Today I finished uploading the information I have been able to locate so far on The Watridge family. The map from Haywood County in 1877 that hangs on the wall in our dining room (currently, behind the Christmas tree) was really helpful while working on this family.
In this close-up of district five, you can see the location of the farms of several members of the Watridge family as well as others who are my direct descendants. For orientation, note Zion Baptist Church, at the bottom of the map. Mrs. A. Lovelace was likely the widow of Thomas A. Lovelace and the location of their farm seems to be approximately where the former home of Guy and Viginia Lovelace and the current home of Bill Lovelace home sits today.
Following the road northeast, is the farm of John Hardy Cobb as well as several others from the Cobb family. Daniel W. Watridge's farm is right next to John Charles Warren Cobb's farm.
Further northeast and near what is now the corner of Poplar Corner Rd. and Dr. Hess Rd. is Dorsey Watridge's farm across the street from his nephew, William Henry Watridge who was married to Zilpha Castellaw. The Castellaw family farming in that area included Fletcher and Tom.
The family of Jeremiah Fletcher and Mary Aurelia Blaydes Castellaw
Back row: Lucy Albina "Bina" Castellaw Cobb and Albert "Al" Lafayette Cobb, Likely Arthur Fletcher Castellaw, Jack Castellaw, Thomas Jefferson "Tom" and Helen Moody Castellaw, Rosie Whitamose (girl the Castellaws raised) and Egbert Castellaw Front row: Paul Cobb & Flynn Cobb, Jelks F. Castellaw, Jeremiah Fletcher Castellaw, Charlie Castellaw (in framed photo) Mary Aurelia "Pus" Castellaw, and Jessie Beatrice Castellaw. (Myrtle Castellaw died when a small child).
I think the great thing about the internet and genealogy is, it allows people who appreciate their ancestors to connect and share stories, photos, documents and other pieces of history. My recently-discovered cousin, Lynn Graves from Texas, just posted this awesome picture of our descendants on his Facebook page. I love the fact that someone on this branch of the tree was a bike-rider. You can see it on the porch leaning against the wall.
Lynn and I share a relative in Thomas Jefferson Castellaw and his second wife, Mary Cole. He was my third great grandfather. He was quite wealthy, was a substantial land-owner and was very active at Zion Baptist Church beginning in 1839.
T.J. Castellaw Obituary
"Brother T.J. Castellaw. Sr. died the 23rd December 1878 at the residence of his son, G. W. Castellaw, near Jones Station. T.J. Castellaw Sr. died in the 71st year of his age. He was born in Bertie County, North Carolina on the 15th September 1808. He moved to Haywood County, Tennessee while young. He married Mary Cole at age of thirty-one years. He professed religion about 1839 and joined Zion. He was a sufferer for many years before died."
My second great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Castellaw Jr. was a brother of Jeremiah Fletcher Castellaw whose family is pictured in the photo. Jeremiah took off for Ennis, Texas and lived a while with his family. After several of his children died, he left Ennis and returned to Haywood County, TN.
Fortunately, Lynn's mother took the time to write the identities of each of the people in the photo so we know exactly who each person is:
Looking at a variety of other sources, including Joe Cobb's book, we can know what happened to most of the people in the photo.
Fletcher and Mary Aurelia Blaydes Castellaw
After returning to Haywood County, TN, Fletcher and Mary's home was on Poplar Corner Rd. about a half mile from Holly Grove Baptist Church. Mary's nickname was "Puss" and both she and Fletcher were very well liked in the community. Fletcher was very prosperous and they had nine children. Fletcher died in 1915 and Mary died 18 years later. They are both buried in the Holly Grove Baptist church cemetery.
Al and "Bina" Cobb
Fletcher's daughter Albina or Bina as she was called, married a son of Sim Cobb named Albert Lafayette who was also called "Bud Al." Sim Cobb was a brother of William Thomas Cobb, my maternal third great grandfather and Mourning Adeline Cobb Watridge, my paternal second great grandmother so both Al and Bina are on my family tree. You can read more about the Cobb Family here.
According to Joe Cobb's book, Al was handsome, witty and good conversationalist. However, he ended up loosing his property for whatever reason. Al and Bina moved to Ennis with Fletcher in 1896. They had three children and shortly after the third child was born, Bina died and was burred in the Myrtle Cemetery. Al returned to Haywood County, TN by 1900. Their three children, Alice, Paul and Harry, were living in the household of Al's father Sim along with Ida and Dorsey T. Watridge. Al Cobb later married Lenora "Nonie" Thomas and he and Lenora raised Alice and Paul. They also had three other children. Fletcher and Mary Castellaw raised Harry Cobb. Al died of a heart attack in 1936 and he and his second wife are burred in the Holly Grove Baptist Church cemetery.
