Including: Castle, Cassell, Cissell, Kissell
Our Kassell Family Pages
Emma Kassell | Fred Kassell |
Malcolm Kassell | Helen Smith Kassell |
Kassell Family Photo Album | Mom's List |
Martin Family | Campbell Family |
Pufalt Family | Grunwald Family |
Emma Kassell
Campbell
Our connection to the Kassell family is through my GREAT GREAT
Grandmother Emma Kassell Campbell.
Emma was probably born in St. Louis and her parents were born in
Germany and moved to the United States sometime before
1865. Emma's year of birth is not known. Records
differ from 1859 - 1865. She died in 1954 and her obit
states that she was 95 years old. The 1900 St. Clair County
Census lists her year of birth as 1865 .. Emma was
married to George Scott Campbell in
St. Louis but they raised their family in E. St. Louis.
George died in 1912 and Emma moved back to St. Louis on N. 21st
St. ca 1915. Later she can be found at 2935 N. 14th Street in
various city directories.
Family memories lead our research to two cousins Janice and Charles Malcolm Kassell and together we have put together a "family photo album" for Emma and her brother Fred.
Other clues to unlocking the mysteries of our ancestry include stories told to my mother by her Great Grandmother Emma. In the early 1950's, Emma fell and broke her hip leaving her in a wheel chair. To pass time, my mother would ask Emma to tell stories about her family. Mom can remember the names: Valentine, Margareth, and Jacob as Kassell ancestors. Additionally, they used to visit the St. Mark's Cemetery in Granite City, Illinois with Malcolm, a Kassell cousin. Until recently, mom always thought that they were remembering a woman named Christine - a sister of Emma, but the only Kassell we can find in that cemetery is Helen Kassell which we now know was Malcolm's mother.
Just who was
Christine?
Memories of conversations between Emma and other family elders
suggested that Emma might have had a sister named
Christine. A photo of Billy Martin,
age 8, 1923 was signed by Chris stating, "ain't Billy
cute?" Chris ... Bill Martin was the only child of
Emma's daughter Frances Louise
Campbell Martin Eftimoff. As a child, he studied to be an
understudy for the family child actor - Jackie Coogan. The
photo appears to be taken as one of the "studio photos"
that we have of Grandpa Martin. One might think that perhaps
Chris lived on the west coast and that photo was mailed home to
the family in St. Louis.
What's in a
name?
We can find various spellings for Great Great Grandma Emma
Kassell Campbell on the birth certificates for her children. In
fact, her marriage license has her name spelled as Cassell. So
you will find city directory and census record research in
several spellings on this site.
Malcolm P.
Castle
Our Malcolm Phillip Kassell used the "Kassell" spelling
throughout life but the 1909 St. Louis City Directory provides a
listing for a Malcolm P. Castle. Our Malcolm would be too young
in 1909 for a misspelling - just who is Malcolm P. Castle?
What about
Valentine?
Valentine must have been a popular name but we find it with a
Kissell surname instead of Kassell. The name Valentine
Kissell can be found in Indiana, Missouri and Illinois.
Helen Smith
Kassell
Helen was born in Baltimore, Maryland and had at least one
brother John Smith. Her death certificate lists her birth date as
July 13, 1895 but the more likely date was July 13, 1875 as she
was 42 years 8 months 23 days when she died on April 6, 1918. Her
cause of death according to family members was due to injuries
caused from a fall from a horse - the death certificate states:
operation for pelvic abscess - ovariau or tubular. Death occured
at the Bruton Sanitarium in Ozark, Christian County, Missouri.
Fred and Helen's marriage location or date are yet undiscovered
mysteries.
FRED KASSELL
Fred Kassell, one of five siblings of my great great grandmother
Emma Kassell Campbell. Fred was born in either 1869 or 1870
in St. Louis. He died in 1942 and is buried in Sullivan,
Missouri. He seemed to move around alot, living in
Roosevelt, Colorado; Goodland, Kansas; Walnut Shade, Missouri;
and Sullivan, Missouri. He was married twice. First
to Helen and second to Margaret. Oddly, both women's maiden
names were Smith. Fred's death certificate states that his
parents were John M. Kassell, born Germany, and Frances
Koffstatdr, born Germany. Fred may have worked for the
railroad.
John M. Kassell and
Frances Koffstatdr
The 1860 St. Louis Census Index provides a listing for John and
Frances Kassell with 2 children - Louis and Simon. Family
memories tell us that Great Great Grandma was one of six
children. This couple was born in Germany as were the named
parents on Fred's death certificate. Can anyone provide a copy of
the actual census record and where were they in 1870? There is a Coffstatler family in Calhoun County,
Illinois in 1850. Is there a connection?
The Chicago
Connection:
Another possible clue to finding other cousins - During WWII,
Emma lived with my mother's family and my mom can remember some
official looking men questioning Emma about her German roots and
other relatives. She became rather irratated and snapped that she
hadn't seen those relatives since they had moved to
Chicago! So who moved to Chicago?? We haven't a
clue! But we are collecting all the death certificates that we
can from the IRAD so check this link
often for updates. Who knows you might discover an ancestor that
you're missing.
Research
efforts:
Armed with there clues we are researching cemetery
records; death records for both Missouri and IRAD
Illinois and various other sources. City directories are
focused on the St. Louis Metro area and census
and soundex information is being gathered on all possible
spellings of the name Kassell. We are posting
everything we can find for Cassell, Cissell, Kassell, and Kissell
... so perhaps you can find a missing ancestor as well!
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E-mail the author: ps53630@navix.net