Throw Back Thursday........ Meet Castella Goodwin

Yesterday while talking to Christy I realized how little she knows about her ancestors. Now you all know that family history is my passion. I am trying to get her a little enthused.
On Thursdays I work in the family history center, so what better day is it to teach you just a little about your ancestors.
I am starting with Grandma Cat's dad........ Castella Snell Goodwin.

This is him as an older man. He was born Sept 7, 1876 in Lexington County, SC.  He and his brother attended a military academy during his teenage years (most likely Carlyle Academy in Orangeburg).
He married Mattie Jane Rowell July 2, 1900, two months shy of his 24th birthday. One year later, their first child was born, followed by another TEN.

 Their names in order of birth are Lonnie Addison, Lottie Lee, Juanita Geraldine, Edgar Bateman, Esma Belle, Pauline Carl, Addys Barbara, Ernest Eugene, Marvin Everette, Dibble Gordon, and Harold Dykes. He built his wife a house, right across the railroad tracks from his brothers house.

6 of the first set of kids

During his early years he ran a general store. Back then most items were bought on credit, then the bill was paid when the crops came in. The depression hit, which left him with two books of uncollected accounts. The story goes (as told by Uncle Gilbert) that he called some of his debtors to the store, then went out to the street and burned both account books. He closed up shop, and in 1922 he opens a boarding house at 1317 Sumter Street in Columbia. By 1926 the boarding house has moved to 1216 Assembly Street, boarding the likes of Senators, Congressmen, and Judges. This would come in handy in later years (more stories to follow). During the years of 1926-1928 he also was a salesman and a turpentine distiller. 

Mattie, his wife died in 1927 at the age of 55. Grandaddy Castella raised the 9 kids on his own until he married Grandma Naomi 22 Sept 1930, she was 18, he was 54 (a mere 36 year age difference).

Their first child, Gilbert Arthur, was born a year later, followed by Effie Louise, grandma Cat, Walter Charles, Richard Bruce, John Paul (lived just 1 year), and Harvey Lee. 18 KIDS! ! ! !

Second set of kids, Grandma Cat front right.

In April of 1930 he appears on the census still living in the boarding house on Assembly Street. Some time after he married Grandma Naomi  he moved back to Gaston.

(I forgot which wife he built the house for, he could have built the house for Grandma Naomi, because Uncle Gilbert and Aunt Louise were both born in Gaston.) Sometime in the 1930's he built another house in Columbia at _______

Emerson Street. Then later, he built a cinder block building which Grandma used as a sandwich shop. Grandma Cat said servicemen from Ft Jackson would come eat, and listen to the juke box.

During this time, as he was nearing his retirement years, he worked as a car salesman, sold bait from a nearby stream, and served as a notary. 

Grandma Cat said servicemen from Ft Jackson would come eat, and listen to the juke box.

Grandaddy Castella died March 18, 1952, two months before Aunt Debbie was born. There are so many stories that document this man's life, including fights with his cousins ending in being arrested and bailed out by a senator, caring his kids to sell peanuts on the Capital ground, and many many others.

Who do you want to learn about next?