Thomas Jefferson and Helen Moody Castellaw
Fletcher's son, Thomas Jefferson and his wife Helen also returned to Haywood Co., TN. They built a house across from Holly Grove Baptist Church and the school that was on the corner of Poplar Corner and Dr. Hess Rd. They were also members of that church and he was a magistrate. They had three children, J. Clarence, Grace and Moody. He died in 1940 at the age of 69. His obituary mentions two sons, Moody and Clarence and one daughter, Grace Powell.
Jack Castellaw
Jack Castellaw probably stayed in Ennis, Texas. He married Lila Janie Pender from Abilene. Jack eventually opened a drug store in Ennis and became very successful there. He and Lila's son Jack was a scorekeeper for the Baylor basketball team and was killed when the team bus, on the way to a game, was hit by a train. They are now referred to as "The Immortal Ten." You can read more about that here. Jack died in 1951 and Lila in 1969 and both are buried in the Myrtle Cemetery in Ennis, TX. Prior to her death, Lila made a significant donation to Baylor University for the construction of the Castellaw Communications Center named in memory of her son.
Jelks Castellaw
Jelks left Haywood County and returned to Texas where he opened a men's clothing store, eventually becoming the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce in Ennis, TX, organizing the first Texas State Fair and creating a magazine called "Texas Livestock Journal." He died in 1966 in San Antonio at the age of 78 and was buried in Gilmer, Texas. He was survived by his wife Mildred, a son Bill J. and a daughter, Mrs. J.D. Graves.
Egbert O. Castellaw
Egbert returned to Haywood Co., TN and never married. He died in 1941 at 92 and is buried in the Holly Grove Baptist Church cemetery.
Jessie Beatrice Castellaw
Jessie married J.H. Shettlesworth and moved to Memphis. She had three sons, John Jelks, Jesse Hugh and Charles.
Pat Castellaw
This is likely Arthur Fletcher Castellaw who died in 1899 at age 19. You can imagine this may have been one of the final blows that caused the family to return to Haywood Co., TN.
You can read lots more about The Castellaw Family on my site Haywood County Line.
So since this is Thanksgiving, it seems fitting to mention my ninth great grandfather, Joseph Cobb. He basically showed up in the new world, turned on the heat, got the turkey in the oven and greeted the Pilgrims when they finally showed up.
I've been focusing on the Cobb family and found some fascinating ancestors but Joseph is important because he was truly one of the first to try and settle in America.
Joseph arrived in Jamestown in 1613 on a ship called The Treasurer. This was seven years before the Pilgrams landed at Plymouth Rock.
Once Joseph was dropped off, the captain of the ship, Samuel Argall, lured Pocahontas on board and kidnapped her to use as ransom to negotiate for the release of English prisoners. Everyone knows how that turned out. She fell in love, got married and signed a contract with Disney.
Joseph was classified as "a gentleman, entitled by rank to wear a sword and trained by experience to use one." He brought his wife and family over and started a plantation.
He has been designated an "ancient planter" meaning he arrived in Virginia before 1616, remained for three years and paid for his passage." When he arrived there were a little more than 1,200 English living in the Colonies.
Although, when he died in 1654, he did not have a huge amount of wealth, he did begin the line that would eventually result in me so for that, especially at Thanksgiving, I am grateful.
Standing in Fort Fincastle on the Island of Nassau
I recently wrote about Penelope Golland Maule Lovick Phenney Johnston who was my seventh great grandmother. Her third husband was George Phenney who was the second Colonial Governor of the Bahama Islands and lived on the island of Nassau before he married Penelope. I recently found myself alone in Nassau with a day to kill so I decided to try and find some evidence of Phenney on the island. He was there from 1721 - 1727. I started with tours of two forts, Fort Fincastle and Fort Charlotte.
According to the sign on the wall Fort Fincastle was completed in 1793. It was built by Lord Dunmore who named it after his second title. No luck there since it was built a few years after Phenney died.
Cannon at Fort Charlotte
Next stop was Ft. Charlotte. Built a little earlier, this one was completed in 1789, also by Lord Dunmore and was named after the wife of King George. Dunmore was the last royal governor of the Colony of Virginia. There was an underground well and some interesting places to store weapons and food but no sign of Phenney so I moved on.
Nassau Public Library & Museum
Next stop was the library. I had to ask around quite a bit but it was only a few blocks away from the main strip. The librarian was very helpful but the only mention of George Phenney was in a book that I had actually checked out of the Memphis Public Library so that was no good. It was an interesting library in that it was very small but overflowing with books in several hallways that led out from the small, circular main room. "Absolutely No Photography" signs were everywhere so I obeyed the rule. I only had one more chance to find Phenney before I headed back to the ship. Like everyone who lived in that area at the time, Phenney had to deal with Pirates. So I checked out the Pirates Museum.
On the deck of a fake pirate ship at The Pirate Museum in Nassau.
The Pirate Museum was your typical tourist attraction that included a guy dressed as a pirate and screaming "arrrrg" in front of the building. I have a feeling the people who own the museum are very grateful to Johnny Depp. Inside the museum were some little scenes of pirate life back in the day and pirate trivia questions on the wall. Finally, toward the end of the tour, right before the pirate giftshop, on a wall hung what I had been looking for...my George Phenney sighting.
