Casteel

Biography of William R. Zook

William R. Zook (1846–?), a Civil War veteran and Kansas pioneer, was born in Indiana and later raised in Missouri. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1863, serving with the Second Nebraska Volunteer Cavalry on the Western frontier. After the war, Zook moved to Kansas in 1869, where he homesteaded in Republic County and endured the challenges of early settlement, including scarce resources and conflicts with Native Americans. Over decades, Zook became a respected landowner and retired in Cuba, Kansas. He married Nancy Casteel in 1869, and they had five children: John F., Tilly, Aaron, Alveretta, and Jessie.

Biography of H. E. Casteel

Herbert E. Casteel, one of Rock Island County’s most enterprising and highly regarded citizens, prominent in banking and business circles and a self made man, was born in Davenport, Scott County, Iowa, March 15, 1860, and was the son of Appleton and Elizabeth Gardner Casteel. Mr. Casteel’s strides to prominence are the result of hard toiling and struggle in his early days and his keen business methods and perseverance in later years. Terminating his studies in the public schools of Davenport, he was not any too well provided with education with which to enter the great field of business struggle, … Read more