Sarah Anderson Castile 1824-1916

ANDERSON, CASTILE

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 9/23/2006 at 17:15:12

 Lockridge Times; Lockridge, Jefferson Co, IA; Friday, March 1, 1916

Mrs. Andrew Castile

The funeral of Mrs. Andrew Castile, one of the members of the first Swedish colony to settle west of the Mississippi river, was held Saturday, February 26. One service was held at 10:30 a.m. from the Oscar Larson home in Fairfield, and at 2:00 p.m. at the Swedish Methodist church at New Sweden, in charge of Rev. John Gabriel. Pall bearers were her sons as had been her request.

Sarah E. Anderson and Andrew Castile were the second, if not the first, Swedish couple to be married west of the Mississippi river. The Jefferson county records show that Andrew was twenty-one and Sarah eighteen when they were married at the home of John Lindberg at Fairfield, September 29, 1849. Mr. Castile died October 27, 1896.

ERIC COREY'S TRIBUTE TO MRS. SARAH E. CASTILE

Mrs. Sarah Anderson Castile was born in Sweden in 1824 and came to this country as a young woman in 1845 with the first company of Swedish settlers who came to America and located west of the Mississippi river.

Those early pioneers stopped near what is now Salina where there was nothing but brush and timberland with a few settlers here and there. They knew not where to go. There were no Swedes anywhere to be found and they had traveled so long that they were tired. They had started from Sweden in the early spring and now it was fall. They were about out of money and found no one who could speak their language.

However, they found some friends among the settlers, notably Hon. Wm. Hopkirk, who was very kind to them communicating with them by means of signs and making them welcome.

There was one old abandoned shanty without a roof and here they located, repairing the structure. They experienced a winter of privation- the roof leaked badly and they lacked many of the things now considered the necessities of life.

Of the men folks at that first colony all are now dead. Andrew Cassel, the last survivor passing away last summer. Four of the women are yet living. They are Mrs. Ward Lamson, and Mrs. John Stephenson, of Fairfield, Mrs. Frank Danielson of Four Corners and Mrs. Jacobson of Creston.

I have been a personal friend of Mrs. Castile for fifty-five years and have always found her a friend and woman of highest character. I came here twelve years after the first colony but I often heard her speak of her experience of the trip and the settlement. Among other things she spoke of their religious difficulties. Being a pious people they desired to have preaching services but were without a preacher. There was one among them who had a fair education. His name was Hokanson and they got him to preach sermons on Sunday. He was later ordained and remained a Lutheran minister until the time of his death a few years ago.

While it is with regret that I write of the passing of these pioneers, such as Mrs. Castile, yet it is great pleasure to know that their lives have been well spent and that they will have a lasting influence on this country.

ERIC COREY.