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"Benny"
Castor was one of Sampson P Castor's six children. We are now in the fourth generation in Jefferson - Benjamin
Custard's great-grandchildren... We have numerous photos of
Benny and his wife, Josephine Margaret Bedell, now Biddle.
He lived from 1862 - 1935, and is buried at Stone Chapel.
"Benny" is pictured at the beginning of this article.
Benny
had three children: Bill,
Grace and Clifford. Bill
never married, nor did Grace.
The parchment copy of the survey done by Pennsylvania in
1785 was passed on to Bill. Clifford was in World War I.
Clifford
1894 - 1940 had three children, including a son Benjamin.
Benjamin,
born 1929, had two children, including a son Ben, born 1951, who
went to Thomas Jefferson High School the same time as I did.
I
think that all the Castors in Pittsburgh are part of this lineage,
going back 7 generations to Benjamin and Ruth Custard.
Other
Castors, descended from Paulus and Gertrud of Germany, ended up
all over the United States. One
line of the Castors moved from Germantown to Burgettstown, PA,
then to New Rumley, Ohio, where a son George was born, then to
Michigan where George grew up, and became known as General George
Armstrong Custer, as in Custer's Last Stand.
The
Castors are a healthy and long-lived people.
Benjamin Custard lived to be 85.
Bill Castor lived to be 100.
Bill looked like his father "Benny" in the
picture above. I
remember Bill in the 1970's, when he was in his 70's, helping my
father and Nick Petrovich bale hay.
He was as healthy as could be.
He and Nick said that was because of how they lived, how
they worked, and the area around Gill Hall and Ridge Road itself.
They used to tell my father, "Andy, you could come out
here and work and throw away all those pills."
Something like the famous area in Russia where everyone
lives to 100. That
is, that the area around Gill Hall and Ridge Road contributes to
health and longevity. I
think it does. |