Hi group,
I had a real phone call last night from Lee Wilder of Phoenix, to whom I
had sent some Harty info several months ago. Goes to show us, once again,
that sharing pays off!
A review:
Greene Co., TN, at the end of the 1790s and early 1800s was a hotbed of
Casteel activity. All sorts of fellows passed through: Francis, John,
William, my own Robert, and Zachariah. Of these only Zachariah stayed put .
. . everybody else took out for parts west (or north or somewhere).
My Robert Casteel was married to Phebe Harty, daughter of Dennis Harty.
Dennis Harty left an 1814 will in Greene Co. naming my Casteel as a
son-in-law. Dennis Harty was also a Lick Creek neighbor to Zachariah
Casteel and a former neighbor to the other above-named Casteels who had
moved on . . . so almost any of them could figure into this situation.
Meanwhile, I've been stripping out the census for Casteels and ran across a
loner by the name of Alcana Casteel in Henry Co., Iowa, in 1850. Poor
fellow has not one single known Casteel connection, and he's not indexed
anywhere earlier. He's a victim of the curse of Casteel mispelling in some
fashion. Here's his listing:
CENSUS: 1850; IA, Henry Co., Baltimore Twp, p.268
Household 1522/1522
Casteel, Alcana 44 TN Farmer
Christina 38 "
Cyntha A. 17 IN
Polly 15 "
Allen 13 "
William 11 "
James 7 "
Louisa 5 IA
Martha 3 "
Now for the payoff: my Harty research friend ran across the long-missing
probate file on Daniel Harty, a brother to my Phebe Harty. This is a
hundred pager and turned up in Des Moines Co., Iowa, (which is exactly
next-door to Henry Co, IA) although the Hartys had spent most of their
post-Tennessee lives clustered in Warren and Scotland Cos, MO. At any rate,
Alcana Casteel figures in the probate as a legatee by way of his wife.
Can any of you further identify Alcana? To my current knowledge, only my
Robert Casteel and John Casteel are of the right generation and left
Tennesse to go to Indiana in the right time frame to pick up Alcana. I
absolutely don't see Alcana in Indiana before he turns up in Iowa.
But there's plenty I don't know. Ideas?
Leslie Collier