Pringle Casto Cemetery

On a pretty spring day, we visited 3 cemeteries near Ripley WV where we viewed grave sites of Bob's 7 grandparents. This family plot was on a hill overlooking the Fairplain exit of 77 where we parked by a road we didn't want to navigate and walked. 

 

James Casto is Bob's 3rd great-grandfather. He served in the War of 1812 when he was 29 years old. In 1817, James married Sidney Kessel. They had 12 children. James died in 1866, having lived a long life of 80 years. There is no marker for Sidney though records say she is buried here too. Sidney was 18 years younger and died in 1883.

2021 

Sunset Memorial

 

Bob's paternal grandfather, Augustus "A.B." and A.B.'s mother Victoria are buried here. The map indicates the lots where he and his mother are buried. Victoria Mease Gay, A.B.'s mother, married Harvey Hanson after A.B.'s father, George, died. Victoria is buried with her second husband. No one knows why she was called "Queen Victoria" though the 1880 census lists a white servant in her house.

Victoria's sister Octavia and Harvey's brother Charles (pictured) had been married for 30 years when Victoria and Harvey married.  

A.B.'s father George W. Gay was born in 1844 and died in 1899. George was the first husband of Victoria Mease. He was a miner. George married Victoria Mease on December 29, 1869. He is buried at Littlepage Cemetery (now overgrown) in West Charleston.

 

Augustus

 

 

Bob's paternal grandfather, Augustus, was a lifelong resident of Kanawha County and owner of a Charleston trucking company. In his younger days, A.B. was a chauffeur for John Ringling of Ringling Brothers Fame in Florida. Bob's mother Maxine worked at Montgomery Wards in Charleston when she met her future father-in-law delivering furniture. A.B. is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston.

Spring Hill

The 2nd of Bob's ancestry graves we visited during our Charleston (WV) trip was Spring Hill. Bob's paternal grandmother "Biddie", her parents and several siblings are buried there. That's Biddie on the left in the B&W photo. Bob tells the story of going there as a kid on Memorial Day with the lawn mower, then sitting around the site to remember the loved ones. I guess that's what we were doing (without the lawn mower). Biddie died in 1944 while Bob's Dad was in the service. He did get to attend the funeral.
 

Biddie, her Mom and Dad-Perry & Mary Given, Biddie's younger brother Hubert, older sister Mahalia and younger sister Nettie are buried here.

2021