Turning Another Page

Sarah Ferrell, if you recall from The Montgomery Connection, was the daughter of Mary Montgomery, and granddaughter of Elizabeth Callin (1798-1834). Last time, in the post A Ferrell Child, we looked at the descendants of Sarah Ferrell's first-born child, Glenn Powell.

After the death of Glenn's father, Joe Powell, Sarah Ferrell Powell married a man named E. J. S. Page in the home of her father-in-law, Noah Powell. We know next to nothing about him, as the records I have found don't even agree on his initials, and do not mention his date or place of birth. Sarah and Mr. Page produced one child before whatever fate took him away from his young family.

II. Sarah Olive Page  (1868–1968) was born on 14 May 1868, in Junction City, Oregon. By 1870, she was living in the home of her step-father, James Addison Bushnell, her mother and half-brother, Glenn, and her new step-siblings, the four remaining Bushnell children.

She married Walter Byron Beebe (1867–1935) in 1889. He was born in March 1867 in Massachusetts to parents James M Beebe (1838–1897) and Louisa Worth Coffin (1842–1915). The Beebe family lived in Chillicothe, Livingston, Missouri, in 1870, before relocating to Oregon.

Sarah and Walter had one child. Walter worked in a dry goods store and was the proprietor of his own store in Ashland, Jackson, Oregon. He died there on 10 January 1935, at the age of 67.

Sarah remained in Ashland until the very end of her life. She died on 1 March 1968, in Bishop, Inyo, California, at the age of 99, and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Ashland, Oregon, with Walter.

     A. Henry Clare Beebe (1891–1988) was born on 12 May 1891 in Ashland, Jackson, Oregon. He matriculated at the University of California at Berkeley in 1912 and graduated from Stanford University as a geological engineer in 1916. On 25 August 1917, he married Elizabeth Marie Abbott (1893–1980), the daughter of Elija T Abbott (b. 1847) and Carrie E. Hart (1851–1923), in her hometown, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota.

Henry's work finding oil for oil companies took him all over the world. He and Elizabeth both liked to travel, but they called Ashland, Oregon, home in the 1940s, after spending the early part of the 1930s in Tacoma, Washington, and Minneapolis. Eventually, Henry and Elizabeth moved to California.

Elizabeth died 29 Dec 1980 in Chula Vista, San Diego, California; Henry died a few years later on 8 April 1988 in Auburn, Placer, California. They were survived by one of their two sons and a daughter.

     i. James Lawrence Beebe (1922–2004) was born July 9, 1922, in New York. He enlisted on 16 September 1940 in the Coast Artillery Corps of the National Guard; his enlistment record says he was an actor.

I haven't found much that tells me about James's life from 1940 to 1992 when he appears in the Brookings city directory. According to his obituary, he died at age 82, on 4 September 2004, in Crescent City, California, of natural causes. He was a resident of Brookings, Oregon, for 17 years before his death. He was survived by his wife, his brother and sister, two daughters, a son, and one granddaughter.

 - -- - 

After wedding James Bushnell in 1870, he and Sarah had five children; however, only two of them survived to adulthood, and only one left behind a family of her own.

III. Henry Clay Bushnell (1871–1933) was born 3 November 1871, on a farm south of Junction City, Lane County, Oregon. He was a graduate of Monmouth Normal school. For many years he operated a large orchard along highway 99, and at one time he was head of the Valley Apple Growers' association.

In March 1896, Henry married Livva Skaggs (1876–1971) daughter of Abram D. Skaggs (1843–1929) and Frances Elizabeth "Fannie" Kirkpatrick (1851–1887). Livva was born in Missouri on 24 November 1876, and the Skaggs family lived in Illinois, then Kansas, during the 1880s, before settling in Lane County, Oregon, in about 1890.

Henry died at his home in the Riverview section near Junction City Monday evening of a heart attack.
He was survived by his wife, four sisters, and one brother, Glenn Powell of San Francisco.

Livva seems to have remained in their home through at least 1940; she died in Eugene on 15 August 1971.

IV. Walter Scott Bushnell (1874–1881) died at 8 years, 1 month, and 9 days old on 24 December 1881.

V. Albert Bushnell (1876–1876) was ten months old when he died on 1 October 1876.

VI. Mary Bushnell (1879–1881) died at 3yr 1mo 22 da of age on 31 December 1881 - just six days after her brother, Walter.

These three children are all buried in the Luper Cemetery in Lane County, Oregon.

VII. Gertrude E Bushnell (1883–1977) was born on 15 March 1883 in Junction City, Oregon, and remained at home with her family until she married Robert Martin Movius (1872–1932) on 15 September 1912, at the age of 29.