Next to a manaquen representing Woodes Rogers was this panel that said:
The Last Years of Woodes Rogers
Having sent Captain Woods Rogers to the Bahamas to drive out the pirates, the British government proptly abandoned him...He was forced by ill health to return to London and was replaced as Governor by George Phenney who proved totally ineffective.
Ouch. That doesn't seem very fair. One thing I do know is that his wife at the time is credited with introducing basket weaving to the natives. Although she did enslave many of the people of the Bahamas, forcing them to work for free and creating a monopoly on trade. She was also accused of bullying competitors and threatening other businesses on the island at the time. But, come on, basket weaving is obviously still effecting the economy on the island since there were ladies selling woven things everywhere.
I tried to change history a little by letting a few basket selling ladies know that my seventh great grandmother's third husband's first wife was the one responsible for their career but they just wanted my money and I was getting hungry so I headed back to the cruise ship happy in the knowledge that at least I had located George Phenney.
You can read more about George and Penelope on my Web site.
The Castellaw Family Reunion was held this past weekend at Holly Grove Baptist Church in Haywood County, TN. It was a great time with descendants of Tom and Nancy Marianna Johnson Castellaw and their son and daughter-in-law, Bob and Zula Zera Watridge Castellaw gathering to reconnect or, in some cases, meet for the first time.
The location of the reunion was especially meaningful considering Nancy Marianna Johnson donated the land for the school that was built on the property and many generations of Castellaws have attended the church.
In this photo taken back in the 1940s, a group of Castellaw children are gathered on the lawn of the church. For some reason, I believe they are smelling flowers. The boy on the front row, second from the left is my late Uncle Jess Williams whose children, my first cousins, Pat, David and Donna were all at the reunion. Interestingly, I think the girl on the back row on the far right looks like my daughter, Olivia. I need to find who she is.
Thanks to the Jackson Sun picking up the story we were able to connect with some family members we had not yet met. Lt. General John "Glad" Castellaw and his wife, along with his second cousin, Martha are descendants of John Edward Castellaw. They saw the story in the paper and joined us at the reunion. John Edward Castellaw was Tom Castellaw's brother and is thought to have married Nancy Marianna Johnson after Tom's death. In the book "Nicholas Cobb Descendants" by Joe H. Cobb, he states that Cousin Lura Cobb wrote that "Nancy had two of them Castellaw men." Also, marriage records in Haywood County show that J.E. Castellaw and N.M. Castellaw married in 1888.
Tom and Marianna Nancy Johnson Castellaw and Bob and Zula Watridge Castellaw
One cousin, Margaret, had the great idea of bringing flowers for us to put on the graves of all the Castellaws in the Holly Grove Baptist Church cemetery. Then later a few of us drove down to place some flowers on TJ and Nancy's grave. While we were in the cemetery mood, we took a quick spin by the Cobb and Brantley family cemeteries as well.
Days like that really help make the names and places I see in my genealogy come to life.
Today I received this scan of my 6th great grandfather, Colonel John Dawson, from the archives at The College of William and Mary. I recently wrote about discovering that my 7th great grandfather, the Reverend William Dawson, was the second president of that college and the author of the book "Poems on Several Occasions." I had an archivist check for any images of him or interesting details that may exist in their archives. Unfortunately, nothing exciting on him was found but they did have this great illustration which is supposedly of his son, the Colonel.
According to their records, as of 1962, the original was in possession of Mrs. Joseph Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Colonel John and Penelope Johnston Dawson had a daughter named Margaret who married John Castellaw. Their son, John Dawson Castellaw led many wagon trains from Bertie, NC to Haywood Co., TN in the early 1830s.
I've been trying to find out what I could about George Williams who is my fourth great-grandfather. Recently, I received an email from Lynn who knows a lot about the churches of Bertie Co., NC and she had some more pieces for the puzzle.
What I did know was that, according to "A History of Zion Church" by Bernie W. Cobb, in mid-November, 1833 a new church called Zion Baptist Church convened in Haywood Co., TN and elected a pastor. "Brother Leggit moved that an offer be extended to George Williams and Brother Rooks seconded the motion. Brother Outlaw was instructed to write him letting him know he had been chosen as the first pastor and requesting that he join them for the next meeting."
Lynn was able to provide a little more information for me about where George came from.
She let me know that George Williams was first mentioned in the minutes of the Holly Grove Baptist Church in Bertie Co., NC on December 13, 1828 as “Brother” George Williams.
Holly Grove Baptist Church was originally organized as Outlaw's Chapel in 1804 with 99 members. It was apparently in 1825 that Outlaw's Chapel officially became Holly Grove Baptist Church.
In the January 1829 minutes, George Williams was referred to as an Elder. He was unanimously chosen to pastor the church for one year on March 9, 1833. On March 28, 1833, he accepted the call of the church to serve them as pastor for one year provided that the church would change their meeting times from the second to the first Sunday in each month.
