Calvin Caston

Calvin Caston

Laura Brumfield

Quick Facts

Significance:

Mississippi Homesteader

Place of Birth:

Mississippi

Date of Birth:

April, 1832

Place of Death:

Pike County, Mississippi

Date of Death:

July 12, 1912

Place of Burial:

Magnolia, Pike County, Mississippi

Cemetery Name:

Caston Cemetery

Born enslaved, Calvin Caston filed Homestead Application #4260 on August 15, 1870 at the age of 35. Caston's claim was filed in Pike County, Mississippi at the Land Office in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. He experienced life circumstances that caused a delay of 21 years before receiving the final patent for his 80 acre claim.

In the August 12, 1870 Pike County census, Caston's occupation was a farmhand. The value of his personal property was $100.00. This census was taken days before filing his homestead application. He was enumerated with an inferred wife Lydia (Liddie) 43 and children; Thomas 17, Elvira 15, Rosanna 15, Isham 12, Green 10, Silas 7, Jessie 4 and Adeline 3. He was also enumerated in the 1880 federal census, the non-population June 18, 1880 agricultural census, and was a taxpayer in 1881 for Pike County.

Calvin failed to provide final proof of his homestead and the application was canceled on May 28, 1880 as abandoned.  On February 24, 1885, he made a sworn affidavit to the clerk of the circuit court of Pike County to reinstate his homestead.

At the time Caston should have made final proof, there was a death of a grown daughter and he was confined to bed. The circuit court clerk of Pike County also provided additional reasons for the delay in receiving his homestead patent. There was the inability to secure a blank #369 which said the proof was forwarded as soon as received. Caston's homestead application was also destroyed by fire in the courthouse in 1882 and he never obtained a duplicate.

Caston's homestead was reinstated on April 4, 1885. Neighbor Joe McEwen and Tom Brumfield, his stepson, were Caston's sworn witnesses on March 16, 1889. Joe McEwen testified that he lived near the claimant for nine years. Tom Brumfield lived in the same neighborhood for three years and had known him all his life. Both men stated that Caston had been on his claim for seventeen years.

Standing from left to right: Richard Brumfield, Calvin Caston, Lydia Brumfield Caston and Eli Brumfield. Seated from left to right: Henry Sims Brumfield Sr., Lucinda Brumfield Andrews and Joseph Warren Brumfield
PHOTO CREDIT: Laura Brumfield

The Magnolia Gazette newspaper on February 23, 1889 identified two additional witnesses - Henry S. Brumfield, who was the county treasurer and Caston’s former slave owner, and David C. Walker. On March 16, 1889, Caston at age 56 testified that he made a settlement on the land, and he received his homestead certificate on August 19, 1891. He lived on the homestead with his family until his death. His wife Liddie Brumfield Caston died July 5, 1916.

Patent Details - BLM GLO Records

~ Contributed by Laura Brumfield and Dr. Nona L. Edwards-Thomas

More about the contributors: Laura Brumfield is the great-great-granddaughter of Henry Sims Brumfield Sr. She is a retired certified nurse midwife working in public health for forty years.  She has been exploring her family’s ancestors for 5 years. Nona L. Edwards-Thomas MD is the great-great-granddaughter of Liddie Brumfield Caston. She is a retired board-certified physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology. A family historian, she has been involved in genealogy research for over 30 years.