The Further Legacy of Theodore Montgomery

Welcome back, cousins!

(Click to enlarge)

Fair warning, there is a lot of tragedy and untimely death in today's post. Today we continue with the children of Theodore and Margaret (Wilson) Montgomery. The tree on the right should help you get your bearings - and now we set sail with their second son:

II. Commodore Wilson Montgomery (1854–1904)

"Com" Montgomery was born on 11 December 1854, just after his family returned from their adventure in California. He grew up on the farm his father established on the outskirts of Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, and he attended the local schools, where he did well. He even served as a teacher for seven years.

On 7 June 1877, he married Alla M Shoup (1856–1939) in Fulton County. Alla was born in Independence, Missouri, in August 1855, daughter of John R Shoup (1828–1901) and Helen M. "Nellie" Barrett (1828–1905). Her family relocated to Indiana after the Civil War.

Com was one of the foremost farmers in the county; he was active in the Grange, a director for several years in the Agricultural and Fair Society, secretary of the Fulton County Anti Horse Thief Society, Vice-president of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Co., and always prominent in Farmers' Institute work.

Com was stricken with a fatal form of peritonitis which ended his life on 26 March 1904 at the age of 49. He was buried in the Rochester I.O.O.F. Cemetery. Alla moved to Long Beach, California, in 1913 to be near several of her siblings and children, and she died there on 17 August 1939. She was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California.

     A. Clara Gertrude Montgomery (1878–1908) was born on 11 April 1878 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. She graduated from the local high school, and on 11 October 1903, she married Edward Eugene Murphy (1878–1920) in Rochester. Edward was the son of  John Murphy (b. 1851) and Samantha "Mattie" True (1847–1918).

John Murphy bound for trial Tue, Nov 1, 1881 – Page 2 · The Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana) · Newspapers.com
Edward was born on 26 February 1878 in Rochester, Fulton, Indiana, and was raised by his widowed mother along with his half-brother, Harry W Capp (1868–1917), from Samantha's first marriage. Records are not clear when his father died, or whether his parents divorced. The family appears in the 1880 Census as boarders in a house in Rochester, and there is a newspaper notice of a John Murphy of Rochester being bound for trial on fraud charges, but there is no indication that this is the same John Murphy, and that is the last record I can tie to anyone of that name in Rochester.

(It's possible that John Murphy is related to the other Murphy families I've written about, but it doesn't seem likely based on what little I know about him.)

Edward studied law under Peter Buchanan after he graduated from high school and was in that office for three years. He served one term as city clerk. He then accepted a position as deputy county clerk under William Wright, serving one term, then being elected county clerk in 1906. After filling his term he opened a law office. He also was prominently identified with Republican politics having served as county chairman in 1911 and district chairman in 1916 and was on the state central committee.

About 10:30 a.m. on 15 October 1908, Merle Ream, the milkman, drove down the alley behind the Murphy home and exchanged remarks with Clara about her day. She told him, "I'm trying to get rid of some of the trash." He had only reached the cross alleys when he heard a piercing scream come from the Murphy residence and he ran back to see Clara making her way to the house with flames all over her body. Before he could reach her, she sank to the ground. Mr. Ream, with others who had been drawn to the scene by the screams, succeeded in getting the flames out and moved her into the house. Most likely, the wind had blown her clothing over the fire and before she noticed it had spread. She died at 2 a.m. on 16 October. She was 30 years old.

Clara's sudden death left Edward alone to raise two small boys. He remarried, but not until a decade later, when he married the widowed Lillian I (Kissinger) Mohler (b. 1879) in Fulton County, Indiana, on 19 December 1918. One Saturday night in January 1920, though, he complained of an earache, which worsened the following day. He died on Monday afternoon, 12 January 1920, of what turned out to be meningitis, at age 40. Clara and Edward were survived by their two sons and were buried in Rochester I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

     1. Robert Eugene Murphy (1905–1965) was born on 28 August 1905 in Rochester, Fulton, Indiana. After his mother died, Robert was reared in the home of his aunt and uncle, Robert Shoup and Winona (Baker) Montgomery, who lived in Gary, Indiana. He attended Indiana University at Bloomington in 1924, and later graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He became an attorney for General Motors.

On 7 January 1933, Robert married Virginia M Ahlburn (1905–1989), daughter of Allen Edward Ahlburn (1875–1959) and Ella McKee (1880–1928), in Cincinnati. The young couple remained in Cincinnati for a few years before Robert took his job with General Motors and relocated to New York.

Robert died on 3 June 1956 at his home in Rockville Center, Nassau County, New York. He was 48 years old. Virginia eventually followed their daughter to Naples, Florida, where Virginia died at age 84 on 27 August 1989. They were survived by their daughter and numerous grandchildren.

     a. Eileen M Murphy (1935–2017) was born on Valentine's Day, 14 February 1935, in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. Eileen graduated from South Side High School in Rockville Centre, Nassau County, New York (on Long Island), and she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from St. Lawrence University. Her first job was editor in chief of the General Motors monthly newsletter. Shortly after, she became a flight attendant Eastern Airlines.

