The Wythe County, Virginia marriage of Thomas Dean born 1800 and Nancy Cassell born September 12, 1809 began my, Sarah Helen Johnstone Graham’s intriguing story and my family connection that would lead directly into history at the Wythe County Poorhouse Farm established in 1858. Nancy Cassell, who descended from Nicholas and Rosina Rambacher Cassell and his son, Michael and Elizabeth Simmerman Cassell, married Thomas Dean in Wythe County in 1833.

The Dean couple had two beautiful daughters, Elizabeth Easter Dean, born on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1834 and her sister, Susan Maria Dean, born two years later on May 16, 1837. Their happy home life, however was short lived and Nancy Cassell Dean, dear wife and mother died on February 1, 1838. 

After his wife's untimely death, Thomas Dean (Deane) decided to leave Wythe County and move to Alabama. He left his two young daughters in the home of their Cassell grandparents. I'm sure Great Great Grandfather Dean felt that this would be best for his and Nancy's young children. Nancy Cassell Dean’s family lived in the Peppers Ferry Road area of Wythe County on a large farm and in a beautiful home. Thomas knew the girls were loved and would be well cared for by their Cassell relatives. I have followed the Wythe County Census records, family history and just as Thomas Dean, their loving father thought, the girls spent their growing up years with their mother's caring, Cassell family. Through family research we have learned that Thomas Dean remarried and had two more daughters, and four Nelson grandchildren who lived in Shelby County, Alabama. Thomas Dean and his second wife are probably buried in Alabama.

On June 11, 1857, the lovely Elizabeth Easter Dean, first born of Thomas and Nancy Cassell Dean married John Alfred Yonce. He was from a very respectable Wythe County family. The happy couple had three children, Walter D. Yonce, Allie M. Yonce and Edith Yonce. But again tragedy beset this family and husband and father, a Confederate Soldier, John Alfred Yonce died on April 9, 1865. 

Records tell us that the Cassell family, on Peppers Ferry Road continued to care for Nancy Cassell Dean’s descendants down through the ages and even helped locate them to the Johnstone Family farm located in the Mudlick Road area of Wythe County, Virginia. This beautiful farm has since been the home for generations of Johnstones, descended from Lancelot Johnston and Zeruiah Rice Johnston through their son Thomas and Jane Ann Bethell Johnston. 

Now, let us go further back into the past with my Dean family as I lead you from the past into the future at the Poorhouse Farm. My great grandmother, Elizabeth Easter Dean Yonce, widow, on March 26, 1871 married Alfred Moore Johnston, born on February 24, 1843, a former Confederate Soldier from Rockingham County, North Carolina. They made their home in the Mudlick Road area on the Johnstone Family Farm. My ancestral families were blessed with four children, Samuel Phillippi Johnstone, Susan Clara Johnstone, John William Johnstone and Bessie Vance Johnstone. 

On the 1880, Wythe County Census records, you can find special family names in the Mudlick area, among them, Susan Clara, age 6, my granddad, John W., age 4, and Bessie, age 1. The next household entry listed by the Census takers is the Poorhouse overseer, Joseph Shaffer, followed by the names of the 1880 Poorhouse occupants. We can envision the census taker riding horse back over the rural hillside from one beautiful farm to another. The 340-acre Poorhouse Farm was owned by Wythe County and was established at this location in 1858. 

I shall now pick up the history of my Dean and Cassell descendants with Bessie Vance Johnstone and her marriage to William Allen Crenshaw, Overseer of the Poorhouse. This couple, now well known because of the history involved and the listing of the Poorhouse Farm on the Virginia Landmarks Register, the National Register of Historic Places and the placement of the Virginia Historical Highway Marker were married in 1903. My great aunt Bessie and great Uncle Shaw as he was fondly called, lived their entire married life in the main house, as Caretakers of the Poor Farm. They now peacefully rest in Jesus’ care at the beautiful St. Johns Lutheran Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia. In 1898, Bessie graduated from Marion Female College in Marion, Virginia. Her class picture, textbook, and memory book of hand written letters from her classmates, all written in 1898, a gift from Aunt Josephine Johnstone Slemp are on display in the parlor of our home. They are now one hundred and three years old. The antique oak bookcase shipped to Mrs. W.A. Crenshaw in 1916 with the original label on the back proudly holds many novels that once belonged to our ancestors and it proudly stands in our living room.

