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A Casey Family History

The Ancestors of Taylor "Joe" Wesley Casey

My paternal grandfather's birthname was Taylor Wesley Casey, but his grandchildren called him, "Cha-Cha". The story goes that my oldest cousin began calling him that due to a Jimmy Durante impersonation he frequently did. He died much too young, at 61, of a sudden heart attack, but he was mightily loved and remembered by all.

The following humble narrative is something I wrote a couple of years ago for my cousins. It was intended to summarize most of what I knew at the time about our CASEY line. I have tweaked a few things since, but alas, I've only made a few gains in the past year or so.

I hope readers will bear with me; I am not a professional genealogist nor a scholar -- just a loving family member who thinks it important that we record and remember where we come from.

AUGUST 2004: For my Casey Cousins

This little compilation of genealogy traces the CASEY lineage of Taylor Wesley Casey. There are more family lines of course, more than can be listed here, and I am actively working to update those as well as other records. Families I am currently researching are: CASEY, TRAIL, SUSTAIRE, and HOUGH, and Hazel Gay Veasey Casey's families: VEASEY/VEAZEY, MALONE, SCOTT, WHITEHEAD.

It is my intention to make all of this information fully available to family members. I would never include or post any private information for any living individual without their permission. If you have additional information to add to these family lines, please let me know so that we can have as complete a record as possible.

Note about sources:

Internet technology has brought the study of genealogy to new heights, however I cannot overemphasize enough how much inaccurate information is out there. I am absolutely dedicated to source verification, and wherever I have been given leads by online researchers, I have gone to the original source to verify the data. If I have retained some information in this record that has not been verified yet, then I have noted it as unverified and quoted the source. Online census, land, military, and court records are usually transcribed by professionals and have a very high "surety level". These are solid sources.

So, without any more "to do", here is a glimpse into your family heritage. I hope you come to love these strong and courageous aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins as much as I have!

Currently, the oldest known Casey ancestor I can verify is James Casey, born between 1793 - 1798 in South Carolina. One James Casey is listed in the 1820 and 1830 Spartanburg, South Carolina Censuses as a head of household living near other Casey men who are known to be related to Abner and Peter Casey, circa 1700 from County Tyrone, Ireland. The Casey Family Association is a non-profit organization that is tracing this family. The Casey Family Association maintains an excellent website with a newsletter, photographs and other information. They can be found online at: http://www.cfainusa.org/.

The Casey family began to settle in the northern counties of South Carolina, also known as the "uplands" at least by the 1760's, perhaps earlier. This information is consistent with known Scotch-Irish and Irish immigration and migration patterns of this protestant group coming in from Maryland and Virginia.

James Casey is believed to have married Ann or Anna or Anne Unknown Last Name in South Carolina . Anne was born 1794 in South Carolina. Their children are believed to include :

  1. Pertilla W. Casey, b. 1824
  2. Augustus W. Casey, b. 1827, d. after 1870 in Texas
  3. Jane Casey, b. 1832
  4. Sarah A. Casey, b. 1833
  5. Oliver W. Casey, b. 1838, d. 6 April 1862 in Tennessee at The Battle of Shiloh

One store record in the area of the ninety-sixth district, which included Spartanburg, lists a "Mrs. Ann Casey" as a customer. The following is from a text provided by Drew G. Welch to the GENWEB Archives:

"1832 List of customers of John Cothran & Co., located at the original "Phoenix". This was located at or near the present town of Epworth in Greenwood Co. about 6 or 8 miles south of Ninety-Six. Some customers were known to have lived more than ten miles from the store.

The list is from "Our Old Roads,#38, The Index-Journal, Greenwood, SC." By H.L. Watson. (A series of articles appearing over ten year periods from 1940 - 1950.)

"...John H. Caldwell, George Caldwell, Samuel Caldwell, Wm. E. Caldwell, David R. Caldwell, Mrs. Ann Casey, John Christie, Simeon Christie, Robert Crawford,..."

James' occupation is listed as a farmer in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He probably grew cotton. This area of the state was known as the Ninety-six district. The geographical boundaries of several counties including Spartanburg shifted frequently during the mid 1700’s until the mid 1800’s. Union County was a neighboring area, which at times was included in the Spartanburg boundaries, at least seven counties in this region shifted during these formative years. The histories of these counties cannot be isolated as the entire area saw European migrations and Indian wars. The following is excerpted from a book by Allan D. Charles, titled, "The Narrative History of Union County, South Carolina":

The migration of European settlers from Virginia and Pennsylvania into Union County as early as 1751 was encouraged by the availability of free frontier land. This migration was accelerated by the Treaty of 1755 between South Carolina Governor James Glen and Old Hopp (the principal Cherokee chief), which ceded the land to the South Carolina province. The Cherokees made raids on Union and other frontier settlements until they were defeated in the Cherokee War, which ended in 1761.

During the early years, Union County's economy revolved around subsistence agriculture. However, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 -- and by 1800, cotton had begun to penetrate Union County, ultimately leading to increased demand for slaves. During the first decade of the 1800s, many Quakers and others left Union County because they objected to the rapid growth of plantation slavery.

Meanwhile, by the 1820s and 1830s, soil exhaustion began causing a mass emigration of Union County's poorer White population to new lands further south and west -- from Georgia to Texas.

By 1850, James and Anne Casey had moved their family to Cass County Georgia . In fact, the birth state for Sarah and Oliver Casey on the 1860 Winston County, Alabama census is Georgia, so the family may have been in Georgia as early as 1833. The 1850 Cass County, Georgia census record informs us that the adult son, Pertilla Casey owns his property valued at $500 and his parents and siblings are living with him. Interestingly, a family by the name of TRAIL is also found living not too far from the Casey's and one of the daughters, Talitha, age 14, is the future wife of James' son, Augustus! No doubt this couple, our great-great grandparents, caught glimpses of one another at a general store or church and the rest is family history! Sadly, this 1850 census is the last record I have found for Anne Casey. If there are obituaries or death notices they shall be hard to find. Cass County, later renamed Bartow County, saw terrible destruction during the Civil War and its courthouse and most of the public records for that area were burned or destroyed. As tensions between the northern and southern states begin to mount, the family of James Casey relocates again, this time they are bound for Alabama.

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