Castellaw Family Reunion

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.

 For more about the Castellaw family, visit HaywoodCountyLine.com.