In the April 12, 1834 Minutes, $24 for his services during the previous year was mentioned. On May 3 of the same year, he agreed to serve "as long as convenient." In May 1835, he and Henry White agreed to serve the church together. In March 1836, the church wanted Mr. Williams and Mr. White to serve again. Henry White served. Nothing further was mentioned in the minutes of Holly Grove Baptist Church about George Williams.
Hopefully, this will help me find more out about George and who his parents were.
I do know that Williams was the pastor at Zion for a few years but the 1850 Census shows George living in Madison County, TN Dist 11 which is Jackson, TN. He was 53 and his wife Nancy was 40. They had a daughter, Harriet A. who was 17 and born in 1833 in Tennessee. George’s occupation was listed as a Baptist Minister.
While Dr. William Beanes is not a direct descendant of mine, he was very close to the Marbury family and, now that I know his story, is someone I'll think about every time I hear "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Leonard Marbury, my 6th great-grandfather, had a brother named Luke Marbury Sr. Luke Sr.'s son (and my 5th great cousin) was also named Luke and was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War.
Dr. William Beanes was Colonel Luke Marbury's first cousin on his mother's side and his close friend. When Colonel Marbury married Dr. Beanes' sister, Elizabeth, they also became brothers-in-law.
Dr. Beanes was a surgeon in the Revolutionary War and married Sarah Hawkins Hanson. She was the niece of John Hanson who became the president of the First Continental Congress and therefore technically, the first President of the United States.
Colonel Marbury's granddaughter, the late Jane Contee Marbury Penn, many years later, wrote that Dr. Beanes and Colonel Marbury were devoted friends. They both engaged with the Maryland troops at The Battle of Long Island and were among the few Maryland men who escaped after the battle. They escaped by “swimming across Long Island.” Source: The Patriotic Marylander, pg. 15
Dr. Beanes played a pivotal role in the inspiring Frances Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner.”
“In 1814, when British encamped at Marlborough, on their way to Washington, the officers made their headquarters at Dr. Beanes’ house. On their return, after burning the Capitol, they learned that Dr. Beanes had headed a party which made prisoners of some of their soldiers and in revenge, they carried him away to their fleet and treated him with harshness it is said. Efforts were at once made by the friends of Dr. Beanes to effect his release and Frances Scott Key was sent to Admiral Cockburn with a flag of truce to demand release of the prisoner, who should have been treated as a non-combatant. The enemy was about to bombard Fort McHenry when Key reached the flagship. He was compelled to remain on board all night and witness the bombardment. The rest of the story is well known – how in the dawn’s early light, Key, discovering the American flag still floating over the fort was inspired to write what has become our immortal National Anthem, ‘The Star Spangled Banner.’”
The Marbury family is loaded with some interesting characters and, if you allow jumping back and forth from the wife's genealogical line to the husband's, you can get from my daughters, Alex and Olivia, to Alfred the Great and run into some pretty interesting figures along the way. The link in the chain around a couple of the Revolutionary War ancestors named Leonard and Frances is "likely" rather than "proven" but everything before and after those generations is certain. Just a few of the cast of characters include: Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland who was the daughter of John of Gaunt, the first Duke of Lancaster and his mistress Katherine Swynford who has a whole club dedicated to her called The Katherine Swynford Society. Joan was the grandmother of Edward the IV and Richard the III of England.
Saint Margaret of Scotlandof who was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Church, work for religious reform, and charity. Her husband, Malcolm III, and their eldest son, Edward, were killed in a fight against the English at Alnwick Castle on November 13, 1093. Her son Edmund was left with the task of telling his mother of their deaths. Margaret was ill, and she died on November 16, 1093, three days after the deaths of her husband and eldest son. Her remains are kept at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, Scotland.
Edmund I who was called the Elder, the Deed-doer, the Just, or the Magnificent and was King of England from 939 until his death in 946. During his reign the revival of monasteries in England began and he established peaceful relationships with Scotland. He was murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, while celebrating St Augustine's Mass Day in Pucklechurch in South Gloucestershire.
Alfred the Great who was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred was an educated man who encouraged education and improved his kingdom's legal system and military structure. He is regarded as a saint by some, but has never been officially canonized. The Anglican Communion venerates him as a hero of the Christian Church, and he may often be found depicted in stain glass windows in churches throughout England.
Here is how you get from Alex and Olivia to Alfred the Great:
Alex and Olivia Williams have me as their father.
