John Samuel Casteel (1862 - 1939)

Born 16 Dec 1862 in Alabama

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 13 Apr 1939 at age 76 in Athens, Limestone County, Alabama

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

Biography

John Samuel Casteel (1862-1939)

John Samuel Casteel was the youngest child of Henry Montgomery Casteel and Elizabeth "Betty" Jane (Hicks) Casteel. He was born in the Lentzville/Temperance Oak/Pleasant Grove area of western Limestone County, Alabama, and seems to have lived his entire life there.

He was born sometime during the Civil War (1861-1865). According to his wife's family Bible, he was born on 16 December 1862. However, this doesn't match information from the census, which gives a widely varying estimate of when he was born. According to the 1870 census, he was born in 1865. According to the 1880 census, he was born in 1864. (No census records are available from 1890 because virtually all of them were destroyed in a fire before they could be saved on microfilm.) According to the 1900 census, he was born in 1866. According to the 1910 census, he was born in 1864. According to the 1920 census, he was born in 1863. And according to the 1930 census, he was born in 1862. In the absence of conclusive documentary evidence to the contrary, it is probably best to treat the date recorded in his wife's family Bible as correct.

Little is known about his early life. His family lived on a 160 acre farm and, in addition to farming, his father worked as a blacksmith. (Sadly, though, little John would barely know his father, who would die in November of 1865.) John came from a fairly large family, having four older brothers who were still living (another had died in childhood some time before John was born) and four older sisters. Like many of the poor white farmers of northern Alabama, the Casteels appear to have been Unionists during the Civil War, staunchly opposing secession and siding with the Union against the Confederacy in the war. John's oldest brother, James Henson Casteel, even joined a volunteer Union army regiment — the 1st Alabama Cavalry, USV — that was being formed in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama, in 1862, while Union forces temporarily occupied much of northern Alabama. He would fight honorably in Union blue until the end of the war. This contributor even suspects that John's older brother, Abraham L. Casteel, who was born just a couple of months after the start of the war in 1861, may have been named after President Abraham Lincoln. In any event, John Casteel was still just a toddler when the war ended in 1865, so he would likely have had very few memories of what life was like during the war.

It was the events that occurred shortly after the war that would have the greatest impact on John's life. John would most likely have met his big brother James for the very first time when James returned home from the war, since James had left home months before John was born. James Henson Casteel would soon become the most important man in young John Samuel Casteel's life. Very shortly after his homecoming, James Casteel would get married to his neighbor, Teresa Lentz. But just a couple of months after this happy occasion the family would find itself in mourning over the death of Henry Montgomery Casteel, who was not yet 50 years old when he died. (Compounding this tragedy, just a few years later, in 1868, John's 16-year-old brother Prestain would also die.) James now had to try to fill his late father's shoes as the new head of the family. He would, for all intents and purposes, be the only real father that young John, who was only 3 years old (possibly even younger) when Henry died, would ever know.

In the 1870 census, John and his mother are living with James and Teresa Casteel and their two children. It is likely that they are still living on the Casteel family farm, though there is no way to be certain of this from census records alone. We can be certain, however, that they are still living in the same part of the county. So, where are John's other brothers and sisters? His sisters Elvira and Jane are living with a neighboring family. His brother Jake is now married and living with his wife and baby in another part of the county. His sister Rebecca is living with John and his mother in the James H. Casteel household. His sister Hannah Evelyn has yet to be found in the 1870 census. However, her absence may be explained by the fact that several pages are missing from the census book for the part of the county where most of the Casteel family are living. His brother Abraham is also missing from the 1870 census. He may be living wherever Hannah Evelyn is living. However, there may be another explanation for his absence. Living with John and his mother in the James Casteel household is another young child who is supposedly John's older brother. His name, according to the 1870 census, is William Casteel. This William Casteel doesn't appear in any other records, and no one in the family seems to know anything about him. While it is quite possible that this William Casteel was another brother of John's who died in childhood, this contributor suspects that "William" Casteel was actually Abraham Casteel, and somehow the wrong name was entered into the census records. (The sheer number of errors that this contributor has encountered in the census records in the course of this research has convinced him that this hypothesis is definitely plausible.) Absent the discovery of the missing pages from the 1870 census for Limestone County, we may never know.

In November of 1872, tragedy strikes the Casteel household again when John's mother Betty dies. John is only 10 years old (perhaps even younger) at the time. In early 1873, James Henson Casteel is appointed legal guardian of John and his brother Abraham, the only two of Henry and Betty Casteel's children who are still considered minors at the time. What would happen next is unclear.

We know that, in the 1880 census, neither Abraham nor John is shown as living with the James Casteel family. In fact, James and his family have moved to the Leggtown area in the northernmost part of Limestone County, very close to the Tennessee state line, where James would buy a 57-and-a-half acre farm. James and his family would apparently live there at least until 1889 (when he sold all but half-an-acre of his land) or 1890 (when he sold the final half-acre plot). It is unknown whether the family ever moved back to the western part of the county where most of their relatives still lived.

