Homer Casteel

Casteel was the son of Marion Lafayette Casteel (1833-1892) and his wife Virginia Lindsey Casteel (1843-1914). He went to the public schools in Leake County and attended Mississippi Central Normal School in Walnut Grove. In 1911 he was living in Pickens, Mississippi and was elected to the state senate from Holmes County (21st district).The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Volume 3, Dunbar Rowland, Nashville, Tennessee: Brandon Printing Co., 1912, p. 373 He was re-elected in 1915.{{Cite book|last=Rowland|first=Dunbar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLC0kgvJJG4C&q=Casteel|title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi|date=1917|publisher=Department of Archives and History|language=en}} In 1919 Casteel ran successfully for lieutenant governor on a ticket with fellow Democrat Lee M. Russell. While Governor Russell was out of state briefly, Casteel issued several controversial pardons; one was challenged in court but was held valid by the Mississippi Supreme Court.https://cite.case.law/miss/134/132/ Montgomery et al v. Cleveland, 1923, Caselaw Access Project Casteel also cast a tie-breaking vote to pass the Nineteenth Amendment in the Mississippi Senate in 1920 (although the amendment was then voted down, for a second time, in the House.)http://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/articles/245/mississippi-women-and-the-woman-suffrage-amendment "Mississippi Women and the Woman Suffrage Amendment", Marjorie Julian Spruill and Jesse Spruill Wheeler, Mississippi History Now, December 2001, Mississippi Historical Society

After his term in office he purchased 400 acres near Canton, Mississippi and built a home there named "Poverty Hill". In 1927 he was elected to another term in the state senate, this time from Madison County, and served as senate president pro tem. He then was appointed to the Tax Commission, serving until 1934, and in 1935 was elected to the Railroad Commission, which was renamed the Public Service Commission at his suggestion. Re-elected three times, he served 16 years on the commission, serving most of those years as chairman. In 1941 he moved from the plantation to a house in the town of Canton.http://collections.msdiglib.org/digital/collection/madison/id/2589 "Homer Harris Casteel 1879 - 1958", Inez M. Wallace (unpublished family history in Casteel family papers, Canton (Mississippi) Public Library)

Casteel was a delegate to the 1928 Democratic National Convention in Houston, Texas and served as the chairman of the Mississippi delegation. On the last day of the convention he rode a donkey down the aisle to his seat carrying an image of nominee Al Smith."Fun at the Convention", The Sunday Times (Perth, Western Australia), July 1, 1928, p. 1

On June 9, 1913 Casteel married Jean Calahan (1889-1914) of Pickens, who died September 9, 1914. On August 17, 1917 he married Annie Winters (1890-1970). They had one son, artist Homer Casteel Jr. (1919-1972).

Casteel is buried in the Canton City Cemetery in Canton.

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Category:1879 births

Category:1958 deaths

Category:People from Walnut Grove, Mississippi

Category:People from Holmes County, Mississippi

Category:People from Canton, Mississippi

Category:Democratic Party Mississippi state senators

Category:Methodists from Mississippi

Category:Lieutenant governors of Mississippi

Category:Presidents pro tempore of the Mississippi State Senate

Category:20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature