THE BARTON LUNDY FAMILY REUNION

Tallulah Barton was the fourth child born to Floyd and Ellen Barton in May of 1865 in Macon, Georgia. Affectionately called Lula or “Lu”, she was one of two girls in a family of six. N December 31, 1884, at the age of 19, she and a young guy named Henry Casterlow filed for a marriage license at the Bibb county courthouse. This same courthouse had previously seen her sister Gillian and John Sinclair in 1879, her brother Elbert and Alice Vinson in 1882, another brother Henry and Mary Cummings in 1883 and her mother Ellen and step-father Moses Reynolds in 1884. Her two youngest brothers Tom and Elizah had not married at the time. Henry and Lula were joined together by Rev. R.M. Morris on January 7, 1885 and the ceremony was most likely witnessed by many Barton and Casterlow relatives.

            Henry Casterlow was one of the nine children born to Henry and Alice Casterlow and was the grandson of Juba and Shelby Casterlow. Juba was born around 1825 in some part of Georgia and is believed to be a former slave of Stephen Henry Castellow of Houston County, Georgia. Juba’s name was derived from a West African dance called DJOUBA and the dance when brought to America would be called the HAMBONE. Shelly, his wife, was born in North Carolina around the year 1830 according to the 1870 and 1880 census taken for the Casterlow family. It is not known who her parents are, however a lady named Judy Thomas, who was 70 years old in 1870 and listed with Juba and his family, could possibly be the mother of Shelly or even Juba. It was not an uncommon procedure for parents and children to have different surnames after slavery. Most slaves took on the surname of one of their past owners.

            The CASTELLOW (note change in spelling) name was a very familiar one in Houston County. Stephen Henry Castellow was the grandson of a Spanish General and the son of William Castellow and an English woman who came to the United States and settled in Savannah, Georgia. Early records indicate that he was a captain of a militia district in Washington, Georgia from 1826 to 1830. He stated that he was drafted for the war of 1812 as a substitute on November 11, 1814 and was discharged  six months later on May 6, 1815. In 1830, Stephen Castellow resided in Decatur County. In 1843, he was Senator for Houston County. The Castellow Plantation sat on 604 acres of land and consisted of the “Big House” and two slaves’ quarters. According to the 1850 list of Slave Inhabitants for Houston County, Mr. Castellow was listed as the owner of 19 slaves, ten of which were males and nine females. The slave families lived in the two dwellings. One family consisted of the father, mother, grandfather and nine children. The other family consisted of the mother, father and six children. The Castellow Cemetery was later established on the grounds of the old plantation. There are eight unmarked graves and they could very well be the graves for some of the former slaves of Stephen Castellow.

            After slavery was abolished, Juba Casterlow and his family moved to Bibb County, Georgia and settled in the Rutland District about 15 houses from the Barton family. Another Black Casterlow family remained in Houston County and lived very close to their former slave owner.

            In 1871, Juba Casterlow was employed by a white farmer named Daniel guerry. From1875 to 1879, he reported the following as the total value of his real estate and personal property, 1875 – 30.00, 1876- 125.00, 1877 – 60.00, 1878 – 60.00 and 1879 – 120.00. From 1880 to 1883, he was only listed as paying the poll tax of 1.00.

            Henry Casterlow, Sr. died around 1879 and Juba Casterlow died around 1884. The cause of death and exact date is not known at this time. Henry’s grandmother Shelly died between 1880 and 1900. His mother Alice, was listed on the 1900 census record as a widower. She was born May 1840 and her occupation was listed as Launderer. She stayed only two houses from her son and his family.

            Speaking of family, Henry and Lula had a large one. To their union, thirteen children were born, however three died during infancy. The others were MINNIE, ELLEN (named for her grandmother) , WILLIE, DAVID P., LULA, TIMOTHY, JAMES, EMMITT, FRED and MAMIE.

            In 1903, The Casterlow family loaded their belongings on a wagon and journeyed south of Macon, Georgia. They ended up in a small town called Tippettville, which was located on the outskirts of Vienna, Georgia. Henry Casterlow built a log house which sat very high off the ground porch ran across the front of the house. Inside of the house was a chimney which sat directly in the center of the house and had a fireplace on each side. There were three large bedrooms and a large kitchen. Also inside of the house was an organ which was played by Timothy Casterlow.

            According to Ronie Kendricks, former friend and neighbor of the Casterlows, Lula Barton Casterlow was a tall, brown skinned, medium built lady with a nice head of hair. She remembered that Mrs. Casterlow became ill around 1911 and died the same year. Bessie Jackson Johnson, daughter of Minnie Casterlow Jackson, remembered as a little girl being put on a wagon with the other grandchildren to go to the funeral of her grandmother. She thought that she died around 1914. Though there is a discrepancy in the dates of her death, it is known that she was funeralized at the New Mt. Zion Baptist Church and buried in the church cemetery which was located about four miles from their house on the old Vienna Highway. In attendance at the funeral was her brother Henry Barton and his family from Lily, Georgia, her sister Gillian Johnson and her family, brother Tom Barton, mother Ellen Wicker all of whom traveled from Lumber City, Georgia.

            Henry Casterlow later married twice after the death of his first wife. The second marriage did not last long to a lady named Hannah. Henry left and went to Florida and the younger Casterlow children were divided up amongst the older Casterlow children who had now married. Minnie Casterlow and her husband Arthur James Jackson kept Fred and Mamie, while Ellen and Charles Pollock took in James. Willie and Lessie Kendricks Casterlow had Emmitt. When Henry returned back to Vienna, he had a new wife named Mattie Flowers. She was the sister of Deacon Flowers, the third husband of Bessie Johnson Chieves.

            In 1922, all of the members of the Casterlow family packed their belongings and boarded a train at the Vienna Depot. Their destination was Florida. As they crossed the Florida Border, they left in Georgia their family name for 57 years Casterlow and assumed the name of SMITH. They settled in a little village called Yukon, which was located about five miles from Jacksonville. From this point in their lives, the children grew up, married and began families of their own. The CASTERLOW name did not vanish completely. Willie Casterlow and his family moved to Newton, West Virginia and assumed the Casterlow name once again.

            Though Lula Barton died around the age of 45, she would be proud to know that she produced many descendants. 

Some of the descendant family names include  Casterlow, Smith, Jackson, Pollock, Hicks, Jones, Steward, Mays, Harris, Howard, Johnson, Simpson.

Dr. Skip Mason, Family Historian