We don't know if John initially moved to the Leggtown area with James and his family and then later moved back to the Lentzville/Temperance Oak/Pleasant Grove area or if he stayed behind with relatives when James, Teresa, and their children moved, but in the 1880 census he is living with his sister Janie and her family. Janie Casteel had married the widower William Looney, and in 1882 they would buy the Casteel family farm from Janie's brothers and sisters. They may already have been living on it in 1880, though it is impossible to tell from census records alone. (Interestingly, neither James nor John Casteel sold their rights in the land to Janie and her husband when the rest of the family did. John was still a minor at the time, so he would be unable to sell without the approval of his legal guardian, James. It is unclear why James didn't agree to sell his and John's share of the farm to his sister and her husband when everyone else in the family was willing to.) A few years later — somewhere around 1885, though it is unclear exactly when — Janie and her family would move to Tennessee. In 1889, they would sell the Casteel family farm. (This time, both James and John agreed to sell their rights in the land, too.)

It's not entirely clear what happened to John after this. Because the 1890 census records were lost in a fire before they could be preserved on microfilm, we don't know where or with whom John was living in 1890. But we do know that he got married the following year.

On 21 June 1891, John S. Casteel married Lucy Landtroop in Limestone County, Alabama. The marriage license, issued on 18 June 1891, is in the Limestone County Archives. Very little is currently known about Lucy. Few records have been found. Based on census records, she appears to have been the daughter of James Thomas Landtroop and Martha Jane (Jones) Landtroop, she seems to have had a twin sister named Rosie, and she would have been about 20 or 21 years old when she married John. Sadly, this marriage would not be a long one. It isn't exactly clear when or how Lucy Casteel died — no record of her death or burial has yet been found — but John is listed as a widower in the 1900 census. Family sources indicate that she is buried in Temperance Oak Cemetery.

Lucy may have died in childbirth — not uncommon in those days — since John and Lucy did have a daughter, born sometime around 1893. (It's difficult to be more precise than this because there aren't many records to go by.) The girl's name was Lera V. Casteel (though the spelling of her first name varies quite a bit from source to source: Lera, Learea, Learie, etc.), but apparently everyone called her "Bunch".

In the 1900 census, John and Bunch (listed as Learea V., or possibly Learia V., in the census record — the handwriting is unclear) are living alone. According to the census, Bunch is seven years old. They are apparently living next door to the William P. Chambers family, who are listed immediately after John and Bunch in the 1900 census. Bill Chambers has an 18 year old daughter named Lula (spelled Lulah in the census). Lula would marry John early the next year.

Lula and John got married on 17 February 1901. Their marriage license, issued on 16 February 1901, can be found in the Limestone County Archives. (Note that, in Lula Casteel's family Bible, she gives her wedding date as 15 November 1900, but this date is disproved by her marriage license.)

Lula Ellen Chambers (her first name was often pronounced Lular, which is how she spells it in her family Bible) was the daughter of William P. Chambers and Sarah A. (Perry) Chambers. From census records, she appears to have been the third of four children. She had two older sisters, Etta and Mary G. Chambers, and a younger brother, Toad Henry Chambers. According to her family Bible, Lula was born on 29 July 1879.

John and Lula would have three children of their own:

• William Kyle Casteel (b. 1901)
  
• Golden Mattie Casteel (b. 1903) — her married names were Moss and Adams
  
• Ethel Beatrice Casteel (b. 1908) — her married name was Easley
  

(The birth years given above are all taken from Lula Casteel's family Bible. They don't necessarily correspond to the information found in census records.)

The 1910 census shows John S. Casteel, his wife Lular, and his children Kyle, Mattie, Ethel, and Lera living together with the Doc Ramesny family. It is unclear why they were sharing a residence.

On 8 February 1911, Bunch Casteel married F.L. Gowen in Limestone County, Alabama. The marriage license, issued on 6 February 1911, is in the Limestone County Archives. (The bride's name on the marriage license is actually listed as Miss Bunch Casteel.) The groom was Forrest Lee Gowen, who can be found in the 1910 census for Limestone County, living in the same part of the county as the Casteels. According to the census, he was 23 years old.

In the summer of 1915, Bunch would give birth to a daughter who they would name Grace. Sadly, Bunch and baby Grace would both die just a year later, with Bunch dying on 20 July 1916 and Grace dying on 15 August 1916. According to family sources, Bunch died due to complications from childbirth, and Grace died from malnutrition. Though no records have been found regarding their burial, according to family sources, Bunch and Grace are both buried in Temperance Oak Cemetery. (Forrest Gowen would soon remarry, though, and his new wife would give birth to twins — a boy and a girl. They would name the boy after his father, but they would name the girl Lera. According to family sources, Forrest kept a large picture of Bunch long after he remarried, which his new wife resented. The portrait was eventually relocated to the barn at the wife's insistence.)

