FG #1

 There are only two matches in family group:  Jon and Colby.  Jon's family tree connects him to Yelles Kassel.  Many of us have looked at this family:  

Johannes Cassel came to America with his wife Mary in the ship Jefries.  They landed in Philadelphia Nov 20, 1686 from  with his children..He was a weaver by trade. He settled in Germantown in Lancaster County, PA in the vicinity of Columbia.  There were three brothers who were grandsons of Yelles, the Preacher at Kriesheim.  They all came from Kriesheim.  As far as the author knows they were Mennonite

We need more participants who claim connection to Yelles of Kriesheim in order to sort out the yDNA.  

Colby's family history has a very interesting story that he shared with me recently:  

The first person I could find in my family with the last name Cassell (they also spelt it Castle, Kastle, Kassell) was some time around the 1800's. He was originally from Germany and His Father had an Illegitimate marriage with the woman who is my relative. He then sent his son to America to start a new life, and to also keep his son a secret. He was born in Kassel Germany, which I believe is where my last name comes from, as his family name would have been Charles, but when he came to America it was Cassell. It seems there is a possibility that we come from the same family tree, but from the sounds of your story we might come from different Cassell/Cassel families! There isn't much documentation of this on my side, as someone on my other side of my family unfortunately burned all the documents about the history of the Cassells, so I am only left with what has been written and told to me about my family.

- Colby Cassell

More participants perhaps will illuminate the early connections to Germany for family group #1.

FG# 6

 Larry Castle who is a match to family group #6 on the Castle yDNA project sent me some information about family group #6 and gave me permission to post his information to the blog site.  There are two members of the project who match to form this family group #6.  Here is Larry's information:

 

Georg Cassel-Castle  b. Abt. 1725 in Germany   d. 1782 Frederick, Maryland    Georg Cassel-Castle married Margaret Fleming.

 

I have seen several researchers who believe  he was from England. However, he first signed his name as Georg Cassel ( German ) and later George Castle ( English ). I have found no ties to England

 

Frederick Maryland was almost all German in those days. Georg attended  the Lutheran  Church and was buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Frederick.   

 

I am unclear of when he came to the US.    He and Margaret had 6 children:

                       Mary, Thomas, John, Geroge T, Margaret, and Joseph.

          My line is: 

Son George T. Castle was born in  1752 Frederick, Md.  d. 1821 Frederick, Md.      He married Mary Weir 

                         They had children James Sampson, Elizabeth, George V, Mary, Thomas, John H P, and Priscilla Ann.

Next generation:  Georg and Mary Weir had son,James Sampson Castle  b. 1778 Frederick, Md.     who died in 1845 in Middletown MD and Married Maria E Tabler

Next generation:  James Samson Castle and Maria E Tabler had eight children:

                            Paraman William, Solomon William, James Edward, Mary Polly, John A, Margaret Ann, George Thomas, Abraham Henry, and Christian Fleming.

                      

If you would like more information about this family, Larry has allowed me to add his e-mail so that you can get in touch with him and share information:   larry_castle_180@msn.com 

Where were Adam Harmon and Jacob Castle living in 17

 1746 is the year we find Adam Harmon and Jacob Castle listed as working on the road from the home of Adam Harmon to the North fork of the Roanoke River.  For more information about this go to my previous post:

https://castleydna.blogspot.com/2024/12/time-line-for-fg-2.html

In that blog post I established where researchers have agreed that Adam Harmon was living at the time.  At first I assumed that Jacob Castle would have been living close by since they were on the same road order group.  But I have been reading Mary Kegley's Early Adventurers on the Western Waters Vol III, part 1 Section 3 that starts on page 217.  She has convinced me that Jacob Castle's land was located on the land that became the lead mines. Her information is wonderful.....but my favorite is her mention that it is said that Jacob Castle bought his land ....well can't find this information right now....and so not sure it is from Mary Kegley and if I spend the time looking I will not finish putting in the maps ....I'll update when I have time.

So now I believe that Jacob Castle was living on land that became the Lead Mines and Austinville

map from: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=75dbb34a4b8f40ee9af4a8b974d049ed&extent=-82.6142,36.1961,-79.3759,37.5168

Need to put map here showing Adam Harmon's home area.  

The distance between the two men's land was about 40 or 50 miles.  Quick research on the internet would make me guess that it would take a day to make the trip because of the rough terrain and lack of roads.  So the question in my mind at this point is did these men get together only a few times per year and work for a week and then go home?  I will need to do some research on "road gangs" in Colonial times.

