No wonder noone is answering my post; it took half a day to post and then appeared as a
blank post, even though I’m reposting from my sent mail folder – with editing.
On the Castle list I saw that there are people with a lot of knowledge of varied Castle
families of Ashtabula County, Ohio.
I am trying to trace the ancestry of Franklin Castle, born 1875, Shreveport, Caddo,
Louisiana, was dead or gone by the 1920 census, when his widow and two sons lived alone.
He married Bertha Alpharetta "Bertha Alfa" Wright, about 1900. She was born 1874
in Tuscumbia, Miller, Missouri, and died 25 Aug 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri.
The source on his name and where he was born is the 1910 census, and his son Stanley's
death certificate. These are the only documents I've seen where he appears at all.
Franklin Castle only ever appears in the 1910 census, as "Charles", but it's
clearly the same family. They live in Little Rock, Arkansas. It says he was born in
Arkansas, alone of his family.
By 1920 he is dead or ran off. Bertha and her two sons, now painters, live in St. Louis,
Missouri.
Supposing it was Franklin, I can't find him in the 1880 census, nor any other Castle
in Caddo County, Louisiana. However, in 1870, there is a Franklin Castle born about 1848
in Ohio, with a female, whose name cannot be made out and was interpreted by
Ancestry's indexers as Walter, 5 years younger than Franklin and born in Tennessee.
Maybe Waller, Hatter or Haller. His occupation is listed as "U.S. Soldier", and
the next person on the sheet is also a "U.S. Soldier".
The military records at Ancestry show that one Franklin Castle from Ohio, enlisted to
fight in the Civil War in 1863, and then enlisted again about 1869.
Since he was 22 in 1870, he should have been 12 in 1860 and 2 in 1858. Here is what I find
for Franklin Castle born in Ohio in that time frame.
In 1860, there were two of them. One was born in the Kingdom of Saxony and lives with his
parents, and has a brother Frederick. The other was in Geneva, Ashtabula, Ohio. It is
necessary to read the census image itself because the transcription at Ancestry is badly
garbled. He lived in the house of Joseph Bnitt, Smitt, Birth or Birtt, age 33, who had
real estate worth $4665 and $250, his wife Eliza, 21, and their son Hot, Cot or Hat, age
2; Frank Castle was 13. There is another family adjacent headed by Joseph Birth age 33.
In 1850 3 year old Franklin Castle is found in Geneva, Ashtabula County, with 25 year old
Lydia P Bogrand, who was born in New York, and had real estate worth $5000. It isn't
clear if she's his mother or another relative, though she appears to be a young widow
with her husband's property.
This Franklin Castle born 1948 may have had a later family. someone with that name lived
in Police Jury Ward 4, Bossier, Louisiana, was a farmer, married Alpha Delora Murphy, and
had a large family.
Someone at Familysearch assumes that the second family DOES have the same father, though
the evidence they cite includes no direct evidence it was the same person.
Specifically this theory rests on the notion that this is Frank N Castle, who was born in
1843 and died 6 Aug 1927 at Plain Dealing, Bossier parish/ County, Louisiana. That
person married Alpha Delora Murphy and had atleast 6 children. The only evidenc
presented that that person was born in 1843 and had the middle initial N is the entry for
him at Findagrave, which includes a photo of his gravestone that gives his name as Franlin
N Castle and his full date of birth and date of death. Nothing specifically associates
him with his civil war record or any part of his earlier life.
I notice that the 1850 and 1860 census have him born in 1847/1848 with high precision.
He gave his age at 22 when he enlisted in the army in 1863, but he was required to be
atleast 18 and boys routinely lied to get around it. He might have thought he had to be
21.
Can anyone shed light on any of this?
Thanks!
Yours,
Dora Smith