Son of Nathaniel & Rebecca (Dove) Mongold. Husband of Nancy Wilkite. Said to have fathered about 50 children, a few from his marriage, some with a woman named Clara Fitzwater, some, apparently, with another woman/women.

Israel was a Confederate veteran, recorded as serving as a private in the the 25th Virginia Inf., Co. H. and 62nd Virginia Inf., Co. B. A military stone was placed in the cemetery in recent years, making his the only grave marked with an inscribed stone.

After the death of his companion Clara in the late 1890s, Israel was left alone to raise their four young sons. In 1906 he shot and killed one of his sons, Casper, aged about 13 years, for hitting him on the foot with a stick. Following a trial which caused a lot of excitement in Rockingham County, Israel was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison. Read today, newspaper reports from that time, including the testimony of several of his adult sons and various neighbors, seem to indicate that he suffered from some sort of mental illness.

from the Rockingham Daily Record, Harrisonburg, Va., March 8, 1913:
Israel Mongold, an aged resident of this county, who served a term of five years in the penitentiary for killing his son Casper, nine years old, died Wednesday at his home west of Dovesville, in Brocks Gap. He was 80 odd years old. Burial was made yesterday.
Mr. Mongold, who was regarded as unusually eccentric as he grew old, was released from the penitentiary about two years ago, getting some time off for good behavior. He shot his son Casper as the boy was climbing into a window of their mountain home, retreating from the old man. The father claimed at his trial that he shot only when his older sons were pursuing him armed with sticks and stones, and that it was not his purpose to harm Casper. In fact he claimed he shot merely for the purpose of frightening off his older sons, who, he said, were tormenting him and threatening his life.