My mother is Shirley Lovelace Williams
whose mother was Virginia Brantley Lovelace
whose mother was Allie Ern Marbury Brantley
whose father was Hardy Joyner Marbury
whose father was Ben F. Marbury
whose father was Robert Green Marbury
whose father was John Marbury
whose father was Leonard Marbury
whose father was Francis Marbury
whose father was Leonard Marbury
whose father was Frances Marbury
whose father was also Francis Marbury
whose father was Euscbius Marbury (b. 1605, England)
whose mother was Elizabeth Cave
whose father was Henry Cave
whose mother was Margaret Throckmorton
whose mother was Lady Vaux
whose mother was Elizabeth Fitzhugh
whose mother was Alice Neville
whose father was Richard Neville
whose mother was Joan de Beaufort
whose father was John “of Gaunt” Beaufort, Duke of Lancaster
whose father was Edward III King of England
whose father was Edward II King of England
whose father was Edward I “Longshanks”
whose father was Henry III
whose father was John Lackland, King of England
whose father was Henry II Curtmantle King of England
whose mother was Matilda
whose mother was Matilda of Scotland
whose mother was Saint Margaret of Scotland
whose father was Edward Athling
whose father was Ethelred II the Unready, King of Kent
whose father was Edgar the Peaceful
whose father was Edmund I
whose father was Edward
whose father was Alfred the Great
The Marbury family has kept me busy the last few weeks. There are a lot of men named Francis and Leonard and they all served in the Revolutionary War so it’s tough keeping them all straight. Because they were so desperate to protect their new country from the Indians and the Tories, everyone from age 10 to 100 grabbed a musket and fought.
Some families, like the Marburys, had three generations of soldiers, men and women, sometimes fighting in the same battles. I’ll soon be uploading what I’ve been able to find so far but, in the meantime, one set of ancestors seems interesting enough to spend a little more time with.
Watercolor of The Ark and The Dove by John Moll
My 10th great grandparents were Thomas Greene and Ann Gerard who arrived in Maryland on The Ark and The Dove Expedition of 1633 and helped settle the new colony of Maryland. They boarded the ship as a single man and possibly a widow and, a short time after they arrived in the new colony, had the first Christian marriage in Maryland. Their wedding took place on the banks of the St. George River.
Thomas was a son of Sir Thomas Greene and Lady Margaret Webb. Sir Thomas had been made a “knight bachelor” by James I in 1622 at Windsor Castle.Ann is thought to have been the sister of another passenger, Sir Richard K.B. Gerard, and was one of the few "gentlewomen" on the initial voyage. She was likely a widow of someone with the last name of Cox.
Like Thomas Greene, many of those setting out for the new land on this expedition were Catholics who saw this as a way to experience religious tolerance. Consisting of two small vessels, the "Ark" and the "Dove," with about 200 people, left England in mid-October 1633. Shortly after heading down the Thames, it was discovered everyone on board had "not taken the oath of allegiance to the Crown." It seems the king was afraid they would get to the new world and revolt.After a detour that allowed everyone on board to take the oath they then had to wait for favorable weather conditions and final approval to leave. On November 22, 1633 they finally began their voyage.
During the journey, they encountered a storm, the two ships were separated and The Dove was thought to be lost at sea. However, shortly after The Ark docked in Barbados, The Dove pulled into port and the two ships were reunited. Together, they reached Point Comfort, Virginia on February 24, 1634, and then on March 25 landed on an island in the Potomac, which they named St. Clement's.
A Mass was led by the two Jesuit priests that accompanied the expedition. Two days later they founded a city they called St. Mary's in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Here is an account of the landing of the Ark and the Dove: "It was March 25, 1634, the initial day of Spring and the first day of the Julian Calendar, as well as the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, all of which were propitious for joyous and solemn celebration and a memorial day for each adventurer, who had survived the voyage of 123 days or slightly over four months from the sailing from Cowes to their destination. They selected the larger of three islands lying near the shore of the Potomac not too far distant from the mainland to disembark. To the island they gave the name of St. Clement after the fourth Bishop of Rome. Father White directed several of his retainers to construct a huge cross from one of the native trees. It was hastily hewn together and, on that virgin day of Spring in 1634, led by Father White who was assisted by Father Altham, all the Roman Catholics, and not a few of the Anglicans, gathered for the first sacrifice of the Roman Mass ever to have been celebrated in one of the Original Thirteen English Colonies."
“Flowering of the Maryland Palatinate” by Harry Wright Newman, pg. 38
Also on board the ship was Leonard Calvert who would become the colony’s first governor and was Thomas’ godfather and lifelong friend. In 1647, Thomas was appointed governor of the colony by Leonard, as an emergency measure only hours before Leonard's death due to a sudden illness.
Leonard served several years in various leadership positions in the colony but his Catholic faith and loyalty to England proved problematic. In 1650 he was “discharged from all offices for usurping authority.”
Ann died in 1643 and Leonard married a widow, Winifred Seybourne. Leonard died on January 20, 1651.
