Rev. John Casteel was born Aug.25, 1804 in Bedford Township, Bedford County , Pennsylvania and came to Muskingum County , Ohio in 1808. (In the History of Crawford and Clark County, Illinois edited by William Henry Perrin published 1883, Chapter XIV part II page 57) "He came to Muskingum County , Ohio with his parents when four years old", "Here he grew to manhood." His parents were Archibald Casteel born in Pennsylvania and Rebecca Dew born in Maryland . The Crawford and Clark County history book also states that, "he became a principal of a fur company, and sent among the Wyandot Indians when only sixteen years old.", "Soon after this he learned the trade of potter, at which he worked for several years in Ohio, and afterward in Indiana and Illinois."

John Casteel married Dorcas Germain Dec 2 1824, in Muskingum County . The ceremony performed by Joseph Thrap minister of the gospel. John Casteel was a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and became a minister by the time he moved to Illinois in 1850 .

The pottery business was John’s occupation for at least fifty years along with farming and the ministry. (According to the History of Muskingum County, Ohio with Illustration and Biograpical Sketches Prominent Men and pioneers published by J.F. Everhart & Co. 1882 page 411) "The earliest pottery of which we have any trace, was inaugurated by one Burley, not far from Mt. Sterling . A little more definite tradition comes to us concerning a pottery a little further up the run than the present one. It was built in 1822, by a man named Castele ; he sold his establishment, in 1825, to John Burley, and it has been in the family ever since." The description here of a man named Castele has to be John Casteel. He had established his pottery shop and then in 1825 on turning twenty one years of age was able to make legal and business transactions and sold the shop to Mr. Burley. On the 1830 and 1840 census of the Hopewell Township , Muskingum County , John Burley and John Casteel still lived very near each other in the area that appears to be Mt. Sterling .

By the late 1840s John Casteel moved west to near Gratiot, Muskingum County and then to Brownsville in Licking County . The Crawford and Clark county history states, "He was formally a merchant in Brownsville , Ohio , and afterward in this county" meaning Clark County, Illinois , and the merchandise being pottery. His son Lorenzo Casteel appears on the 1850 census of Licking County in the town of Brownsville , Ohio , listed as a potter, evidently running the pottery business that John Casteel had established there.

After John Casteel left Ohio he settled in Indiana for a short while. This was probably in Clay County near Brazil , Van Buren Township, Indiana. Again, John established another pottery shop and left the operation to his son Lorenzo to run, while he moved farther west. Lorenzo had closed the Ohio business and appears in the 1860 census at the Brazil , Indiana location. A directory of potters that produced good in Clay County, Indiana lists Lorenzo as working in the period 1856-1862 in Cardonia, Van Buren Township. U.S. excise income tax records show that Lorenzo’s brother Wesley Casteel came in to run the business there in 1865 while Lorenzo was off serving in the Civil war. These tax records along with the 1860 census of Wabash Township, Clark Co., Illinois, also show John Casteel and his sons Wesley and Salathiel as potters.

In 1870, John and all but one of his sons were making a living producing pottery. They probably were farming the lands they owned during the spring to fall months as was the nature of the home run pottery shops and producing kiln-wares in the fall through winter months. By 1880, the Casteel families had closed their pottery shops and were only farming. Rev. John Casteel died 12 Nov 1886, and is buried at the Livingston Cemetery , beside the Methodist Episcopal Church at Livingston, Wabash Township , Clark County , Illinois .

submitted by Derrel Lyon