Castlewoods area of Virginia before the Revolution

 Jacob Castle, the longhunter, was living on the New River by 1746 when he had land surveyed.  He lived close to Adam Harmon.  There was no love lost between the two men.  And while this was his home proved by the fact that he is named in road orders in this time period.  His land would have been in Augusta County until 1769

(Questions to fill in here:  Was he paying taxes in Augusta county?  Were the fights between Harmon and Castle found in Augusta County records?  When did he MOVE to Russell County)

So in trying to make this post make sense, I begin with the idea that when any new place was settled, there were no roads.  If we think of early Virginia along the coast we know that the land first settled would be along the rivers....and the interior of Virginia would be no different.  So when we think of where Jacob Castle, the longhunter moved farther west from his home on the New River, it is no accident that he followed a river (The Clinch) to his new home.  What seems very much off the beaten path today would have made more sense in that time period.  Here are a few maps that help establish the Castlewoods logic.

I am going to put a second screen shot that is bigger.  You will need to manipulate it in order to see the land marks

Early settlers in Castlewoods

The information in this post is not my own work.  It is taken from the site for which there is a URL at the bottom of this post.  I like the author's interpretation of his research.  I think it puts Jacob Castle's life in perspective.  

Jacob Castle, for whom Castlewood (Castle’s Woods) is named, is one of the most mysterious and intriguing characters of the early frontier in Russell County. He probably came to America from the Palatinate in Germany with other German settlers who landed in Philadelphia on September 5, 1738. Those settlers moved southward and settled along the New River in Virginia which became Augusta, Montgomery, Carroll and Pulaski counties. Castle sold a tract of land in Augusta County in 1740. Castle, himself, settled in western Russell county long before the treaty of Lochaber in 1770 which threw the area open for settlement by whites. The first permanent settlers came to Castle’s Woods in 1769, but Castle was familiar with the area twenty years before that.

Historians, as well as court records, indicate that Jacob Castle was a "long hunter" and lived for great periods of time with the Indians in the vicinity of what, today, is Castlewood in the western part of Russell County, Virginia. Castle dressed in Buckskin moccasins and leggings, a leather hunting shirt and "breeches" and a cap made of beaver or otter skin. He carried a hatchet, knife, shotpouch, powder horn, rifle (or musket) and enough food for at least 2 days.

Castlewood takes it name from "Castle’s Woods", the vast expansion of forest land that Jacob Castle acquired from the Indians. There are many stories regarding Castle’s acquisition of the land. Some historians say that he traded the Indians a butcher knife and a musket for the expanse of woodland that later took his name. Some say that he disposed of it for "a hound dog, a shotgun and a drink of whiskey".

The area known as Castle Run, as legend goes, was so named because Jacob Castle was once chased by an Indian chief for hunting on his land.

One story has it that Castle was an albino with white skin, white hair and pink eyes. This is pure fabrication by Goodridge Wilson from a story which appeared in the Roanoke Times. It has never been proven that Castle was an albino. Being German and Nordic, he was probably very blonde. Some of the Nordic people appear to be almost albino in coloring except for their eyes. There are hundreds of Castle’s descendents now living in the southwestern part of Virginia and albinism has not cropped up once. Rather, most of his descendents in Russell, Wise and Scott counties bear the traits and appearance of the Indian to whom he was married. He was married legally, according to Indian law, which was the only law on the frontier when Castle was in the southwestern portion of Virginia.

Castle settled in what later became Russell County because he was hounded by Adam Harman in Augusta and Montgomery counties. In 1846, Jacob Castle was detailed with other settlers to build a road from Adam Harman’s house "to the river" and over the Ridge to the north branch of Roanoke River. Castle, being the free spirit that he was, apparently objected to building the road for Harman, who was captain of the Fort in his precinct and overseer of the main road through the community.

Apparently, the new settlers brought grudges and hatreds with them from the old country. The records indicate there was a continual friction between Jacob Castle and Harman. They were bitter enemies, probably from something that occurred between them either in Germany or on the ship coming over in 1738.

According to some accounts, Harman suspected that Castle was in league with some Indians who were living in Russell County and raiding the older settlements in Augusta County. At one time, they reportedly robbed Harman and he believed that Castle had instigated the attacks on him.