Gertrude was Robert's second wife. He was born in Minnesota on 15 August 1874 and in 1900 he lived in South Dakota, where he was married to Anna Murry Shull (1873–1957). Robert and Anna had four children, and they were living with Anna's mother in Bowbells, North Dakota, in 1910. And yet, two years later, Robert was in Oregon, marrying Gertrude.

Robert and Gertrude had two children before 1920, as well as a son, James Albert Movius, who was born 31 August 1921 and died 13 July 1922, at only 10 months of age. The family lived in Eugene until Robert's death on 6 April 1932. Gertrude supported herself and her two surviving children by working as a librarian in Eugene. Eventually, she remarried Albert Nellis Froom (1884–1973) on 28 Dec 1953 in Vancouver, Clark, Washington.

Albert died in Multnomah County, Oregon, on 14 August 1973. After that, Gertrude moved to Michigan, to live near her son. She died on 13 February 1977 in Drayton Plains, Oakland, Michigan.

     A. Gretchen B Movius (1914–1966) was born in Junction City, Oregon, on 28 December 1914. She was raised in Oregon and graduated from Utah State University. Gretchen became a school teacher, teaching in Oregon, California, and Utah. She married Edwin Robert Butze (1912–1999) on 3 Jul 1936 in Vancouver, Washington.

Edwin was born on 23 January 1912 in Baker County, Oregon, the son of Edwin Ira Butze (1880–1925) and Martie Josephine "Weetie" McKim (1883–1964). After they were married, they lived in Prineville, Oregon. Edwin enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, and after the war, they lived in Corvallis until 1950, when they relocated to Brigham City, Utah.

Gretchen died after a bout with cancer on 15 February 1966 in Brigham City, Box Elder, Utah, at only 52 years of age. Edwin died 20 December 1999 in  Clearfield, Davis, Utah.

Edwin Robert Butze, sophomore year

     1. Kim Butze Wheelwright (1946–2001) was born on 27 August 1946, in Corvallis, Oregon. She was captain of her high school swim team at Box Elder High School (Go, Bees!), and she frequently appeared in the local paper writing about school and local event under her own byline. She married in the 1970s.

Kim died on 13 May 2001, in Ogden, Weber, Utah, at the age of 54, and was buried in South Ogden, Utah. She was survived by her husband.

     2. Edwin Robert Butze (1951–1991) was born on February 27, 1951, in Pocatello, Idaho, and graduated from Box Elder High School, Class of 1969. He died on February 7, 1991, in Kern County, California, at the age of 39. According to his memorial on the Box Elder High School webpage, he was survived by two children.

      B. Oswald F Movius (1919–2010) was born on 1 April 1919, in Junction City, Oregon. He was married in 1957 in Kanawha, West Virginia. He and his wife had three sons, two of whom are still living.

Ozzy was a veteran of the Merchant Marines during World War II. He retired from Fleet Carrier in 1986 after 3,000,000 miles of interstate truck driving service. He was a member of Marimont Community Church who loved reading his Bible, bird watching and traveling.

He died on 14 April 2010 in Waterford, Michigan, at the age of 91.

     1. Stephen Douglas Salisbury (1952–2015)  was born on 26 December 1952 in Clearwater Pennsylvania. He was five years old when his mother married Ozzie Movius, moved to Michigan, and Ozzie adopted him as his own.

Stephen was employed with the State of Michigan as a Resident Care Aid for the State Hospitals and was a member of AFSCM-Union and the Waterford Hogs Harley Club. He died suddenly at his home in Millington on Wednesday, 14 October 2015. Stephen was 62. He is survived by his wife, four children, eight grandchildren, one great-granddaughter, and by his beloved dog Cleo. Stephen is also survived by his mother, two brothers, seven nieces, nephews, and other extended family and friends.

 - -- --- -- - 

I have one more week before school starts, and I expect my time to work on these posts will disappear. I apologize if my work seems hurried because of that; my hope is that any descendants of this family will forgive me when the book eventually comes out!

Speaking of which, I have ordered a DNA kit from Ancestry so I can confirm whether there is a genetic connection to Elizabeth Callin Montgomery's branch. If you have done a DNA test with Ancestry or FTDNA, let me know privately, and we can try to find out whether we match.

As always: you can email me at my Gmail address, callintad, or request entry to the private Callin Family History Facebook group. You can also comment below, and I usually forget to mention that I am user "Tad_Callin" on Ancestry, if you prefer to contact me there.

Whew.

A Ferrell Child

Standards of proof are very important.

When you do any kind of research, it's important to understand not only what you know, but how you know it, and how confident you are in your sources. Of course, sometimes you simply don't have sources - records are non-existent, or at least not online, and all you can do is document what you do have, and make a note of where you think you need to look for more information.

