Re: Lafayette James Mast, son of Reuben Mast, Watauga Co., NC

Hi Sylvia!

I am looking for the first wife of Lafayette James Mast.According to the 1860 Nacogdoches Co., TX Census, she was named Mary L., born in TN and they were married within the year, which would have been in North Carolina.I'm sorry, I don't have my genealogy info before me.They had a daughter shown as a one-year-old also named Mary L.By the 1970 Census they were no longer with Lafayette James Mast.Lafayette James moved to Texas about 1859 along with his father, Reuben and Reuben's second wife, Jane Curtis and several of Lafayette's siblings and half-siblings.Another researcher thought Lafayette's wife, Mary L. may have been Mary L. Shull, but I believe she married a different Mast, perhaps a David?

Are you sure your information regarding Maria Antonia Haustina (Faustina) Procella came from C. Z. Mast's book?The only record I have found for her being the mother of his son William M. (Xavier) Mast if from Lafayette's will filed in 1872 in Nacogdoches Co., TX.It appears that they were never married.She later changed her name and married a John Molandes.William (Xavier) Mast was baptized as Eusebio Procella, according to a descendant of Mary Antonia Faustina Procella Molandes.He was listed on the 1870 census with his mother and a 6-year-old brother, Peter as Savior.That was a misunderstanding of the Spanish pronunciation of his name, Eusebio.In his will, Lafayette James Mast asked that the child known as Savior, the son of Haustina Procella be renamed William Mast in honor of his beloved brother, William Penn Mast.When William reached the age of majority, 21, he took his father's name and thereafter became William M. Mast, to the best that we have been able to discover.

I am the great-granddaughter of William M. Mast.I wish he had told us more about his early life.He was a very fine old Christian gentleman.His obituary listed a Katy Kay Mast as his mother.We (my sister and I) have not yet found a Katy Kay Mast.William was listed as being born in March of 1872, but Lafayette's will which was written in October 1871, stated that William or Savior was at the time of the writing of the will, eighteen months old, approximately.That would make him born about March 1870.

Pat