General Notes

[coosa1.ged]
Hi Ron, On your recent Castellaw posting you show James' christened 6
November 1685 in Paisley, father as another James.  I have sent a
researcher to Scotland and he pretty well nailed down that James's father
was Thomas Castellaw, b. 23 July 1663 at Eaglesham.  Most of the records
were in Scots Gallic, so we had a heck of a time interpreting them.  I
have a lot on my grandmother's family. Roy
The name Castellaw was first changed in the early 1800s. The spelling
on legal documents was often misspelled due to the various
interpretations as to the way it sounded. In the Bertie Co., NC census
for 1790 there were the following Castellaw(s) enumerated: John 1, 1, 3;
John 2, 5, 3; James 1, 2; James 1, 3, 4.
James was the patriarch of the Castellaw/Castellow family in America. He
was the son of a Scottish Presbyterian minister. James was baptized at
Paisley Abby on November 8, 1765. James entered the University of Glasgow
in 1705 at the age of eighteen. He graduated in 1707. It has been said
that he was the fourth generation of Castellaw(s) to be educated there.
James emigrated from Scotland to North Carolina by 1710. One historian,
Harry Thompson of Windsor, North Carolina, believes James and Sarah
Williams were married in 1707.  If this is true, James had to have left
for America immediately after graduation, because Sarah and her father,
John Williams, were both born in Isle of Wright Co., VA. He served as a
witness in a case in 1718, but was not listed in the 1717 tax list nor in
a list of freeholders in 1719. As early as 1719 James had received a land
grant in what was then in Albermarle Co. In 1721 he bought land on the
Cashie River adjoining Colonel Pollock, Richard Fryer and Martin Gardner.
From this date on until his death in 1749, James Castellaw took an active
interest in and assumed leadership for many business, social and
political activities in Bertie Co., NC.
He served in 1719 as a juror in Chowan Precinct, NC. He was on the
Grand Jury in 1722 and 1724. James was married to Sarah Williams at least
by 1721 when they bought land together. He was on the 1721 Tax List for
Chowan Co., NC. He became a lawyer and a member of the Colonial General
Assembly. He was the Treasurer of Bertie Precinct from 1735 until 1748.
He was a jurist and witnessed many legal transactions in the Precinct. He
was a smart man, because he purchased many different parcel of land -
always on a river or creek. Good bottom land. James and Sarah purchased
550 acres on the Kesiah River on February 21, 1723.
James went into business in 1727 with Henry Guston and James Milikin
at the confluence of the Cashie and Roanoke Rivers.
Jim Kelly has a document that indicates that this Senior James was
dead by 1749. His son James must have also been a jurist or lawyer
because several documents were witnessed by a James Castellaw as late as
1757 in Bertie Precinct.
Hoggards Mill in Bertie Precinct, NC.  Established in 1736 by James
Castellaw, treasurer of Bertie, and on whose land the mill, courthouse,
jail, "whipping post and stocks" were located.  Subsequently called
Lockharts, Evans, and finally purchased by William Hoggard circa 1800.
His home still stands there.  Later became known as Mitchell, Mizelle and
Steely's Mill, then Mizelle's about 1900.  Has been in the Thompson
family since 1928.  Hoggard's name stuck from 1800 til now.  Twin Mills -
saw and grist. County Road passed through mills making two covered
bridges.
James Castellaw was a witness for the will of Henry Woodnot on 29 Dec
1718 (Original in Sec. of State Records in NC Archives, copy in
possession of author, Carl Castellow.) Therefore, he was in Bertie County
by that time. He proved the will in front of Charles Eden on 29 Jun 1719.
In J. R. B. Hathaway's NC Genealogical and Historical Register, from
Misc. Records from Albemarle and Chowan County Court at Edenton, pg. 304,
Hen