Johnston, OK -- Alfred Cast Stilley

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Submitted bny:  Peggy Stilley Morgan - pm5647@aol.com
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                                  STILLEY
                                      
   My grandfather Alfred Cast Stilley was born June 18, 1850, in
   Williamson Co., IL to John Ren Stilley and Nancy Graves. Alfred Cast
   grew to manhood in southern Illinois. Around 1870, Alfred Cast along
   with his parents moved into Missouri. They worked on the railroad.
   Rumor has it that they lived in the Springfield area for a time. They
   followed the railroad into Arkansas and settled in Knoxville, Johnson
   Co., AR.
   
   In Knoxville, Alfred Cast met and married Nancy Ann Pursley, on
   January 6, 1876. Nancy Ann had moved along with her family from
   Ringgold, Catoosa Co., GA, after the Civil War. Alfred Cast and Nancy
   Ann had several children while living in AR, three died and are buried
   in AR, including a son that drown.
   
   Sometime after 1885, Alfred Cast and Nancy Ann, took their small
   children, Carrie Grant, Nancy Hannah, Julia Adaline and Lou Emma and
   moved from Knoxville to Dexter, Cooke Co., TX. It was a thriving town
   and their was hopes that the railroad would come through Dexter. The
   railroad was put through Gainesville, TX instead and people begin to
   move from Dexter.
   
   In January of 1890, Alfred Cast and Nancy Ann took their children,
   including a one month old baby boy, Frank, and moved by wagon to
   Mannsville, OK IT (what is now Johnston Co.) At first they lived in a
   log house where the present schoolhouse now stands in Mannsville.
   Later on Alfred Cast bought land from the Chickasaw and Choctaw
   Nations. Alfred Cast farmed for a living. He was a hard working,
   religious and civic minded man. He was also a Deacon in the Baptist
   church in Mannsville. At first he had to make trips to Ardmore to haul
   his cotton, making the trip one day and coming back the next. Later A
   railroad went through Mannsville and it was a prosperous little town
   for many years. Alfred Cast and Nancy Ann had twelve children, raising
   eight to adulthood. Four of these children were born after moving to
   Mannsville, Daisy, Pansy and my father, Argus Cast. They had a baby
   girl that died at birth. These children were born in Indian territory
   before Oklahoma became a state in 1907. Nancy Ann died February 10,
   1928 and Alfred Cast lived out his days with a daughter, Daisy. He
   passed away January 20, 1935. Both Nancy Ann and Alfred Cast along
   with several of their children are buried in the cemetery at
   Mannsville, Johnston Co., OK.
   
   By a granddaughter, Peggy Stilley Morgan