In 1749, Harman charged Jacob Castle with threatening to aid the French. Since this was before the French and Indian war broke out and French and English relations were bad, the charge was considered to be treason. Harman took a posse to Castle’s Woods to arrest Castle and return him to Montgomery County. Apparently Castle resisted and according to the accepted legend, the Clinch river got its name from a lame man named Clinch who was in the posse.

During the battle, in which the Indians were assisting Castle, Clinch got separated from the posse while it was retreating across the river. He was either shot by an Indian or fell from his horse. An Indian, seeing that he had difficulty moving in the water, rushed forward to scalp him and was himself killed. For his participation in the incident, the others named the river "Clinch" in his honor. Indeed, Dr. Thomas Walker (for whom Walker Mountain is named) in his journal of his trip through southwest Virginia in 1750, said "Clinch River was named for a hunter whose name was Clinch."

Castle was either arrested or, as some say, turned himself in . At any rate, he was tried and acquitted of the charge. Thereafter, he spent more and more time in Castle’s Woods. He went west permanently about 1750 according to James W. Hagy in his book "Castle’s Woods and Early Russell County 1769 - 1799", but he also retained residence in Montgomery County. It is quite probable that he had a family in the New River Area in addition to his Indian family in Castle’s Woods.

In 1752, Castle was detailed to work on "the Warwick road" from Lunenburg Courthouse to the New River Valley. This order indicates that Castle still had some standing in the New River Settlements.

In 1759 he signed a petition to build a road and act as appraiser and Augusta County records state that he had left the area by 1764.

According to Montgomery Court records, on June 26, 1740, Jacob Stover sold 200 acres to Jacob Castle at the mouth of Hawksbill creek of Shenandoah. Castle later sold 75 acres to Jacob Cager and 125 acres to Elizabeth Douven, wife of Edward Wheat. Jacob Castle still had legal residence in Montgomery County in 1762, for on November 19, 1762, he was named one of a committee of three to appraise improvements on two tracts of land on the New River; apparently for tax purposes.

Jacob Castle is known to have been in the Watauga Settlements in western North Carolina in 1767. After that, little is heard from him. In 1782, a Jacob Castle was granted a warrant for land in Russell County which he claimed in 1798. If this was the same man, he would have been quite old by this time. However, this could have been Jacob Castle, Jr. who lived to be more than 100 years old.

Daniel Boone lived in the Castlewood area from 1773 to 1775 before moving on to Kentucky. Castle would probably have known him and would have had at least 30 years of woodsman experience on him. It is known that Boone took credit for a lot of the deeds of William Russell and it is probable that he claimed some of Jacob Castle’s as well.

The story of Jacob Castle fits the pattern of western activity in pre-revolution days. "Long Hunters" spent long periods of time in the forests away from farmers and civilization. They lived much as the Indians did, depending upon their hunting skills to provide food, clothing and trade goods.

Try as they might, the long hunters often found civilization catching up with them. This was the case in Russell County since the first permanent settlers moved there in 1769. The people who came that year were squatters since several years would pass before they could claim legal title to their land.

In 1982, on a tip from a book I read, I explored a field in Russell County, near the Scott County Line that was said to be an old Indian graveyard. The area was full of depressions indicating sunken graves and many of the graves were marked with broken field stones. One grave was very interesting; it was not sunken and had a cut stone marker barely protruding above the ground.

Investigation found the stone was marked:

"J. Castle, Age 67 years 

Died September 26, 18__" 

https://members.tripod.com/south_stampadena/castlewood.html

I found a site that has a map researched by Tom Rudder but provided by Jerry Couch.   The land ownership is later than the very early settlers.  However I did not want to loose the site.

When the earliest settlers from points east, north, and south arrived in what would become Castle’s Woods, actual settlement was prohibited by law.  Thus, the first settlers were squatters, living beyond what was known as the “proclamation line” and the protection of the law.  Although some of these squatters were able buy the land upon which they were living, most were evicted when the legal owners took possession of their land.

https://clinchvalleytimes.net/2019/05/31/early-settlers-of-castles-woods/

 

Folklore collected various places for Jacob Castle the Long Hunter

 Folklore collected various places for Jacob Castle the Long Hunter

This one is from History on the family search Wiki:

