CFH First Draft: Alec Callin

This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Alec Callin is the 8th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

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Third Generation

8. Alec Callin (James "2nd"-2, James “1st”-1) (also known as Alexander Callin) was born about 1808 in Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Ohio, where he grew up and married; then he and his mother and brothers moved to Iowa about the year of 1840. The Callin Family History stated:

"Married and moved with his family and mother to Iowa about the year of 1840.

"The mother referred to was "Aunt Mary", wife of James 2nd who was killed with a gun. She sold the farm and went with Alec to Iowa where she died some years later. Nothing has been heard from that branch of the family since 1845." 

According to U.S. General Land Office records, he purchased land at Burlington in Washington County, Illinois on 1 May 1843; at Fairfield in Des Moines County, Iowa, in 1850; and in Muscatine County, Iowa, in 1854. He owned land in Fairfield, Jefferson, Iowa, as of 15 June 1854. 

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As I mentioned in his brother's post, Alec leaves us with a tantalizing mystery. The original Callin Family History says he married and moved to Iowa, and the land records and Muscatine burial place of his mother seem to confirm this.

But at the same time, Iowa was admitted to the Union in 1846, and we should have been able to find someone with the Callin name - Hugh, Alec, or one from their family - in Iowa on the 1850 and 1860 Federal Census. After all, Hugh appears in the 1840, in Louisa County, Iowa. It seems odd not to be able to find any more evidence, though admittedly, I can only check online sources for the time being.

The search will continue.