Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
For many years a document or set of papers, sometimes accompanied by photographs, has made the rounds among descendants of John George Casto that purports to show his lineage back to a Spaniard named Augusta de Castillo. I never took it seriously because no documentation backed up any of the claims made in the papers. However in just the last few years I have come across more than a few distant relatives that include this information in their family tree. With the discovery in the Casto DNA test that John G. descendants have different DNA, therefore are not related to other Casto's, I thought I should give the Augusta story another look, to either prove or disprove the story. I will include excerpts of the Augusta papers with my comments or findings.
"Augusta de Castillo, born in Spain in 1752, came to America about 1772, married Juanita. They had five children, all born in Tennessee. Maurico b. 1772, Alberto b. 1774, Maria b. 1775, Roberto b. 1777, Juan G (or John G.) b. 1779. The family anglicized the name to Casto or Castoe."
I have never found the names of any of these individuals in early Florida or Tennessee records.
"John G.sr & Robert married sisters, Lucy & Susannah Sosa. They were full blooded Cherokees'. John G.sr & Lucy had seven children: John G jr, Robert, Albert W, William, Charley, Lucy & Juanita."
If this is true mt gr-gr-grandfather, John G, would have been a half blood Cherokee. In 1894 an attempt was made by John & his wife to get her name on the Indian rolls. In his sworn affidavits he made claims about her being part Cherokee from her maternal grandmothers' family. He never made any claim to being part Indian himself. This would have been the place to do it.
"Robert & Susannah had 8 children. There son Robert or Dick married Jenny Conrad, only daughter of Hamilton & Nona Conrad. She was half Cherokee. The Indians called him Dick Spaniard becuase he was half Spanish, half Cherokee. They also called him Sosa. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863.They asked him his name & he said Sosa. The adjutant general called him Johnson. He was killed in Tahlequah in 1865."
The story of Dick Spaniard, except for his parentage, is found almost word for word in a book by the noted Cherokee historian Emmett Starr (1870-1930). In his 1921 work 'History of the Cherokee Indians, their language & folklore' he relates how the granddaughter of Hamilton Conrad married a half Spanish half Cherokee called So-Sa or Goose, or locally as Dick Spaniard. Starr does not name nor have I found any mention of this mans' parents. In an index of his work the names Castillo, de Castillo, Casto or Castoe are not to be found.
"Maria, daughter of Augusta & Juanita, married John Sevier, an army officer. His father was governor of Virginia. His grandson dan Sevier was allotted 160 acres northwest of Copan."
The Sevier family is one that goes back to the beginings of this country & is very well documented. general John Sevier, of Revolutionary War fame, was the first governor of Tennessee, not Virginia. John jr. was indeed an army officer, but his 2 marriages are documented & neither wife was named Maria. No variation of castillo or casto is found in this family tree. Descendants of John Sevier did migrate to Oklahoma, however.
Also these documents had pages from a service record with photos alleging that John G. Casto was a Captain in the 6th Kansas Cavalry during the Civil War. These were actually pages from his son Roberts war record, badly falsified, to show John as captain of his sons company. This was all easy to disprove through service & pension records as well as regimental rosters.
It is my belief that years ago someone did enough research to pick out some real life people that had contact with the Cherokee tribe then inserted this fabricated Augusta de Castillo & children into it. It has misled people for 30 or more years. Today there are 17 individual pedigree record files listed on the LDS Family Search site containing the false Augusta Castillo, John G. Casto sr "pedigree".
I would ask all John G. Casto descendants who are interested in finding his origins to email me if you want, we can discuss ways to move forward in our search.
Thank you
David E. Casto
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/casto/messages/792.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|