The community was originally named Castle's Woods, as the land in the immediate area had once belonged to Jacob Castle, a frontiersman in the likes of Daniel Boone. Castle purchased the land from the Shawnee Indians, for very little in trade, reportedly just a "hound dog, a knife, and a shot of whiskey". As a "Long Hunter", Castle spent long periods of time in the wilderness on hunting expeditions. There he befriended the Indians that inhabited the land in the Castlewood area. He married a Shawnee woman by the name of Gliding Swan, and they produced many children. It has been said^{[by whom?]} that Castle himself showed Daniel Boone the Cumberland Gap and areas west, which led to Boone's expedition and settlement of these lands. Many descendants of Castle reside in Russell County, Virginia, and the surrounding area. Castle's father, Peter Cassell, was a German emigrant to Pennsylvania who was influential in the Dutch movement to America.

This next URL takes one to information shared by  Ron Hall:

https://members.tripod.com/south_stampadena/castlewood.html

Summary of Casteel early history FG#4 and FG#5

The following was shared with me by Leslie McConachie (lesliemac100@sbcglobal.net).  Her work saves me many hours dealing with folklore that the Casteel family lines that our groups run into from time to time are  Castles who changed their surname for one reason or another.  I have put this information on this blog to keep it close at hand when I run into Casteel in a location where my own Castle line is found.

 As to our documentary history, for a very long time the only clearly identified immigrant was Captain Edmond du Chastel, a wealthy privateer/pirate who left records in Philadelphia in the very late 1600s and who left a marriage record and will in that place in 1693 and 1713 respectively. Capt. Edmond is supposed to have come from Belgium where the family had been for a long time.

Capt. Edmond's widow left a Philly will in 1714 and identifies only 3 children, 2 sons and a daughter (the daughter md. a James Allen and gets lost). One of the sons, Samuel, disappears from the records almost imediately and is not known to have left children, while the other, Edmond Casteel (Junior), seems to moved to Prince George's Co., MD, and occupy a farm named Casteel's Folly beginning circa 1713. This second Edmond Casteel died intestate, and descent from him grows complicated by a lack of records. He left deeds which do name 2 sons, Edmond III and Meshach, but there have always been several other contemporaries in MD in the early 1700s records who are either undocumented children of Edmond II, or who come from another Casteel progenitor.

In the last several years, some diligent work by several dedicated genealogists has unearthed the European origin of Capt. Edmond and several Casteel cousins living in London whose descendants could have come to America, plus a few scattered other Casteel records in Philadelphia left by Casteels who are not later traced. Quite recently a Francis Casteel has been found in early MD, with a reference to him having a family.

So, we're stuck on tying later Casteel lines back to Capt. Edmond or to one of the other early Casteels who left scant records. The only descendant lines with paper proof as well as DNA results come down from Edmond II through his sons Edmond III (who did leave a 1772 will in Prince George's Co.) and Meshach.

By 1750 or so, Casteel families began to move, and here it gets more difficult because known Casteel branches migrate to the same regions where they should have known one another and interacted. They move to the intersection of far western Maryland, the rapidly-developing counties of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and the Monongahela River region of north Virginia where it abuts both MD and PA. Despite falling into 3 states, this is one geographic area. Since this was the edge of European occupation at this time, records are few prior to the Revolution.

Again for my own information, I want to add one other piece of information....Leslie's line is found in Russell County when Joseph Casteel dies in that county in 1803.  He was born in 1720 in Greenbrier County in what is now WV.  Remember this is pure conjecture and is for my own information....On our Castle surname yDNA project, we have two Casteel groups.  One appears to be that of Leslie's.....a rather large group that seems to come down from the family described above.  The other is very small with only two members and Leslie has indicated  they are part of the John Casteel of Greenbrier County line.  A group that may have a female genetic Casteel who raised her illegitmate son with her maiden name.  Only autosomal dna can lead to confirmation of that possibility.  But the Greenbrier County connection gets my attention.  

You can see by this map that Greenbrier County was a huge county at the time of Joseph Casteel's birth.  And Greenbrier County dropped down into what we now know as southwest Virginia.  It is not hard to imagine that the children of the female Casteel or the children of her brothers could have moved at least briefly to Russell County.  All this line would have had to do was follow the New River up into what is now WV and cross the Ohio River at Point Pleasant into Ohio......Or to follow the Guyandotte River up to Guyandotte in what is now WV to the Ohio River.  And so when I see the Casteel name in Russell County, I will think of this line rather than Castle family members who might have changed their name.