There is a very good essay about evaluating "proof" at DNA Explained which has some advice I suggest you keep in mind as you read this post because much of the information I'm putting together here today is definitely not proven.

If you read my previous posts, Echoes & Rhymes and The Montgomery Connection, you know that I'm already on shaky ground when I assert that Elizabeth Callen is the daughter of James Callin of Milton Township, Richland County, Ohio. I think I made a strong case that she is, but now I'm going to make a much weaker case that we know who Elizabeth's daughter is.

This is as much as I can prove:

Mary Montgomery

James Ferrell and Mary Montgomery were married in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, on 23 March 1843. We know this much from the marriage record in Indiana, Marriages, 1810-2001.

That's not a lot to go on when you consider the standards of proof I just made such a big deal about!

We do know that Elizabeth had a daughter named Mary, because there is a mention of a Mary Montgomery in the biographical sketch of Caleb and Elizabeth (Callen) Montgomery's son, Theodore found in the Fulton County, Indiana Handbook (published by Tombaugh House, and available on the Fulton County Public Library's website): "To these parents were born five children--Mary, now deceased; Sarah, now the wife of Henry Davidson, living in Halsey, Oregon; Theodore, of whom this sketch is concerned..." I have not found records to prove the relationship of the Mary Montgomery in that Fulton County marriage record to Caleb and Elizabeth, but it seems like a reasonable "right place/right time" guess to make.

I have also found no birth records or death records that prove the relationship of James and Mary (Montgomery) Ferrell to the Sarah Ferrell who appears in the household of Sarah (Montgomery) Davidson on the U.S. Census records for 1850 and 1860, but it seems reasonable that if her parents died before 1850, the Davidson family might have taken in their orphaned niece.

Based on the scant evidence, my guess is that James and Mary were married (1843), had a daughter (1846), and at least Mary died before 1850 - probably all in Fulton County. There are records for men named James Ferrell (spellings can vary) in Indian and Ohio after 1846, but my hunch is that the one we are interested in might have died before the 1850 Census. I can't really rule out any number of other scenarios - including one in which the Davidson family simply adopted an orphan from another family. But for now, I'm going to assume that Sarah Elizabeth Ferrell (1846–1916) is the granddaughter of Caleb and Elizabeth, and the orphaned daughter of James and Mary.

Sarah Elizabeth Ferrell (1846–1916)

Whatever her true origins, "Sarah E. Faroll," age 4, was living in the home of her aunt, Sarah (Montgomery) Davidson, in Newcastle, Fulton County, Indiana, according to the 1850 U.S. Census. The Davidson family, along with many others, took the Oregon Trail west in 1852 and 1853, and in 1860 "Sarah Ferrell", now age 14, appeared listed in their household in Linn County, Oregon, near the Harrisburg post office.

By the time of the 1870 Census, Sarah was newly married to her third husband and living with him, his four children, and her son and daughter from her two previous marriages in Lancaster, Lane County, Oregon. That is a lot to deal with in ten short years.

Her first husband was Josiah S Powell (1839–1865), son of Noah Powell (1808–1875) and Mary E. "Polly" Smith (1812–1893), and he died at 26 years of age on 21 November 1865. Since Joe and Sarah's son, Glenn O. Farrell Powell (1865–1948), was born on 19 March 1865, I calculate that they were married in the spring or summer of 1864.

Sarah married her second husband, E. J. S. Page, on 4 August 1867, in the home of her father-in-law, Noah Powell, according to Marion County, Oregon, Marriage Records, 1849-1900. Their daughter was Sarah Olive Page (1868–1968). We know precious little about Mr. Page, not having any birth or death records to refer to. We don't even know his full name, or whether he died or simply moved on; I'm inclined to think that he probably died.

Sarah Ferrell's third husband was a widowed banker named James Addison Bushnell (1826–1912). They were married 2 April 1870 in Lynn County, Oregon, after the death of his first wife, Elizabeth Crowley Adkins (1831–1868) on 2 January 1868 in Lane County, Oregon. To everyone's relief, they survived their second year of marriage, and each lived until the 1910s.

James was the son of Daniel Bushnell and Ursula Griswold Pratt (1789–1883). He and his first wife, Elizabeth, had seven children before her 1868 death:

• Charles Alvah Bushnell (1851–1874)
• Lucy G Bushnell (1854–1937)
• Ursula Josephine Bushnell (1857–1859)
• Mary Elizabeth Bushnell (1859–1859)
• William Francis Bushnell (1860–1865)
• Helen V. Bushnell (1862–1935)
• George Addison Bushnell (1867–1882)

In addition to the seven children from his first marriage, James and Sarah had five children together:

• Henry Clay Bushnell (1871–1933)
• Walter Scott Bushnell (1874–1881)
• Albert Bushnell (1876–1876)
• Mary Bushnell (1879–1881)
• Gertrude E Bushnell (1883–1977)

James died on 8 April 1912 in Lane County, Oregon. He was 85 years old, and  Sarah was 70 years old when she died on 29 January 1916 in Lane County, Oregon. They are buried Luper Cemetery.

We'll get to Sarah Page and the others in a later post, but for now, let's look at:

I. Glenn O. Farrell Powell (1865–1948), was born on 19 March 1865 in Albany, Linn County, Oregon, to Joe and Sarah Powell. As discussed above, his father died when Glenn was barely two years old; and a step-father also came and went before he turned five. But Glenn grew up in the home of James Addison Bushnell.

Glenn married Arvilla Howard (1869–1918) in 1887. Arvilla was born 28 July 1869 in Lane County, Oregon. Her parents were Royal Varney Howard (1833–1916) and Eda Jane Smith (1841–1919). Glenn and Arvilla raised four children: a son (Noble) and three daughters (Ada, Claudia, and Pauline). Arvilla died at only 48 years of age on 17 February 1918 in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, and was buried in Lincoln Memorial Park in Portland.

Glenn farmed and supported his family as a carpenter. After Arvilla's death, he was remarried to Alice Jane Waud (1862–1942) on 18 December 1920 in Lane County, Oregon. He was the last of her five husbands. She died on 30 October 1942 in Renton, King, Washington, where she was living with one of her children from a previous marriage. Glenn died on 17 April 1948 in San Francisco, California, where he was living with his daughter, Pauline.

     A. Ada Gertrude Powell (1888–1975) was born in Oregon on 9 October 1888. She married Leon Leroy Myers (1886–1991) in 1910 in Multnomah County, Oregon.

Leroy was born 24 January 1886 in Morganville, Clay, Kansas. His parents were Conrad Myers (1855–1943) and Anna Augusta Roenigk (1860–1895). Augusta was born in Bremen, and Conrad was born in Iowa to John and Catherine Meyer/Myers, who were both born in Bavaria; so these Myers are probably not related to other Myers families in the Callin Family History.

Rev. Leon Myers photo Tue, Aug 4, 1936 – Page 4 · Macon Chronicle-Herald (Macon, Missouri) · Newspapers.com

The Reverend Leon Leroy Myers took his degree in May 1913 from the Eugene Bible College, and after a few years in Oregon, the family moved down to Redlands in San Bernardino. Leon became a prominent member of the Ku Klux Klan in Anaheim, and he was a crusader against liquor during the 1920s. In January 1925, after Rev. Myers was rebuked for making allegations against police and local officials that turned out not to be true, he was targeted by an anti-klan assassination plot. Later that spring, he was attacked and beaten by a citizen he had accused from the pulpit.

The Myers moved to Kansas in 1927, and to Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 1930s. Leon was frequently invited to speak at revivals.

Ada and Leroy had six children together, including twins, Leroy and Leon. But in 1954 she sued Leon for gross neglect and was awarded alimony. She did not sue for divorce, but it seems clear that they were no longer together after that.

When Ada died on 25 March 1975 in Half Moon Bay, San Mateo, California, she was survived by Paul, Eugene, Elizabeth, and James, as well as 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Leroy lived to be 105 years old, dying on 22 November 1991 in Calaveras County, California.

     i. Paul Addison Myers (1911–2002) was born on 19 July 1911 while his father was leading his first congregation at the Christian Church in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon. By 1920, the family was living in Redlands, San Bernardino, California. In 1930, the 19-year-old Paul was enlisted in the U.S. military and stationed in the Panama Canal Zone with his unit at Fort Clayton.

After his enlistment ended, Paul married and became an accountant in San Francisco. His wife was Esther O'Dell (1913–1954), daughter of the Reverend Charles Norman O'Dell (1883–1973) and Ione Grundy (1887–1968). The couple lived in San Francisco until after the war began, and Paul enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. On 7 December 1942, he entered boot camp as a private first class at Quantico, Virginia, and by October 1943 he had received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was wounded at Iwo Jima, and hospitalized at Guam in 1945.

After the war, Paul and Esther were living in San Pedro in 1949, but I get the impression from the records that the separation of the war took a toll on their marriage. I don't see any evidence that they had children, and Paul was living in Seattle with his second wife already when Esther died on 25 February 1954 in Stanislaus County, California.

Paul's second wife was Janet Kathrine Lynch (1927–2000); they probably met during their service, as she was a member of the Cadet Nursing Corps from 1945 to 1948. I wonder if they didn't meet at the hospital when he was wounded - but that's pure speculation on my part.

Janet died 9 April 2000 in Kirkland, King, Washington. Paul also died there on 11 August 2002.

     ii. Eugene Powell Myers (1913–1998) was born in Silverton, Marion, Oregon on 19 December 1913. When he was 8 years old, and his family was living in Redlands, he and his little sister created a stir in the local community when they tried to run away and "see the world"!

Myers children "see the world" Mon, Oct 3, 1921 – Page 12 · Santa Ana Register (Santa Ana, California) · Newspapers.com
In 1930, Eugene was 16 and residing at the State Juvenile Training School in Gatesville, Texas.

He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on 20 March 1942, and by the end of the war, he had achieved the rank of technical sergeant, having spent 20 months in the Pacific theater. He was discharged on 19 March 1946.

On 31 July 1951, he married Joyce Emily Hughes (1925–2009) in Alameda County, California. They had five children, four sons and a daughter; three of whom are still living.

Eugene died on 15 July 1998 in Grosse Pointe, Wayne, Michigan, survived by Joyce and four of their children. Joyce died there on 12 March 2009.

     a. Wayne Leon Myers (1953–1995) was born on 23 June 1953, in Berkeley, California, and died on December 27, 1995, in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the age of 42. Dr. Wayne L. Myers was listed in the City Directory of New Orleans in 1992.

     b. Dana O'Farrell Myers (1961–2011)  was born on August 9, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan, and he worked for the United States Postal Service in St. Petersburg, Florida, from 1986. His passions were sports, the beach, and camping. He never married, but he spent 24 years with his companion (she is still living) and their cat, Smokey. He died in Sunset Beach on 1 December 2011.

     iii. Elizabeth Jane Myers (1915–1989) was born in The Dalles, Wasco, Oregon on 30 December 1915. She grew up in Redlands, San Bernardino, California (surviving her adventure with her brother, Eugene, when she was six), and followed her family to Kansas in the 1930s. Her father was a pastor in Cincinnati, Ohio, when Elizabeth probably met and married Norman B Hallenback (b. 1904).

Norman was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 30 May 1904. His parents Bert Cornelius Hallenbeck (1875–1954) and Edith Testut (1878–1944), moved the family to New Jersey by 1920. He married Helen J Frank (1908–1985) on 14 Aug 1926 in Bridgewater, Somerset, New Jersey, and in 1930, Norman left her with three small children when he disappeared from the movie theater where he worked with $1600 and a pretty, young cashier. Helen officially divorced him in 1932.

Norman turned up in Cincinnati in 1938, where he was charged with forgery. This arrest led to the alerting of authorities in New Jersey to his whereabouts. Elizabeth probably met Norman in Cincinnati, as that's where her father was preaching. They were married and living in Caldwell, Essex, New Jersey, in 1940, with a daughter (still living) and a son.

Unfortunately, 1940 is the last we see of Norman. He left his second family and disappeared from view; and he is almost certainly deceased. (If he is still alive, he should appear on this list!) Elizabeth remarried in New Jersey in 1945, and divorced in 1951 in Florida. In 1962, she married
Raymond Edwin Hebeler (1914–2005), and they lived in Calaveras County, California, where she died on 12 March 1989. Elizabeth was buried in Mokelumne Hill Protestant Cemetery.

     a. Robert Norman Hallenbeck (1940–2001) was born on 3 September 1940, in Montclair, New Jersey. He was married in 1961, in Los Angeles, California, and again in 1974, in Clark County, Nevada. He died on 13 June 2001, at the age of 60, in California.

     iv. Leroy J Myers (b. 1921) and his twin brother Leon David were born on 21 February 1921, in San Bernardino, California; Leroy was not a healthy child, and while records have not been identified, he is said to have died while his family was living in Dodge City, Kansas, where he appeared on the 1930 Census.

     v. Leon David Myers (1921–1944) was quite an accomplished young man. He was a Master Councilor of the Cincinnati Chapter of DeMolay, and graduated from Withrow High School. He was employed by the American Surety Co. and attending evening college at the University of Cincinnati when he enlisted on 25 April 1942.

Leon received a commission and acheived the rank of Captain. He was flight leader of the 396th Fighter Squadron of the 368th Fighter Group (a Thunderbolt group), serving in the Ninth Air Force. He received the Air Medal, 12 Oak Leaf Clusters. Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart. He was killed in action over Saint-Lô, France, 26 July 1944, near the end of the invasion of Normandy, leaving behind a young widow.

In 1949, he was returned to the U.S. and buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Fransisco.

     vi. James Conrad Myers (1924–1986) was born on 10 Oct 1924 in Orange County, California, and was very small when his father moved the family to Kansas. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 3 July 1943 in Cincinnati, and served with the Chinese Combat Command.

James married after the war, on 9 October 1949; his wife and son are still living. James died on 14 September 1986 in Pacifica, San Mateo, California.

     B. Noble Glenn Powell (1890–1936) was born on 7 April 1890, in Oregon, the only son of Glenn and Arvilla Powell. He established himself as a professional driver in 1910, at a time when chauffuers were transitioning from horse-drawn carriages to motor vehicles. He appears in the Oregon Motor Vehicle Registrations database as early as 1912.

He married Bertha Ann Johns (1896–1980) around 1913; she was the daughter of Oliver Troy Johns (1862–1908) and Ella Francis Elliott (1872–1966). They had a son and daughter in Portland. Bertha also worked as a waitress.

Noble died on 14 February 1936, in Portland, at the age of 45, and was buried there. Bertha was remarried twice, but died on 9 September 1980 in Eugene, Lane, Oregon.

     i. Noble Glenn O Powell II (1914–2015) was born in Portland, Oregon to Bertha and Noble Powell. As a teen, he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps at Mt. Hood. He served in the U.S. Navy in WWII in the Pacific theater. He moved to Eugene in 1951.

On 25 July 1936, in Portland, Noble married Mary Trofimenko (1915–2008), and they enjoyed traveling the world together for 73 years. Mary was born 1 December 1915, in Killdeer, North Dakota, to Wasyl and Anna Procentko Trofimenko. She attended Girls Polytechnic School in Portland. She worked as a retail clerk for Eugene Toy and Hobby.

Mary died in Eugene on 7 October 2008. Noble spent his final years at Gateway Living in Eugene, and died on 26 January 2015, four months after his 100th birthday celebration. He was survived by his two children, 7 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren and, 3 great-great-grandchildren.

Two of his grandchildren are deceased:

• Noble Glenn O. "Bo" Powell IV (1966–2017) was born on May 28, 1966, in Eugene, Oregon. He graduated from Willamette High School in 1984 and joined the U.S. Navy, where he excelled as a boatswain's mate. He deployed for operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom, earning multiple Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals and Commendations along the way. After 26 years, Senior Chief "Bo" Powell retired from the Navy with honor in 2009.
  
  Bo was married in 1991, and he is survived by his wife and two sons, as well as his parents and a sister. He died on 13 September 2017, after a long battle with multiple myeloma cancer.

• Leslie Gayle Powell Daum (1970–1997) was born on 16 February 1970, in Eugene, Oregon. She was killed in a car accident on 24 August 1997, at the age of 27. She was survived by her ex-husband and two sons, as well as her parents, brother Bo, and her sister.

     ii. Arvilla Powell (b. 1920) born just before the 1920 Census, Arvilla did not appear in any other records with her family. Presumably, she died as an infant.


     C. Claudia Mae Powell (1891–1974) was born on 14 November 1891, in Oregon. She married Joe Mulholand on 19 October 1910, in Marion, Oregon; however, they seem to have been separated by 1916, when she appeared in the Portland city directory alone as "Claudia Mulholland."

Claudia lived in Portland and San Fransisco, where she operated a candy shop; she moved to Stayton, Marion, Oregon, in 1951. She died on 15 July 1974, in Stayton, at the age of 82. Private interment was in Rose City Cemetery, Portland.

     D. Pauline B Powell (1892–1970) was born on 31 December 1892, in Oregon. She married George O Greybrooke (1888–1961) around 1920, and they lived in San Fransisco for about 30 years. George was born in the Dakota Territory, and served in the U.S. Army from April 1918 to May 1919, at the end of World War I.

Pauline died Saturday, 14 November 1970 in a Salem nursing home at the age of 78 years. She was survived by her sisters, Claudia Powell, also of Salem, and Mrs. Ada J. Myers, of Half Moon Bay, California.

 - -- --- -- - 

 Family can be hard.

When you start digging into the history of any family, there are stories that can be hurtful or embarrassing to uncover. And when, like me, you are so distant a relative that you might as well be a random stranger, you don't know any of the people who might be hurt or embarrassed by the stories you uncover. That means being extra careful, not only to do thorough research and adequately document what you know, but also to reach out to the survivors of those stories in a way that represents them well.

There were several examples here of (potentially) messy divorces, family abandonment, and the impossible-to-ignore involvement with the Klan. Fortunately for me, I have found the other researchers I've met over the years to be pragmatic about confronting these stories. People who get into this hobby seem to become accustomed to the idea of accepting "black sheep" and scoundrels into their family tree along with the upstanding pillars of the community.

After all, it's not like we have much choice in the matter by the time we come along!

Of the living people mentioned in this post, it looks like I may have found at least one candidate to look for in the DNA database. Once I find a match, I'll be sure to post an update.

