Bertie County NcArchives Biographies.....Castellow, John Peter "Bear Man" 1846 - 1914
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Gerald Thomas gerald_thomas00@comcast.net January 18, 2017, 11:33 am

Source: Personal research
Author: Gerald W. Thomas

JOHN PETER CASTELLOW:
THE “BEAR MAN” OF GREENS CROSSROADS
by 
Gerald W. Thomas

On an undisclosed day in 1846 in the small farming community
situated about Greens Crossroads, Bertie County, a child was born
unto Moses Levi Castellow (commonly known as Levi) and his wife,
Martha “Patsey/Pattie”(maiden name not determined). The baby was
Levi and Martha’s third-born son whom they named John Peter. The
parents would soon realize that their new-born son was severely
handicapped mentally. He was born with an acute mental disorder
and would never have the cerebral capabilities to speak and
interact normally with other individuals in a family or social
environment. John would grow to adulthood absolutely dependent
upon others for his care and support. Levi and Martha’s first two
sons – George Daniel and Isaiah – were approximately five and two
years old, respectively, when John was born. A fourth son, Hill
Jordan, was born on May 2, 1854.

Caring for John was burdensome for Levi and Martha who were quite
poor. Levi, to lessen the burden, sought financial assistance
from Bertie County officials to support his handicapped son. On
July 25, 1871, the Board of Commissioners provided Levi $10 from
the county’s poor fund “for support of his insane son, John.” The
board allowed Levi an additional $30 from the fund on August 31,
1871, specifically “for the benefit” of John, who was twenty-five
years old. By the 1870s Levi was an elderly individual and he
died on December 7, 1877, at the approximate age of eighty years.
His death brought further hardship to his surviving family
members. The Board of Commissioners, thereafter, allowed $5
monthly to Martha for supporting John. Martha was approximately
sixty-two years old when her husband passed away.

Levi’s will, dated October 26, 1872, was proved in Bertie County
court in January 1883. The document directed that all of Levi’s
estate and property be given to Hill Jordan with the stipulation
that Hill support and take care of his mother during her
lifetime. Levi included no provision in the will to use assets
from his estate to care for and support John. By the time that
Levi prepared his will Hill had married Narcissa White (November
2, 1871) and likely moved out of his father’s household. The
enumeration of the Castellow family in the 1880 federal census of
Bertie County (Windsor township – east, June 12, 1880) indicates
that Isaiah, John and their mother were residing in the same
household. Subsequent to the enumeration, John’s family members
apparently placed him outside of the family abode to live alone
in a “shack.” 

John’s cerebral condition rendered him incapable of lucid thought
and rational conduct. In June 1888 Martha, in an affidavit
submitted to the federal government, deposed that John, “was from
infancy perfectly crazy and has so remained to the present time
and cannot do anything at all.” John would not wear clothes and
ate his food like an animal, using his hands and no utensils.
Near neighbors, in kindly gestures and recognition of the
difficulties faced by Martha, would bring food to John, whom the
people in the neighborhood referred to as the “Bear Man.”

John was not enumerated in the 1900 federal censuses of Bertie
County. It is not known why he was omitted. Possibly, since he
could not communicate, the census enumerator may have failed to
compile stipulated information on him. (Also, Isaiah was not
listed in the census.)

John Peter outlived his mother and Isaiah. Martha likely died
during the 1890s, although no records (will, estate papers, etc.)
exist at the Bertie County courthouse to document her death. On
January 31, 1889, she received a certificate from the federal
government allowing her a monthly pension based on the Union
military service of her George Daniel. Isaiah died during the
spring of 1907. By June 1910 John was residing in Hill Jordan’s
household. The federal census of that year incorrectly listed him
as Thomas Castellow, age sixty-three, deaf and dumb. (It is not
known why John was not enumerated under his actual name.)

During the summer of 1911 an unidentified individual associated
with Young Harris College, an institution situated in the
mountains of northeastern Georgia, passed through Bertie County
and spent some time in the presence of the “Bear Man.” The
impression made by John prompted the traveler to write an account
that was published in Atlanta and replicated in The Henderson
Gold Leaf, on August 3, 1911.

Man Never Wore Clothes. Atlanta, July 11. Word comes to Atlanta
via the North Georgia mountains of a strange man named John
Castollow, who has grown to be … hale, hearty and happy without
ever wearing a stitch of clothing and without ever using a single
word but the monosyllable, "Gee," says a traveler from Young
Harris [College] describing the marvelous person. "He lives four
miles east of Windsor, in Bertie county, N. C, and his health is
perfect, not having missed a meal in fifty years. When I visited
him he was entirely nude. He is the strongest man I ever saw. His
body is normal and well shaped, but his strength is prodigious.
He can break a double plow-line as easily as if it were a cotton
cord. He is gentle and has never been known to hurt a living soul
intentionally. He cannot speak a single word except the one
monosyllable, "Gee," which has uses, in varied intonations to
express all his desires and emotions."

John Peter Castellow, the “Bear Man,” died of paralysis (a
stroke) at ten o’clock in the morning on Monday, March 9, 1914.
He was buried on the family farm the next day. He was
approximately sixty-eight years of age. Hill Jordan died of a
stroke on May 28, 1914, only eighty days after John passed away.

*  *  *  *  *  * ·	The Civil War (1861-1865) had a profound
impact on the Levi Castellow family. Obviously, the family
supported preservation of the Union as George and Isaiah both
enlisted in United States Army. George journeyed to Plymouth,
Washington County, where he enlisted as a private in Company C,
First Regiment North Carolina Union Volunteers on August 6, 1862.
Isaiah followed his brother to Plymouth and enlisted as a private
in the same company ten months later (June 8, 1863). Tragically,
George died at Beaufort, North Carolina on August 19, 1864, not
from action on a battlefield but of “chronic diarrhea.” Isaiah
served in Company C until the end of the conflict and was
honorably discharged at New Bern on June 27, 1865.

·	Levi Castellow owned little land and personal property. In 1864
when George Daniel died his father owned a small farm consisting
of only about twenty-eight acres. Dorsey Castellow, a neighbor
and distant relative, estimated that the land upon which Levi and
his family resided was worth no more than $2 per acre. Henry W.
Lyon, the Bertie County clerk of court, noted that in 1869 (the
earliest year for which tax records were available) Levi listed
for taxation a meager $269 “worth of property of every sort”
(real and personal). Lyon also recorded that when Levi died his
land was worth only $65 and that Martha had never “owned property
of any sort.” Furthermore, Levi was afflicted with rheumatism and
“for many years before his death … [was] too feeble to aid much
in supporting his family.”

·	Greens Crossroads is located about four miles northeast of
Windsor at the intersection of Old US Highway 17 North and the
Wakelon Road.



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