Monday, April 26, 2021

CFH First Draft: John Henry Callin (1840-1913)

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

John Henry Callin is the 54th 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. 

Please use the Contact Form (at right) to send questions or corrections.

Fourth Generation

54. John Henry Callin (William H.-3, John-2, James "1st"-1) was born on 10 Aug 1840 in Richland County, Ohio.  He grew up on his father’s farm in Peru Township, Huron County.

John was a good student who was accepted into the Western Reserve Normal School in Milan, Ohio, when he was 18. Three years later, in 1861, he began teaching his first classes in Wood County, Ohio. Of course, that April saw the start of hostilities between the states. John dismissed his students in the middle of their term, and enlisted in the 21st Battery of the Ohio Light Artillery.

He acquitted himself well as a soldier, and was later credited with leading Detachment B during its deployment in West Virginia. He brought home notebooks full of poetry he wrote on the battlefield, including an account of his unit's part in halting Morgan's Raid.

After his discharge at the close of the war, John attended a course at Hillsdale College in Michigan, and then returned to Wood county, where he taught school for 22 years.

John married Lucy A Patterson on 27 Oct 1865. It is unclear whether she is any relation to the Captain James W. Patterson who commanded John's unit during the war. Most likely, she is the daughter of Martin Patterson (1818–1891) and Abigail Osgood (1820–1908). If so, she appeared in her parents’ home under her maiden name in 1870. John and Lucy divorced in 1873 in Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio, according to John’s pension record in the National Archives, with the note that there were no children from this marriage.

John Henry Callin and Amanda Lydia Walker were married on 8 Apr 1874 in Scotch Ridge, Wood, Ohio. Amanda, a daughter of William "Yankee" Walker (1833–1915) and Lydia Anti Bowen (1828–1879), was born on 14 Mar 1857 in Scotch Ridge, Wood County, Ohio. She grew up in Webster, Wood County, Ohio, even appeared in her father’s home again in 1880, after her mother died.

Amanda and John lived in Plain Township, Wood County, in 1880 and 1886, relocating to Middleton, Wood County in 1900 before retiring to Fostoria, where they lived in 1903. They remained in Fostoria in 1910, and that is where John died on 17 Mar 1913 at the age of 72. He was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Bowling Green, Wood County.

Amanda went to live in Vermilion, Erie County, Ohio in 1920 with her youngest son Ray; she is listed as housekeeper there for Anna Sherrod and Mrs. Morris Ness. She lived with Ray’s family in Florence, Erie, Ohio in 1930. She died on 12 Feb 1933 at the age of 75 in Oberlin, Lorain County, and was buried with John in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Amanda’s obituary was printed in Vermillion on February 12, 1933, and was clipped and passed down through the family to Vicki Callin Hunt:

“Colonel's Widow Passes On

“Mrs. Amanda L. Callin, former Vermillionite died early Sunday morning at the home of her daughter Mrs. H. G. Heimsath at Oberlin at the age of seventy-six years and eleven months.

“Mrs. Callin was the widow of the late Col. J. H. Callin an officer in the Civil War.  She was born in Bowling Green, Wood County and the body was taken to that city for funeral services and burial on Tuesday under Government supervision.  She leaves four sons, John and Prentice of Bowling Green, H. B. whose home is in Florida and Ray of Florence township, and one daughter Mrs. Heimsath of Oberlin, better known here as Mrs. Matcham.  One son was killed on a Western railroad about five years go.

“Mrs. Callin came to Vermillion in 1907 and lived on a farm for thirteen years.  She also was a resident of Linwood Park for many years.  She was a member of the local Ladies Auxiliary of American Legion and of the Florence Congregational Church. 

“Col. Callin passed away in 1913.”


(Note: while the highest rank reported in John’s service records was “sergeant,” he was a colonel in the Grand Army of the Republic, the veteran’s fraternal organization that existed from 1866 to 1956.)


John Henry Callin and Amanda Lydia Walker had seven children:


192 i. Byron Herbert Callin, born 5 Nov 1874, Bowling Green, Wood, Ohio; married Frances Edith Muir, 18 Jul 1896, Wood County, Ohio; married Ruby Mary Cole, 1906, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; married Georgia I Hancock, abt 1931; died 30 Nov 1933, Alford, Jackson County, Florida.

ii. Leota Callin was born on 11 Aug 1875 in Plain Township, Wood, Ohio. She died in 1876 in Bowling Green, Wood County, and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.

193 iii. John Quincy Callin, born 11 Jul 1879, Bowling Green, Wood, Ohio; married Bertha May Greenlee, 9 Jun 1906, Seneca, Ohio; died 6 Apr 1956, Winter Park, Orange, Florida.

194 iv. Emma Beatrice Callin, born 8 Jul 1885, Leipsic, Putnam, Ohio; married George Delorain Matcham, 1907, Fostoria, Hancock, Ohio; married Gustav Heimsath, 10 Dec 1928, Cuyahoga, Ohio; died 13 Nov 1951, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio.

195 v. Prentice George Callin, born 22 Sep 1887, Middleton, Wood, Ohio; married Harriet Ellen Owen, 15 Jun 1910, Wayne, Michigan; died 15 Jun 1960, Vista, San Diego, California.

196 vi. Welles Monroe Callin, born 19 Apr 1889, Bowling Green, Wood, Ohio; married Florence M Stone, 10 Nov 1908, Essex, Ontario, Canada; married Marion Elizabeth Silvernale, 2 Sep 1911, Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan; died 28 Sep 1921, Libby, Lincoln, Montana.

197 vii. Ray Callin, born 26 Aug 1890, Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio; married Mary Delcamp, 11 Sep 1928, Cuyahoga, Ohio; died 17 May 1965, Winter Park, Orange, Florida.


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