This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: lcwlandberg1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.casner/1.10.2.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hello. My name is Leif Casner William Landberg. I'm related to Thomas Jefferson Casner, who was my great-great-grandfather. I'm also a cousin of Em (Casner) Wendel, who is a great source of information about the Casner line descending from Jacob Casner-Isaac Casner-Martin Casner and descendants (including Martin Vanburin Casner, Francis Marion Casner, Thomas Jefferson Casner and other siblings). My interest in Francis Marion Casner stems from my research on the 1868 Casner-Putman-Littlepage party's trip west from Blanco County, Texas, to San Diego County. I've been trying to do a wider reconstruction of their trip west by providing a broader historical context for Thomas J. Casner's account of his wagon train experiences. I know that Thomas J. Casner and Francis M. Casner moved up to Ventura County in 1872, but that later Francis M. Casner moved back to Ballena in San Diego County in the late 1880s. At that time, or slightly later, he became involved in mining operations in the San Jacinto Mountains hauling ore and making road improvements for an asbestos mine. He also was Postmaster at a "Cahuilla" post office until the area became part of the new county of Riverside. At sometime in the late 1880s or early 1890s he moved to Riverside. After that I don't have much information on him except that he died in Santa Paula, California but was buried in Riverside, where his wife died and was buried several years earlier. I know virtually nothing about his descendants, and I would like to know about them as well as what else you might know about Francis Casner's life. I am not at all clear about how Francis M. Casner came to California, but piecing together genealogical information posted by Em Wendel I believe that Francis married in Texas a widow (or divorcee?) about 1865. His step-daughter was Texana Lester, who later married Thomas Jefferson Casner in Julian, California in 1870. That is to say, that Francis Casner's wife, was Thomas J. Casner's sister-in-law and mother-in-law! Reading between the lines, I've think that Francis Casner came to California via that transcontinental railway shortly after its completion in 1869, about one year after the Casner-Putman-Littlepage party westered to California by wagon train in 1868. I would like to hear from you, and by all means get in touch with Em. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.