Ann and Leonard, being super-Catholics, named their daughter Mary. Mary Greene married Francis Marbury sometime before 1698 and they had a son named Leonard Marbury who named his son Francis Marbury who then named his son Leonard Marbury. Leonard is the Marbury who first moved to Haywood Co., TN around 1829. Leonard had a son named John who named his son Robert Green Marbury. At this time, could John have known about his “Greene” connection? Robert Green Marbury must have been very patriotic because he named his son Benjamin Franklin Marbury. Ben married Maggie Yelverton and both of them are buried at Zion Baptist Church Cemetery in Haywood Co., TN. Ben and Maggie’s son Hardy Joyner Marbury married Evelena “Lena” Booth and they had a daughter, my great grandmother, Allie Marbury.
Much has been written about my 10th great-grandparents, Colonel William Randolph and Mary Royall Isham Randolph.
I recently wrote about Reverend William Dawson who was the second president of The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He was married to Mary Randolph Stith, who was the daughter of Captain William Stith Jr. and Mary Randolph.
Mary’s parents have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia" because of both the number of children they had but also the significant historical personalities from their line.
Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick, called the Randolphs the quintessential "old established family in the land," and used them as a contrast to those families whose sons were forced into the dangerous job of whaling.
Colonel William Randolph arrived in Virginia in 1673 without much money but with a solid connection through his uncle, Henry Randolph, who had settled in the Colony a decade before. William Randolph was thought to have been a carpentry apprentice in England and, once in America, he began a business building barns. He soon began using hired help for the actual labor and functioned as a contractor.
Randolph also began purchasing land on what was called Turkey Island in pieces; ultimately building a large brick mansion with a dome on the property.
He also persuaded the Governor of Virginia to grant him a large plantation that adjoined his on Turkey Island that belonged to Nathaniel Bacon but had been confiscated after Bacon had staged a revolt against the colonial government. Randolph was around 30 years old when married Mary Isham, daughter of Henry Isham, another large plantation owner in the area, which secured Randolph’s place in colonial society and his position as one of the wealthiest men in the area. She was around 22 years old at the time of their marriage.
One of Randolph’s best friends was Colonel William Byrd, a London goldsmith, who moved to Virginia in the late 1660s. The Byrds and The Randolphs are said to have spent much time together and, when Byrd died in 1704, the families continued their friendship and Randolph remained close to William Byrd IIwho is considered the founder of Richmond, VA. Byrd II also wrote a book called “The Secret Diaries of William Byrd of Westover” which include many references to The Randolph Family.
As Randolph’s wealth increased, he built a line of ships that carried both cargo and immigrants between England and the Colonies.
As he acquired more property, he converted it from wilderness into farms and plantations and was very passionate about the possibilities the development new land offered everyone. He also took a leading role in trying to civilize Indians and hired them to work on his plantations. In everything one can read about Randolph, it is clear he was well-respected throughout Virginia and the surrounding area and offered legal advise and assistance to thousands of the colonists.
William and Mary Randolph had nine children.
I found an additional connection to The Randolphs which I think is interesting. While researching, I came across this manuscript which was written in 1949 by Wassell Randolph, the president of Cossitt Library here in Memphis and a prominent Memphis attorney at the time.
Wassell Randolph researched his ancestor William Randolph extensively and wrote:
"William Randolph, like so many prominent contemporary colonists, was an indiscreet eater and drinker. Consequently, he suffered severely from gout. The first spell mentioned in “The Secret Diary” occurred in December 1709 and recurrent attacks followed in January and May succeeding. How long had he suffered from this malady is not known, but he was so afflicted in 1700. It reoccurred persistently and may have been a contributing cause to his death."
William Randolph died April 21, 1711 at 5 p.m. in his home on Turkey Island and his wife, Mary, died Dec 29, 1735. She was buried on Turkey Island in the Randolph Family Cemetery, next to her husband.
Their headstone contains the following inscription:
Col. Wm Randolph of Warwickshire, but late of Virginia, Gent. Died 11th 1711. Mrs. Mary Randolph his only wife, she was the daughter Of Mr. Henry Isham by Catherine his wife. He was of Northamptomshire, but late of Virginia, Gent.
The Randophs had several children who played a role in American History, including:
Elizabeth Randolph Bland – mother of Richard Bland who was the first to put in writing the legal reason the colonies should become independent from England. Through her daughter, Mary Bland Lee, she was also the ancestor of Light Horse Harry and his son Robert E. Lee.
Thomas Randolph – great grandfather of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the US and great-great-grandfather of Thomas Mann who married Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Martha.
Richard Randolph - married a granddaughter of Pocahontas, Jane Bolling, and was grandfather of congressman John Randolph.
Isham Randolph – grandfather of Thomas Jefferson.
Sir John Randolph - the only native of Colonial America to receive a knighthood and father of Peyton Randolph, president of the First Continental Congress.
Mary Randolph - had a daughter, Mary Stith who would marry William Dawson, who would become the second president of William and Mary College. The Dawsons had a son named John Dawson who became a lawyer and who married Penelope Johnston, heiress and daughter of the Governor of Virginia. Their daughter married John Castellaw and they named their son John Dawson Castellaw and he led many wagon trains from Bertie Co., North Carolina into Haywood Co., TN. John’s son was Thomas Jefferson Castellaw whose son was Thomas Jefferson Castellaw Jr. His son was Bob Castellaw and his daughter was Elizabeth Castellaw Williams who was the mother of my father, Bob Williams. Visit HaywoodCountyLine.com for more about The Castellaw Family.
Today, Turkey Island is still privately owned, but there are several owners. Randolph’s mansion burned in 1806 but parts of the foundation are still visible. The Randolph Family Cemetery is still there and is completely walled in and located between the former front of the mansion and the James River.
His book, “Poems on Several Occasions by a Gentleman of Virginia” was written while he was a student at Queens College in Oxford around 1720. According to the book, “Southern Writers: A New Biographical Dictionary” by Joseph M. Flora and Amber Vogel (2006), while the book was reprinted in 1930, there is only one original copy left and it was once the personal property of George Washington and is now kept in the Boston Athenaeum Library.
As you can see, when the book was reprinted in 1930, they copied the pages exactly, even including George Washington’s signature on the title page.
I am not a poet and I know it but the book is hard to read because, for some reason, most of the letter s’s are replaced by a letter f. So it reads like this:
“The following Pieces are the cafual Productions of Youth. Having communicated them to fome of my Friends, whofe Judgement in thefe Matters I thought leaft liable to err…”
You get the idea.
When it was reprinted in 1930, they were not aware of the author and a note at the front of the book states, “the interest which attaches to this volume, partly because of its rarity, is enhanced by the few facts available regarding its history.”
It is known it was published around October 1736, several years after Dawson had come to America and become the Professor of Moral Philosophy at William and Mary College. In 1743, he was made president of the college, a position he held until 1752.
Because of the style of Washington’s signature, it’s thought that the book was not given to him until 40 or 50 years after it was originally published. After his death, it was probably given, along with the rest of his library, to Bushrod Washington, his nephew. The single original copy remained at Mount Vernon until 1848.
Reverend William Dawson died and was buried in Williamsburg on July 24, 1752. Many of the things he wrote while at the college are in the Library of Congress.
If you are looking for something fun to do next Christmas, you can gather the family around the tree and read a Christmas sermon given by Dawson in 1732.
When digging through the Castellaw side of my family, one story that begs to be explored further is that of my great-great-great-great-great grandparents, John and Margaret Dawson Castellaw.
Both John and Margaret were from wealthy, influential Colonial families and were married sometime around 1775. At the time, John was 49. Marrying the daughter of a prominent Bertie Co., NC socialite whose grandfather and uncle had both been presidents of William and Mary College was what one could expect from John who was a member of "the assembly" in Bertie and himself a wealthy landowner. The surprise comes when you back up a few years.
In 1755, when he was 29, John Castellaw had a son named William with Martha Butler who was 21. Although they could not marry because she was a “mulatto,” records indicate she was his common law wife. It is unknown for certain whether Martha was part Indian or black because the term “mulatto” referred to anyone with a mix of any race other than white.In the early years of America, there were white people who were servants and black people who were free so the lines between the races were not yet firmly established. “Poor and often unfree peoples--mostly slaves and servants of various derivations -lived and worked under common conditions.” Source
As white, female servants and male slaves of other races began families, many free mulatto children were born. In the book, “Freedom in the Archives” by Paul Heinegg and Henry B. Hoff, you read, “most free African American families that originated in colonial Virginia and Maryland descended from white servant women who had children by slaves or free African Americans, and many descended from slaves who were freed before the 1723 Virginia law requiring legislative approval for manumissions.” Source
It is not certain, but possible that Martha was the grandaughter or ancestor of Ann Butler who was a white servant of Samuel Hershey. According the Bertie Co., NC records, on January 15, 1690, she admitted having a “Molatta” child with a black slave named Emanuel who was owned by William Coulborne. It is possible that Martha’s mother was Margaret Butler because John Castellaw appeared on her behalf in court September 1768 and is referred to as her son-in-law. Margaret was head of household of herself and Isaac who was listed as a “free mulatto.”
Eventually, in addition to William, it is thought John and Martha had at least four other children.
Although it's impossible to know, one could assume John would have married Martha if he could have. At the time, interracial marriages were forbidden by law, and any minister or Justice performing one lost his license.
All the children of John and Martha stayed in Bertie Co., NC while all but one of the children of John and his second wife, Margaret moved to Haywood Co., TN.
My great-great grandfather, Tom Castellaw Jr., stayed in Haywood County his entire life as did most of his children. His brother Fletcher, however, had a son who moved to Ennis, TX before the turn of the century. Jack Coleman Castellaw became a pharmacist and owned a drug store in Ennis. Jack had a son named Jack Pender Castellaw who attended Baylor in Waco and was on the basketball team. On Jan. 22, 1927, coach Ralph Wolf was taking his first Baylor basketball team to play a game in Austin against the University of Texas.
In Round Rock, Texas, just miles from the team's arrival in Austin, a speeding train rammed into the side of the bus at a railway crossing near the center of the city. Ten of the 21 players, coaches and fans in the Baylor party that traveled on the bus that day were killed, including Jack.