Until then, if you recognize yourself in this family, and want to fill in gaps or make corrections, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I'm on Gmail as "callintad," or you can comment below. You can also follow the link above, on the right, to the Callin Family History Facebook group, which is a private group for descendants of James Callin. (Be prepared to tell me how you're related to this family, so I know to let you in!)

I'll be working hard to get as much of this branch documented before I start school in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

The Montgomery Connection

As preparations to publish the Callin Family History revision continue, we have a new branch to consider. The evidence I outlined in Echoes & Rhymes that connects Elizabeth Callin to the James Callin named in the CFH appears to be at least as strong as the evidence that connects James and his brother John to James "1st" Callin; so in that spirit, I'm going to include her descendants in our family tree while I search for more concrete proof. My hope is to find a descendant of Elizabeth and Caleb Montgomery with DNA that matches mine.

To that end, I have begun researching their descendants.

Elizabeth Callin (1798-1834) was born in Pennsylvania, and if she was the daughter of James and Mary Callin, moved with her family from Westmoreland County, PA, to Richland County, Ohio, when she was twelve years old. On 13 August 1822, she married Caleb Montgomery (1799–1872) in Richland County.

According to the Fulton County, Indiana Handbook, published by Tombaugh House, Caleb was born 23 June 1799 in Virginia to Benjamin and Nancy Montgomery, the family who originally settled in Milton Township and established the town of Olivesburg, in Weller Township, which was named for Caleb's sister, Olive Montgomery. The History of Richland County says that Benjamin built the first grist-mill in the township on the Whetstone, at Olivesburg, in 1817. That book also describes the town in 1821:

"The village of Olivesburg was laid out by Benjamin Montgomery in the year 1816, and called Olivesburg in honor of his oldest daughter, Olive. In 1821, the village contained one tavern, kept by Benjamin Montgomery; one blacksmith-shop, by Abel Montgomery; one tailor-shop, by John Grum; one cabinet-shop, by Thomas Beach; one tannery, by Joseph Burget; one horse-mill and water-mill, by Jonathan Montgomery; one wheelwright-shop, by William Lee, or James Hall, and about the usual per cent of loafers."

Caleb and Elizabeth had five children in Olivesburg between their marriage and 1829. When Elizabeth died on 5 November 1834, she was buried in the Olivesburg Cemetery on land deeded to the town by the Montgomery family.

With five young children to care for, Caleb quickly remarried; he and his second wife,
Sarah Mercer (1812–1877), had ten children; the first, Levi, being born in 1835. In 1837, Caleb moved his family to Fulton County, Indiana, where Levi would grow up to become sheriff.

The five children of Caleb and Elizabeth are as follows:

     1. Mary Montgomery married a James Ferrell on 23 March 1843, according to Fulton County, Indiana, marriage records. I have not found any records to indicate when either of them died, but there is a Sarah Ferrell in the household of Mary's sister and brother-in-law in 1850 and 1860.

     2. Sarah Montgomery (1824–1918) was born 27 December 1824 in Olivesburg. She and Henry Davidson (1818–1894) were married on 22 April 1841 in Fulton County, Indiana. They had six children; three sons and three daughters. Henry and Sarah took their family west on the Oregon trail in 1852.

     3. Theodore Montgomery (1826–1904) was born 12 September 1826 in Richland County, Ohio. He enlisted and served a year in the Mexican American War. He later returned to Fulton County, Indiana, and married Margaret Wilson (1831–1916) on 11 March 1849. They had four sons and a daughter.

     4. Porter Montgomery (abt. 1828) died in Vicksburg, presumably during the Civil War, but records have not been found to support that.

     5. Callin "Cal" Montgomery (1829–1912) was born in October 1829 and headed for California to become a gold miner. He lived in El Dorado County for many years and died in Napa in 1912. As far as I can tell, he left no family behind.

In coming weeks, we'll look at the descendants of Mary, Sarah, and Theodore.

As always, if you're a descendant of any of these folks, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at callintad (@gmail.com), post a comment below, or ask to join the Callin Family History group on Facebook.

A Crash Course in Colonial Geography

There is a lot to learn in pursuit of my most distant Callin ancestor, James Callin.

The Callin Family History places him in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, after the Revolutionary War, but I have been unable to locate the land records that might confirm this, or service records that contain any family information.

I have written before, in Lafayette on the Brandywine and A #HamiltonMusical Intermission, about the records showing a James Callin serving in the 4th Virginia Regiment of Foot. So, of course, that raises the question: if our guy lived in Pennsylvania, why did he serve in a Virginia Regiment?

There may be a good answer to that question.

Map of Ohio, Monongalia, & Yohogania Counties.
Yohogania County is in light blue.

Yohogania County was created by the new state of Virginia in 1776, in an area long disputed between Virginia and Pennsylvania. In 1773 the region had been designated Westmoreland County by Pennsylvania, and settlers were moving into the area from both directions. There were two men listed next to each other in the 1773 tax roles of Hempfield, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania: James Callen and Patrick Callen; Hempfield was located in the part of Bedford County that became part of Westmoreland County that year.

The disputed territories included the entire southwestern corner of what is now Pennsylvania, west of the Laurel Ridge (Allegheny Mountains) and south of the Kiskiminetas, Allegheny and Ohio rivers. The disputes over which colony had authority over the area led to overlapping land grants to settlers and battles between Virginians and Pennsylvanians in the period 1774–1775. In 1774, a Virginian militia group even attacked and captured the Westmoreland County seat at Hannastown and arrested three Westmoreland County justices who refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of Virginia.

On December 27, 1779, a resolution by the Second Continental Congress recommended to the two now-states of Virginia and Pennsylvania that, rather than continue to quarrel with each other as well as fighting the British, they should reach an agreement on the border situation. This was done in theory by an agreement reached by commissioners from both states in Baltimore in 1779 and ratified by the legislatures of both states in 1780. From 1782 to 1786, surveys demarcating the borders of Pennsylvania were completed. The areas of Yohogania County ceded to Pennsylvania included all of present-day Westmoreland County and parts of the present counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Washington, and Fayette.

The take away from this is that the James Callen listed in Hempfield in 1773 would have found himself living on land that was considered to be both Pennsylvania AND Virginia for more than a dozen years.

(There is a rather extensive history of the conflict, including more neat maps, at http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundaries/paboundary.html).

Prior to the Revolution, the Virginia Regiment had a history of recruiting from Pennsylvania.  The Virginia militia was established in 1607 and the main purpose of the Crown's militia was to repel invasions and insurrections and to enforce the laws of the colony. Militia service in Virginia was compulsory for all free males.

In 1754 the Virginia General Assembly voted to raise a regiment of 300 men and send it to the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers to defend the area against encroachment from the French. Most of the recruits were characterized by the commander, a Colonel George Washington, as "loose, Idle Persons ... quite destitute of House, and Home." There were frequent desertions because of poor supplies, extremely low pay and hazardous duty, so Virginia Regiment recruiters went to Pennsylvania and Maryland for men.

In contrast, the Quakers who ran the government in Pennsylvania were pacifists, and were reluctant to support fighting in any way. According to one account, "a wagon load of scalped and mangled corpses was drawn past the State House" and a group of "...Presbyterian Scotch Irish, fortified by whiskey and prayers and armed with long greased rifles, descended with blackened faces and Indian costumes upon Philadelphia," to impress upon the Friends the desperate nature of their situation. "The Quaker utopia by the Delaware (River) finally opened its eyes, a bit, to the terrible glow of burning cabins on the frontier." (The Callen Chronicles*, quoting from Bedford Village, written by Harvey Allen).

If the James Callen who lived in Hempfield did enlist in a Virginia Regiment, that could be a reflection of his feelings about the Pennsylvanian government.

After the French and Indian War, the Virginia Regiment was disbanded in May 1763, but at the outset of the Revolutionary War, less than a decade later, a Congressional resolution passed on 14 June 1775 authorized ten companies of expert riflemen to be raised for one-year enlistments as Continental troops. Maryland and Virginia were to raise two companies each, and Pennsylvania six. Pennsylvania frontiersman, however, were so eager to participate that on June 22 Pennsylvania's quota was increased to eight.

As noted in previous posts, James and Edward Callin appeared in the muster rolls of the 4th Virginia Regiment, from 1777. The Regiment was raised on December 28, 1775, at Suffolk Court House, Virginia, for service with the Continental Army. The regiment saw action at the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and the Siege of Charleston. Most of the regiment was captured at Charlestown, South Carolina, on May 12, 1780, by the British and the regiment was formally disbanded on January 1, 1783. Edward was not seen on the muster rolls after 1778, and James had also likely completed his service in 1779, returning to his home in what would soon be undisputably Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

Of course, pinning down exactly where he settled is still difficult, because there were many changes in the organization of Pennsylvania's counties both before and after the time we are searching in. What was called "Westmoreland County" depends on when you are asking. The records may simply not be available online, yet.

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*The 1773 Bedford County tax records for James and Patrick Callen and the muster rolls of James and Edward Callin, as well as a number of other miscellaneous records and the passage from Bedford Village are discussed in the Callen Chronicles, which is available in free/downloadable PDF format at www.callanfamily.net.

For a glimpse of how complicated the evolution of this area was, there are animated maps illustrating Pennsylvania county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Pennsylvania County Boundary Maps" (1673-1878) which may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.