I finally did it - it has been nearly seven years since I published the replica of the original Callin Family History and decided that my next Big Project should be to publish an updated version. And now, I'm waiting for the author proof to come in the mail so I can release the "final" product!
He is a chunky boi.
The Callin Family History (2020 Revision) clocks in at 762 pages, and documents James Callin and 1336 of his descendants. Due to its size and a rise in publishing costs over the last couple of years, the list price is going to be about $50 - but on the bright side, there is no way you will lose it in the bottom of your bag!
This book only tracks the first six generations of descendants, which feels a little incomplete (I'm in the eighth generation, so I didn't make the final 1336), but that also made it easier to reckon with the ethical implications of publishing information about living people. Only two of the 1337 individuals with biographies in this book are still with us - and one of them (Hi, Glenn!) is as eager to see the book as I am.
There are, unfortunately, no pictures - again, the legal and technical problems that go along with publishing other peoples' photos were too much for me to deal with, and photos would have pushed the final page count well over the 800-page limit I was working within. If any of you would like to work together on publishing a smaller/narrower section of the family tree with pictures, that might be worth discussing over on the Callin Family History Facebook group.
MEANWHILE,
If you simply can't wait to start digging into the text, I've begun adding the research (with source citations!) that make up this book to WikiTree - if you start with the page for James Callin and click the "Descendants" button, you will see how far I've made it.
BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!
I have also finished editing War Poems, a collection of poetry written by my great-great-grandfather, John H. Callin. You can see one of those poems, The Morgan Raid, on this blog.
This book contains 77 poems, along with a biography I wrote for this edition, a transcription of his original obituary, and endnotes to help give some historical context to some of his subjects. I also included public domain images from the Library of Congress to illustrate some of the people and places he wrote about.
War Poems comes in at 115 pages and will be available in a hardcover edition only.
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Details, details...
As I said, I'm waiting for the author's proof copies to come in the mail. Once I get those, I'll be able to make sure the covers look right and none of the images in the poetry book were misprinted, then I will be able to release them both!
I am self-publishing both books through Lulu.com, and I plan to post the links so you can buy them from Lulu directly. You will be able to find them on other sites, but if you buy through a global distributor, they collect distribution fees - when you buy from Lulu, they give me those fees.
In the case of the
Callin Family History, any profits I see will be used to a) pay for my Ancestry membership and b) buy copies to donate to libraries. I plan to send copies to the
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and to both the
Ashland County Genealogical Society and the
Wood County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, to thank them for their research help and for making many of the obituaries that made it into the book available to the public. Families documented in this book lived all over the U.S. and Canada, so if you think a local library would like a copy for their collection, let me know and we'll work out the details.
I expect the War Poems may find a broader audience, and since my aunt Vicki provided the text, I'll be working with her to decide how to handle any proceeds from sales of that book.
