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CLARK CASTLE GRAVEYARD
Our Historical and Genealogical Society quarterly for September had a misleading item which I wish to set straight for readers who might be interested and might not know the facts behind the scene. Two cemetery listings were given. The Davis Cemetery at the mouth of Davis Branch and the Clark-Castle Cemetery at Nippa (as it was written). The latter seems to indicate that it is a two-family graveyard -- the Clarks and the Castles. This impression would be totally in error. This cemetery is located on a farm which was at one time the property of a man named Clark Castle. Most likely it had been the property earlier of his father, Drewry Peterson Castle. It is for this Clark Castle that the cemetery is named. An interesting story runs in this family, told to us quite frankly by both the youngest Castle brothers. We refer to Sterling Castle, once state representative from this district, and his brother Oscar who outlived four wives and left a widow when he died at age 98. We never met two more pleasant, likeable men, or men with more to share. Their family story runs thus: Drewry Peterson Castle was born 1824 in Scott Co., VA. He emigrated with his father Benjamin Castle and his mother Elizabeth Salyer Castle to Big Sandy, settling on Toms Creek. At the very mouth of Toms Creek lived Solomon Ward who had acquired property there early in the 1800's - probably before 1803. Solomon's youngest daughter was Sarah Ann, born in 1820 in Kentucky. Drewry Peterson and Sarah Ann were married in 1841 and moved up Toms Creek to a location near his father. Sarah Ann was a sister of Shadrick Ward. Castles and Wards did not get along too well, although Sterling told of his father's telling about Drewry and Sarah and their children walking down Toms Creek, crossing the river in a boat, and walking up Greasy to the Spring Knob location of Shadrach's home to pay a visit. (It is possible part of the trip was by horseback as nearly everybody owned horses and rode where they wished to go.) Part of the interesting-ness of Sterling's story was that the cabin was crowded with all the extra people and at bedtime Shade's boys said, "You come on an' le's go sleep in the shuck pen (The Castle children consisted of two sons and one daughter. Shadrick had a number of boys and girls.) So off to the shuck pen the boys went, Drewry told. A shuck pen was a log-cabin-style structure made of small poles and roofed to keep the shucks, pulled from the corn, dry until they were to be utilized as feed for the animals during the winter. Drewry had recounted that the shuck pen made an "alright bed" but the hogs rooting around under its floor and grunting and groaning all night long had kept him awake. One can imagine that the Castle boys were having a new experience! Another story both brothers loved to tell was of the Baptist meetings held in the home of their grandfather. Evidently Drewry was a man of great hospitality. Too, he must have had a house somewhat a little bigger than those of surrounding neighbors. However, for whatever reason, meetin' was held quite often at the home of Drewry P. Castle. They remarked about all the cooking that went on, and we can well imagine. David "Preacher Davy" Ward, a nephew of Sarah Ann, was usually the preacher. "How did they seat so many people do you think?" I was asked. Having no idea, I was told that ordinary straight chairs (homemade bark-bottomed chairs) were placed a distance apart and flattish fence rails laid from the rounds (rungs) of one chair to the next. Someone could then sit in the chairs and several people on the fence rail. Someone who doesn't know might question that the rounds of a chair would support three or four people. Not to worry, as the saying goes. If the rails extended under the chair to lie on both side rounds, it would have supported a ton. Those chairs were made for use! Davy Ward was also a Bible salesman. Sterling Castle had in his possession a Bible bought by his grandmother, Sarah Ann, from David Ward. I do hope that someone is lovingly caring for that treasure today. But back to the story of the cemetery: The Castles were strong in their political beliefs and the Wards held the opposite side. This is the reason, Sterling believed, they had so much hard feeling between some of them. This was before the establishment of the present Democrat/Republican set-up but it served the same purpose, for the Castles became Republicans and the Wards mainly Democrats. I am sure there were black sheep in either pasture! A man of Drewry's political faith was running for state office. He made a visit to Paintsville and Drewry was on hand for the speakin'. Sarah Ann was then "in the family-way" with her third child. Beverly Lawrence, the candidate, so impressed Drury Castle that at the birth of the son a few weeks later, he immediately declared his name to be "Beverly Lawrence Castle." and the attending doctor so entered the name on the record. But Sarah Ward Castle, not to be outdone by a mere man and husband, declared her child's name was CLARK. No one in her presence dared refer to him as Beverly Lawrence. And so, Clark Castle he was all the days of his life. His neighbors hardly knew he had another name. Ask someone where the Clark Castle farm is today, and the older Toms Creek people can point you the right way. Ask the same people where Beverly L. Castle lived and they get a blank look and say, "Never heard of him. He didn't live 'round here. Must have been some of the Castles somewhere else." So Sarah Ann won her battle, and in remembrance of both her decisiveness and of her son, let's talk about the Clark Castle Cemetery. Drewry P. Castle and Sarah W. Castle as well as both brothers, Sterling and Oscar, are among the many graves listed in this graveyard. Still the one name which most satisfied me to see was the name of Susan Ward, listed only #202. Susan Ward was the widow of Solomon Ward and the mother of Sarah Anna. She made her home during her last years with Sarah Ann. I was told by Sterling that her grave was once in a lower burial place, one that was to be moved by the state highway department and that it was moved to the Clark Castle Graveyard. I somehow got the impression at the time that they only knew that her grave was among those to be moved and that they did not know the exact grave. I see that I was wrong. I know the location of the grave of Shadrach, now I know the location of the grave of his mother - my great-great-grandmother. Thank you, whoever read and recorded the Clark Castle Graveyard.
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This page last updated on:
November 22, 2009 |
