Time line for Jacob Castle the Longhunter
Jacob Sr. appears on 1738 Tithe List for Orange Co, VA (info from Paul Stapleton)
1740 200 acres sold by Jacob Stover to Jacob Castle; Castle sold 75 acres to Jacob Coger 26 Jun 1740 and 125 acres to Elizabeth Downs, present wife of Edward Whats, 23 Sep 1742. (Chawkley) My guess is that the 200 acres Jacob had bought from Jacob Stover he is selling getting ready to move to land on the New River
November 27, 1740, the estate of Jacob Stover, deceased, was sold (Orange Co., VA Will Book 1, pages 202-206). Some of the purchasers were:
Jacob Stover [Jr.] (From Paul Stapleton)
Capt. Patten
Jacob Castle, who purchased one heifer, one sorrel mare, and a Negro wench
1744 Treaty of Lancaster where Adam Harmon is named as living on New River (https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8190925497620564011/7630358174405717128)
1746 Jacob Castle had lands surveyed on the south side of the New River. (Mary Kegley's Early Adventurers on the Western Waters V.3 part 1 pate 247-248) He has probably been squatting on land on the new river after moving from Augusta County. This new land would have continued to be in Augusta County until 1769 when Botetourt County was formed out of Augusta. Then in 1772 Fincastle was formed out of Augusta. And in 1776 Montgomery was formed out of Fincastle. 1785 Russell was formed out of Washington Co.....but his showing up in Russell was a move not a county line change.
1746 In Augusta Co., VA Court Order Book 1, page 130, is an entry for a road ordered from Adam
Harmon's to the River and north branch of Roan Oak, Adam Harmon overseer, with the following workers: George Draper, Israel Lorton and son, George Hermon [Harmon], Thomas Looney, Jacob Hermon [Harmon] and three sons, Jacob Castle, John Lane, Valentine Harmon, Adren Moser, Humberston Lyon, James Skaggs, Humphrey Baker, John Davis, and Frederick Stering and two sons. The date is November 19, 1746.
Jacob Castle would have been living the vicinity to have been called to work on the road. But he would have been living closer to Adam Harmon since his land had been Surveyed on the South side of the New River.
https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/e7469af5-2f00-4139-93e3-f2fcdbbf2469/content
Almost certainly Jacob Castle was not living on the Roanoke River.
1749 The following excerpt is from the Pennsylvania Berichte, a Germantown newspaper, published
January 6, 1750. It is a letter from Samuel Eckerlin to Alexander Mack, Jr.
"Upon this occasion I want to report to you about the great inundations which occurred
on the 25th of August, a little past midnight, on the Roanoke and the area northeast of it.
Our river as well as the Little River were also very high but nobody here suffered
mentionable damage. On the Roanoke, however, and other nearby places there was
much damage. At several spots entire hills were swept down and leveled and several
tracts of bottom land, all inhabited, were filled with so much gravel and sand that they can
no longer be lived on. This I have seen myself. Also, houses and barns were carried away
and with them a great deal of the crop. The Roanoke was a mile wide at several places
and the water rose to 15 feet above otherwise dry land. Since you are familiar with this
area, I want to give you details about several places as follows: One mile below Tobias
Breit a man and a child were drowned; a woman managed to save herself on a tree;
livestock was practically all drowned because the water rose so suddenly and right at
midnight that none could have been driven away. The house of Henrich Braun with whom
we stayed has been torn up. Clad in nothing but their shirts they got away with their
children, the water reaching up to their arms. His three cows in the field were carried 3
miles downstream by the waters where they gained firm land alive. Peter Kinter and his
wife found a horrible end. They were not yet asleep but had been drinking together, were
in good cheer and thought of no danger till the water suddenly rose up to the house and
no more escape was possible. So they retreated to the attic. No sooner had they reached
it than the water rose up to them. They placed boards on the collar beam and sat on
them. When the water reached up to their arms and no more flight seemed possible, he
lost heart and told his people: He believed that this was another deluge and the Last
Judgment had come. He asked his wife to give him a kiss. As he grabbed her, both slid
from the board and away with the waters. Those who were with them on the boards saw
no more of them.
"Kassel's wife and children and their old mother were in the house at the same time.
They all survived up on the collar beam save for a small child whom Peter Kinter's wife
had on her lap. It drowned with them. After daybreak, the others found out that they had
been carried with the upper part of the house for a mile into some woods. They found a
rope and tied it to a tree so that they would not be carried any further until the waters
subsided or someone would come to their rescue. After a few days, Peter Kinter's wife
was found dead and naked hanging on a tree with one arm. And several days later he was
also found. But he had no more head and only one arm. Maybe some wild animal had
already feasted on him."
The "Kassel" mentioned above was probably Jacob Castle.
1763 Proclamation line put in place by Great Britain.
1790 Jacob Castle taxed for one tithable over 16 years of age and 3 horses. Thomas Stapleton and Peter Stephens were taxed in same year in Russell County, Virginia. I did not see Jacob Castle in years before or after. But have read that he is taxed at a later time.....not adding right now. This would have been Jacob Castle Jr. as Jacob Castle Sr had died the year before.
