On 11 November 1903, Lucie Cable Castleman arrived back in Ellis Island from Liverpool, after a voyage on the White Star and Dominion Lines' SS Celtic. At 20904 tons and carrying 2857 passengers (347 first class, 160 second class and 2350 third class), the Celtic was the largest ship of her time. She was accompanied by Margot A Postlewaite.
The same pair travelled across the Atlantic several more times, on the Celtic's successor, the even larger SS Baltic. They are recorded arriving back at New York on 10 November 1905, 15 November 1906, 23 November 1910 and 8 January 1912. Lucie Castleman also arrived unaccompanied on 19 December 1914.
Both are recorded as United States citizens, and in 1914, Lucie gave her place and year of birth as Georgetown, Kentucky and 1849. (Margot's age was given as 33 in 1905, and as 31 in 1906.)
In 1914, Lucie's address was recorded (erroneously) as 3963 Liddell Avenue, St Louis. The Census taken on 1 June 1900 shows Lucy C Castleman living at 3693 Lindell Boulevard with her niece Margaret Postlewaite. Lucy was a childless widow. She had been born in December 1849 "in Kentucky". Her father was from Ohio and her mother from Mississippi. Margaret had been born in Illinois in February 1871. Her father was from Kentucky and her mother from Iowa.
In the 1910 census, Lucy is recored as a farmer in Justice Precinct 2, Bexar County, Texas. Her name is written as Lucie and her mother is said to have been from Kentucky. Margaret's name is now Margot, and she and her father are recorded as being from Iowa, her mother from Maine.
Lucie Read Cable was born on 9 December 1849 in Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky. Her mother was Mary Jane, née Taylor.
In 1856, her father, Philander Lathrop Cable, from Ohio, together with a business partner, Philemon Mitchell, came to Rock Island "with $80,000 in cash and a shotgun". Philander Cable made money in banking, and by 1870 was worth $850,000. He was one of the founders of the Rock Island Railroad, and by 1880 was its president. He died in 1886.
In 1870 and 1880 Lucie was living at home in Rock Island, Illinois. She was a wealthy woman in her own right, and owned substantial stock in the Chicago Railway Equipment Company.
Lucie married George Alfred Castleman on 4 April 1888 at San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. He was 40, some two years older than her. He was a lawyer, and had been practising in St Louis for some time. He served in the Missouri General Assembly, and Castleman Street in St Louis was named after him. George died, however, on 12 October 1896 while on a trip to Texas.
Lucie had adopted her "niece", Margaret Postlewaite, and travelled extensively with her to and from Europe between 1903 and Margaret's marriage in 1912.
She died on 24 February 1925, aged 75.
Margaret Alice Postlewaite was born in February 1871 "in Illinois", Iowa or Texas. In 1880, she was "at home" in 5th Avenue, Rock Island, aged 8. Her and her parents' place of birth was given as Iowa. (The other members of the household were Philander and Mary Cable (62 and 59), Lucy (30) and Ben Taylor Cable (26), and six servants (two white males, three white females, and an 80-year-old black woman). She was a witness to George Castleman's will in 1895.
Margot was "a pampered debutante" at the turn of the century, when she attracted the attention of a young clergyman, Henry Mizner. They soon became engaged.
Mrs Castleman was not in favour of a marriage, as Henry showed no signs of desiring preferment. (It is said that Henry was offered several bishoprics.) Their engagement was to last "fourteen years", and to culminate in a wedding in 1912 in Christ Church Cathedral, St Louis, which was a major social event.
After her wedding, Margot moved to the St Stephen's Episcopal Mission, 520 Rutger Street. She devoted herself to settlement work. A daughter, Alice, was born in St Louis on 28 September 1914.
In 1926, she accompanied Henry to Boca Raton, Florida, and was in Paris with him from 1928 to 1930, when he died.
Alice, the daughter, married Landes Lewitin (b. 1892), a painter. They had one daughter, Margot. Landes died in 1966, and Alice died on Sunday 15 February 2004 at Amherst, Massachusetts, aged 89. The New York Times of 27 February 2004 carried her obituary:
LEWITIN-Alice Mizner. Died at midnight February 15, 2004 of acute cardiac failure. She was 89 and living in Amherst, MA. Made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in recognition of her contributions to Franco-American understanding, she was born September 28, 1914 in Saint Louis, MO., the daughter of the late Rev. Henry Watson Mizner and Margot Postlewaite Mizner. She was the widow of the painter, Landes Lewitin, who died in 1966 and mother of Margot Lewitin. While living in New York City, she was active on the Diocesan Board of Episcopal Church Women and served as a Delegate to several Triennial Meetings of the Episcopal Church, the Province II Synods, and as a Representative to the Special General Convention of 1969. She was Companion in Charge of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross from 1969 to 1975. She is sorely missed by her colleagues at SCHC, friends in Amherst and family. The funeral and interment of ashes is Saturday, March 6th, 11AM at Grace Episcopal Church, 14 Boltwood Ave, Amherst, MA. A reception will follow the services in the Parish Hall. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to Grace Episcopal Church, Amherst, MA. 01002 or to SCHC, Adelynrood, 46 Elm St., Byfield, MA. 01922.
After ordination, he served at Palmyra, Missouri, and was on the staff of Christ Church Cathedral, St Louis. He went to St Stephen's mission in 1901. The mission became a parish around 1921.
In 1926 he fell ill and resigned with effect from 1 June. He sought permission to officiate in South Florida, as his younger brother, Addison Mizner of Palm Springs, had developed land in Boca Raton. The Mizner Development Corporation set up a temporary building, to be "St Mary's Chapel". Unfortunately in 1928, Henry suffered a paralytic stroke. His doctor ordered him to go abroad, and he spent the last two years of his life in Paris, where he lived at 12 ave Jules Janin, near the Place du Trocadéro. He died at the spa town of Contrexéville in the Vosges on 8 July 1930. His funeral at the American Cathedral in Paris was four days later, and he was buried at St Germain en Laye.