John William Johnstone, known as Will, Bessie’s older brother, and my grandmother were married on June 30, 1914. His mother's last wish was to live long enough to see her son, Will, marry. In Wytheville, Virginia, the formal wedding was held and Bessie Frances Topham, and John William ‘Will’ Johnstone were wed. Bessie’s parents are George and Isabelle Brown Umberger Topham. Bessie’s grandparents from the Rockdale Road area are Solomon and Alpha Kegley Umberger. Another ancestral surname in this lineage is Sharitz. Newly married, Bessie and Will went to the farm in Mudlick after the festivities of the formal wedding and reception on June 30, 1914. Granddad was reported to have said there was "only one shadow in the wagon that night" as they traveled Peppers Ferry Road to Mudlick Hollow and the Johnstone family farm. My grandparents were blessed with a large family, my dad their oldest son, John William Johnstone Junior fondly knows as ‘Bill’, was born on this same farm in Mudlick on October 25, 1923. Their neighbors on this family farm were Will’s sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. William Allen Crenshaw, caretakers of the Wythe County Poorhouse Farm.

I, Sarah Helen, am the first born child of John William Johnstone Junior and the beautiful, Helen Mae Peary Hancock Johnstone. Mom is the daughter of Charles and Mattie Bertha Glass Peary. My grandmother and her parents, Julias Caesar Glass and Celia Stone Glass are buried at Mt. View Cemetery in Rural Retreat, Virginia. Mom had two sons, Charles and Donnie Hancock from a previous marriage. My Dad, known as Bill was stationed in California, a United States Marine in 1945 when I was born. My Great Uncle Stephen Topham drove my Mom, and my Aunt Dean Johnstone Stephens to Smyth County to the hospital and Aunt Dean sent the telegram to California happily informing my Dad, he had a new baby girl on August 27, 1945. I was born on Uncle Stephen Topham’s birthday! I always felt extra special to these relatives perhaps because they were there the day I was born and had stood in for my Dad.

Dad, Bill Johnstone returned to Wythe County after his discharge and "got back" to farming, his chosen and very loved profession. My brothers, Billy, Danny, sisters, Janet and Debby and I grew up on this beautiful rural Mudlick diary farm in Wythe County, Virginia. We enjoyed swimming, picnicking, and fishing in the fresh cool mountain waters of Cove Creek, which also flowed through the Poor Farm. 

Since 1963, I, Sarah Helen have been happily married to my childhood and high school sweetheart, Abner Bruce Graham Jr. His parents are Abner and Ethel Adams Graham. Abner's grandparents are Andrew John and Luemma Adeline Dean Graham and Hugh Preston and Lula Bell Mize Adams.

Our marriage was blessed with three beautiful daughters, Angela, Tammy and Candice and we have three fine sons in law and have six precious grandchildren. Little Joseph Graham Aker, age five months rests with Jesus at Mt. Zion Methodist Church Cemetery in Piney. The girls and their husbands, all live in Wythe County, Virginia. Angela is a registered nurse, Tammy lives in the Mudlick Road section and Candice is the manager of the Samsonite Travel Store at Ft. Chiswell. 

In late 1992, my husband, Abner and I started the lifetime project at the Poor Farm and have dedicated our time and efforts to the restoration of the Wythe County Poorhouse Farm that became our home in 1993. We feel honored to be chosen for this important historic job and are truly blessed with the rich history of friends and families that also are part of the ‘LIVING HISTORY BOOK ’ at the Poorhouse Farm. Surely the LORD is in this place! Story written by Sarah Helen and the whisper of angels on June 29, 2001, Mom's birthday.

by Sarah Helen Johnstone Graham