On 12 October 1919, Mattie Casteel married William Cecil Moss in Limestone County, Alabama. Their marriage license, issued on 7 October 1919, is in the Limestone County Archives. Cecil Moss was the son of Felix Moss and Lodemia (Landtroop) Moss. (Lodemia Landtroop was the older sister of Lucy Landtroop, John Casteel's first wife.) Cecil was 20 years old when he married Mattie.

In the 1920 census, John S. Casteel is living with his wife Lula, his son Kyle, and his daughter Ethel. His now blind and widowed older brother, Jake Casteel, is also living with the family. Cecil and Mattie Moss are living nearby (they can be found on the previous page of the census book).

On 1 May 1921, Kyle Casteel (listed as William Casteel on the marriage license) would marry Lela M. Wooldridge in Limestone County, Alabama. Their marriage license, issued on 30 June 1921, is in the Limestone County Archives. Lela is the daughter of Felix Wooldridge and Maggie (UNKNOWN) Wooldridge. By the time of the 1930 census, Kyle and Lela would have four children.

During that same time period, Cecil and Mattie Moss would also have four children (though one would die in infancy). Sadly, Cecil Moss would die on 14 February 1928, not yet 30 years old, leaving his young wife with three small children to raise. Mattie would remarry the following year, this time to a much older man who had been married three times already and whose children were already grown.

On 29 December 1929, Golden Mattie (Casteel) Moss married William Franklin "Bill" Adams in the Cairo community of western Limestone County, Alabama. Their marriage license, which is in the Limestone County Archives, appears to have been issued nearly a month after the wedding and then backdated. It is found in the marriage license book along with licenses that were issued on 20 January 1930, but for some reason, the date of the license has been entered as 9 January 1929.

In the 1930 census, John S. Casteel is listed as living with his wife, Lula E. Casteel, and his daughter, Ethel B. Casteel, on Barker Road in western Limestone County, Alabama. Living next to them (the very next household in the census record) are Kyle and Lela Casteel and their children. Bill and Mattie Adams and their family are living not too far away, on Williams Road.

On 4 October 1931, Ethel Casteel would marry George Easley in Limestone County, Alabama. Their marriage license, issued on 3 October 1931, is in the Limestone County Archives. Based on census records, George would appear to be the son of Joe Easley and Fannie Bell (UNKNOWN) Easley. By the time of the 1940 census, George and Ethel would have four children.

During that same decade, Bill and Mattie Adams would also have four children (though one would die young), and Kyle and Lela Casteel would have five more children (though one would die young). But before the decade is over, John S. Casteel will have died.

John Samuel Casteel died on 13 April 1939 at the age of 76 and was buried in the Lentzville Cemetery, Limestone County, Alabama. His daughter, Ethel, would live only a few more years, dying in 1943 at the age of 35, but his other two children, Kyle and Mattie, would live into their 80s, dying in 1987 and 1985, respectively. John's wife, Lula, would live 18 more years after her husband's death, dying on 22 April 1957 at the age of 77.

According to census records, John Casteel's only profession was farmer. But for some reason, some of his grandchildren remember him to have been a school teacher. One of his grandchildren, Hazel Wynell (Adams) Casteel, remembered him as being a quiet, studious man who loved to read.

Sources

The family bible of Lula Ellen Chambers Casteel (which is in the possession of this contributor, Dr. Gregory J. Casteel, Lula's great-grandson).

The personal recollections of Hazel Wynell Adams Casteel about her grandfather, John Samuel Casteel, as told to this contributor, her son, Dr. Gregory J. Casteel.

Special thanks to Tori MacKenzie (John Casteel's great-great-granddaughter) for information she has gathered from family sources and elsewhere about John Samuel Casteel and his family.

---

A number of documents relating to the life of John Samuel Casteel and his family can be found in the Limestone County Archives: http://limestonearchives.com/

---

Record of his first marriage: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5Z3-8YW
(Image is available at the Limestone County Archives.)

Record of his second marriage: (not currently available via FamilySearch)
(Image is available at the Limestone County Archives.)

---

Census records for John S. Casteel and family:

-1870 census record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHKF-RDY

-1880 census record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4JT-DK3

[Virtually all of the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire before they could be saved on microfilm, so no record is available for that year.]

-1900 census record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9DW-N6Q

-1910 census record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK7Z-4ZJ

-1920 census record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX8K-CMS#

-1930 census record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:3LLB-DMM

---

Census records for Lucy Landtroop:

Her father in the 1850 census: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH5S-5SP

Her father in the 1860 census: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHDP-9JN

Lucy in the 1870 census: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHKX-5VC

Lucy in the 1880 census: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4JT-VCT

[Virtually all of the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire before they could be saved on microfilm, so no record is available for that year.]

---

John's death record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JDYD-QZH

His Find-a-Grave entry: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=78184186

Lula Casteel's death record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKQR-TQ1

Her Find-a-Grave entry: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=78184240

---

Bunch Gowan's death record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JDXW-3XY
(Note that the name is mistranscribed.)

Grace Gowen's death record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JDXW-3XZ

Ethel B. Easley's death record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JD1G-N47

William Casteel's death record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JLZJ-YY3

Mattie Adams's death record: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J59H-1Z8