Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Levi Cassady

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Descendants of Levi Cassady

Generation No. 1

1. LEVI¹ CASSADY was born in South Carolina, and died 1841 in Henry County, Alabama. He married RACHAEL GIPSON Abt. 1820 in South Carolina..

Notes for LEVI CASSADY:
The letter below should be of interest to all Cassady descendants. It is by Ed Mason, a descendant of the Cassadys. His email address is ed404@bellsouth.net.

Ron, great to run across a relative that enjoys finding their roots. I have a ton of information about so many of my ancestors.  So much of my research was done prior to the wide use of the internet. At the time everyone was hooking up on the internet I didn't have time to get on line to send them my life's research so I pretty much did not participate. I now regret it because when I take the opportunity to communicate with someone I get the feedback of "who are you? If you knew anything we would know about you from the internet". I have about 80 three ring binders 3" thick with copied material on family and much more in other folders.

Our cousin Martha Anderson of LaGrange owned the "Family Tree", a Genealogy business. You may know of her. We knew our Cassady's were in Coffee County but not in the census index. She read the Coffee County Census line by line looking for first names and was the one to uncover that the Cassady's were listed by the census takers as Casters. Martha was so involved in her business that over the years she sent leads to me and since I lived in Atlanta near the Archieves I pretty much led the research on our common ancestors, including the Cassady's. For a few years Alvin Warner was in the loop. When Martha was no longer able to keep up her business she sold a large and very valuable (in information) collection to the Troup County Archieves. She published several books including the 1860 Georgia Census Index. The index was Martha's idea and she did all the work. She was so busy in her business that she got a woman she had met to use her computer and to type up Martha's information and have the computer index it. When the lady finished she listed herself as the publisher of the book and Martha as a co-publisher.  Martha never said a word and let it go. I stopped by and saw Martha last week when we returned to Atlanta from South Alabama. We are second cousins and great grandchildren of Green Jackson Hutcheson and Mary Jane Cassady. My sister and I still own an ancestral home in Covington County. My wife and I spent last weekend there.  Green Jackson Hutcheson died in that house Christmas week 1928 and I was born in the same room in 1935.

Alvin Warner's mother was a Cassady descendent and eloped with a Mormon when she was very young.  She said that Levi's wife Rachael was a Brown.  Alvin's mother was born in the latter part of the 1800's so should have known the family history.  As a young Mormon wife I'm sure she was asked about her family while her memory was still fresh. Henry County, Alabama lost their early records and so I didn't hold much hope of finding anything about Levi and Rachael. However a few years ago I stopped by their Court House and found that Levi Cassady's estate was one of the oldest records that survived.  Those estate records clearly stated that Joseph Gibson, who was the administrator of the estate, was a brother in law of Levi Cassady.  Records in SC, including census records, indicate that Levi did have female siblings of the age to be Joseph Gibson's wife.

I guess you know that Levi's parents were William and Lucy Cassady. His father William was dead by the census of 1810 and Levi was living in the HH with his mother Lucy. In the 1820 census Levi is listed as HH and unmarried.  The two females in his HH are apparently sisters based on his father William's HH census in 1800 and on his mother Lucy's HH census in1810. One of those is likely the wife of Joseph Gibson and therefore Levi's brother in law. In the same 1820 census his mother Lucy appears to have been living with Levi's brother Benjamin.  By the 1830 census Levi is married and his mother appears to be listed in his HH. There is a good chance that his mother Lucy died in the early 1830's and that it was after her death that Levi moved to Alabama. You may have all of this but if not thought it might be of some interest to you.

There is a story of Indian ancestry passed down in my Cassady line.  We have also found that the descendent's of Levi's siblings also passed down the story of Indian ancestry.  It was this Indian ancestry that was noted by the census taker in SC as "Free Persons of Colour".  Based on the census it was at least William and Zachariah's parents (or earlier ancestors) who were Indian. I followed every person in that census who was noted as "Free Persons of Colour" and not one reference was ever made again in a census about them being "Free Persons of Colour". If the families so noted had been part Negro the notations about them would have continued to be made in later census. It appears that the person who took this census was (shall I say) a little biased against anyone who was not of pure caucasian blood and the only way he could note their Indian mixed blood was to list them as "Free Persons of Colour". My research points to our Cassady's likely marrying into the family of John Bone who was a full blood Pamunky Indian and one of the great men of the tribe and who had taken an English name. He was one of the signers of a petition to the Lord Proprieters sent by the Queen of the Tribe between 1700 and 1705 (I won't take the time to look up the year). Cassadys, including one with a given name of William, was in the Pamunkey Neck area of VA at the time. Just north of our Cassadys in SC a little earlier there was a William Cassady who died in Rowan County, NC in the mid 1770's. This would be the right age to be William and Zachariah's father and the name William was passed down. A John Bone was ordered by the Rowan court to bring in one of the sons of this William Cassady. Note the John Bone earlier who was full blood Indian. In one of the Chesterfield census in the early 1800's there were Bones living in a HH with our Cassady line. There was a John Bone in SC with our Cassadys as early as the 1790 census I believe and these Bones in SC were also noted to be "Persons of Colour" in the same census as our Cassadys.

Well I have gone on far too long. Hope this doesn't muddy the waters for anyone. Good hunting and good luck. Ed Mason


Children of LEVI CASSADY and RACHAEL GIPSON are:

	i.	ALEXANDER² CASSADY.
	ii.	ELLEN CASSADY.
	iii.	ARVINA CASSADY, b. Ala..
	iv.	ELIZABETH A. CASSADY, b. Lawrenceville, Henry, Alabama.
	v.	ELVIRA CASSADY, b. Ala..
2.	vi.	GEORGE WASHINGTON CASSADY, b. Abt. 1830, Chesterfield County, S. C.; d. May 13, 1886, Red Level, Covington, Ala..
	vii.	MAHALIA CASSADY, b. Abt. 1831, Chesterfield County, S. C.; m. ALEXANDER HEATH; b. Alabama.

Notes for MAHALIA CASSADY:
Mahalia appeared in the 1850 census with her husband, Alexander. There were no children. Also living in the household was her older brother, John Calvin Cassady. This was the last record of Mahalia.

Notes for ALEXANDER HEATH:
Alexander(age 21) and wife, Mahalia, were in the 1850 census with no children. Neither were in the 1860 census for Alabama. In the 1870 census, there is an Alexander J. Heath(age 41) living in Henry County, AL, with a wife, Lece??, (age 30), an d four children. The oldest is Sarah (age 18), too old to be the daughter of Lece??, and the oldest son is named Levi (age 12).

3.	viii.		WILLIAM CASSADY, b. Ala..
	ix.		ZACHARIAH CASSADY, b. Abt. 1828, Chesterfielf County, South Carolina.

Notes for ZACHARIAH CASSADY:
In the Alabama 1850 Federal census, Zachariah (and his brother, George Washington) were living with his uncle Joseph Gipson, in Coffee County, Ala. He was listed as age 22. There is NO record of him after the census.

4.	x.	JOHN CALVIN CASSADY, b. Sep 09, 1825, Chesterfield County, South Carolina; d. Aug 25, 1894, Mt. Willing, Alabama.
	xi.	GIRL 1 CASSADY, b. Bet. 1835 - 1838.
	xii.	GIRL 2 CASSADY, b. Bet. 1835 - 1838.
5.	xiii.	ANGUS FLOYD CASSADY, b. Ozark, Dale, Alabama; d. May 06, 1930, Hartford, Ala..

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