SC share 19 cM.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Sharon Casteel for creating WikiTree profile Casteel-175 through the import of slc2.ged on Oct 22, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Sharon and others.