The Immortal Ten are honored each year during Homecoming, when freshman hear the tragic story and participate in a candlelight remembrance ceremony.
On June 22, 2007, a monument was erected on campus in the new Traditions Square to honor the Immortal Ten.
In December 1968, Jack's mother gave approximately $750,000 to Baylor to fund the Castellaw Communications Center in his memory.
So when researching their ancestry I guess most people are hoping that, at some point, they'll find they are related to a president, a great general or at least a king or something. Up until now, I have uncovered your basic assortment of Revolutionary War heroes, brave settlers, Civil War POWs, farmers and the like.
But I finally found someone famous. And even better, he's really smart, famous AND helped promote women at NASA, which means he is now going to be my daughters' patron saint of making As in science.
My great-great-great grandfather, Thomas A. Lovelace moved to Haywood County from Iredell County, NC by way of Kentucky while his brother Levi, with whom he appears to have been close, moved to Franklin Co., MO right before the Civil War in the early 1860s. Thomas had taken off years before since it appears that in 1842, Thomas sold Levi the plantation he had inherited from their father for $500. In their father Thomas' will, Thomas A. and Levi had each received, "the plantations on which they lived and suits of strong cloth to make them equal to what the others got.”
Sounds like they were snappy dressers.
Levi would have a son named John Lazenby Lovelace and one grandson named Edgar and another, who became a doctor; William Randolph. Unfortunately, not William Randolph Hearst. Edgar's son and Levi's great-grandson would be Dr. William "Randy" Lovelace II.
Dr. Randy Lovelace, is the one who did some really interesting things.
First, he pursued a medical career in the footsteps of his uncle and received his M.D. from Harvard University in 1934. Then, he began a surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic and he was eventually appointed Chief of Surgery. As the US was preparing for the possibility of war in the late 1930s, The Mayo Clinic was asked to form a research unit to develop solutions to the physiological challenges associated with high-altitude flight. Basically, when pilots jumped out of damaged airplanes, they would die because of lack of oxygen. Dr. Lovelace proposed that pilots be provided small, personal oxygen bottles, but the military denied official permission to test the idea. Dr. Lovelace, tested it anyway, jumping from a bomber at 40,200 feet with a small oxygen bottle taped to his leg. Despite being knocked unconscious when exiting the plane, he survived the experiment and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross when the government finally acknowledged the feat and adopted the strategy.
Eventually, he developed an oxygen-mask for use in high-altitude aircraft and helped establish the Lovelace Medical Foundation, currently known as the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, in Albuquerque, NM.
In 1958, Lovelace was appointed chairman of NASA's Special Advisory Committee on Life Science at NASA Headquarters. Then, in 1960, Dr. Lovelace and Brig. General Donald Flickinger invited award-winning pilot Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb to undergo the physical testing regimen that Lovelace’s Albuquerque, New Mexico Foundation had developed to help select NASA’s first astronauts.
Dr. Lovelace also served as head of NASA’s Special Committee on Bioastronautics. When Cobb became the first woman to pass the tests, Lovelace announced her success at a 1960 conference in Stockholm, Sweden. Lovelace then invited more women pilots to take the tests. Jacqueline Cochran, the famous pilot, businesswoman, and Lovelace’s old friend, joined the project as an adviser and paid all of the women’s testing expenses.
Dr. Lovelace went on to play a central role in selecting the Mercury Seven astronauts who are also known as The Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. It included Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Donald Slayton. I think every child of the '60s remembers a few of those names. Dr. Lovelace had helped NASA draw up a profile of the perfect astronaut, based on years of medical testing experience of pilots. These guidelines were used to help select astronauts for the Gemini and Apollo programs. Lovelace believed that these guidelines showed that women were just as capable of space travel as men, and in 1960, he helped choose 25 female astronaut candidates, some of which were selected as the "Mercury Thirteen" the next year. However, NASA would not send a woman into space until 1983, when Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on the shuttle Challenger.
In 1964, Dr. Lovelace was appointed by President Johnson as Director of Space Medicine for NASA.
Sadly, in 1965, he and his wife were killed when their chartered airplane crashed in the Colorado mountains.
Each year, the William Randolph Lovelace II Award recognizes outstanding contributions to space science and technology. The 2009 winner was Buzz Aldrin. Dr. Lovelace has also been honored with the Lovelace Crater on the moon.
Today, The Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute is the nation’s largest independent, not-for-profit organization conducting basic and applied research on the causes and treatments of respiratory illness and disease. Dr. Lovelace’s youngest daughter, Jacqueline Lovelace Johnson, is the current Chair of The Institute Board of Directors.
So that's my famous and smart cousin. OK, sort of distant but I have always thought either of my daughters would make a great astronaut...or doctor so it is good to know it's in their blood.
You can check out the rest of my Lovelace Family genealogy on my Haywood County Line Web site.