She married her first husband in 1959 in New York City, and they had five children together, whom they raised in Naples, Collier County, Florida. Soon after moving to Naples, Eileen founded Yesteryears Restaurant. She was also a volunteer with Hospice, Literary Volunteers, the Shelter for Abused Women & Children, and Naples Community Hospital. She and her first husband divorced in 1981, and she later remarried.

Eileen died on 19 March 2017 in Naples and was survived by her husband, five children, fourteen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.


    2. Hugh M Murphy (1906–1924) was born on 26 November 1906 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. Late in the summer of 1922, while attending high school, he suffered from an attack of influenza and contracted pneumonia. His constitution was never strong and he contracted tuberculosis. In November 1922, he was taken to Healthwin Hospital in South Bend, St Joseph County, Indiana, where he grew worse until he died on 1 March 1924.


     B. Dora E Montgomery (1880–1888) was born on 9 January 1880 in Rochester and died of diphtheria on Thursday, 27 September 1888. She was buried in Odd Fellows cemetery (I.O.O.F.) in Rochester.

     C. Orbra Wilson Montgomery (1881–1951) was born in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, on 12 December 1881. Wilson married Ethel Belle Baker (1883–1961) on 29 November 1906 in Rochester. Belle was a daughter of Ananias Baker (1848–1909) and Tamer M Holder (1851–1926), and she was also born in Rochester on 9 April 1883.

Wilson started out as a farmer, but at some point, he took a job in Great Falls, Montana. The records aren't clear as to when the family left Rochester, but they appeared in both Great Falls and in Chicago, Illinois, where Wilson worked as a superintendent and general contractor. His eldest daughter may have been born in 1907 in either Rochester or Montana, depending on which records you accept as correct; their second daughter was born in Chicago in 1914; and Wilson's World War I registration placed the family in Great Falls in 1917-18. The whole family appeared in Great Falls in the U.S. Census for 1920, and the youngest daughter was born in Chicago in 1925.

The family seems to have remained in Chicago from at least 1925 forward. Wilson died on 11 May 1951 in Chicago, and his obituary noted that he was a member of the Great Falls (Montana) Masonic Lodge. His widow, Belle, moved down to Houston, where she died on 23 April 1961 in Bunkerhill Village. They were survived by their three daughters and four grandchildren.

     1. Helen V. Montgomery (1907–1977) was born on 19 June 1907, either in Indiana or in Billings, Yellowstone County, Montana. She married Ralph Stanley Stackig (1904–1954), probably in 1931 in Chicago. He was born on 14 May 1904 in Chicago, the son of Victor Stackig (1872–1931) and Matilda "Tillie" Lindh (1874–1950).

Ralph seems to have been a life-long Chicagoan, and he died there on 18 February 1954, just a couple of months shy of his 50th birthday. Helen moved out west, probably to be closer to her surviving son, and she died on 10 February 1977 in Montclair, San Bernardino County, California.

     a. Ralph S Stackig Jr (1932–1951) was born in Chicago on 4 October 1932. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves and was sent to fight in Korea. Private First Class Stackig was a member of the 90th Field Artillery Battalion, 25th Infantry Division. He was seriously wounded by the enemy in South Korea on 20 June 1951 and died of those wounds on 22 June 1951. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

     b. Harold Victor Stackig (1937–2003) was born in Chicago on 25 May 1937 and graduated from Hirsch High School. He moved out to California around 1960, was married, and had a daughter. He lived in Garden Grove, Orange County, for the last twenty years of his life, and died on 16 September 2003.

     2. Mary Alice Montgomery (1914–2004) was born on 29 December 1914 in Chicago, and grew up in Great Falls, Montana, returning with her family to Chicago in her teen years. She married Lawrence Lown McDonald (1913–2001) about 1935 and eventually moved with him to Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.

Lawrence was born on 17 January 1913 in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, to Paul Tamble McDonald (1884–1936) and Kitty L Lown (1885–1936). He was a mechanical engineer. He died in Fort Worth on 11 July 2001, and Mary Alice followed three years later on 16 July 2004.

     3. Jane Baker Montgomery (1925–2011) was born in Chicago on 20 January 1925. She married Paul James Stocks (1923–2014) on 16 June 1944 in Cook County, Illinois. Paul was the son of August Joseph Stocks (1900–1958) and Geraldine Elizabeth Bannon (1902–1963), born on 16 January 1923 in Chicago.

Jane and Paul moved out to Galena, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, where Jane died on 18 January 2011 and Paul died on 17 August 2014.

Note: Belle and Wilson had four grandchildren as of 1961 - assuming that number includes the late PFC Ralph Stackig, and his brother Harold, that leaves two additional children between Jane Stocks and Mary Alice McDonald.

     D. Robert Shoup Montgomery (1884–1935) was born on 14 April 1884 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. He graduated from Purdue University, Class of 1909, and became a manager of the Indianapolis plant of the Chevrolet Commercial Body corporation.

On 15 June 1911, Robert married Winona Jennie Baker (1887–1945). She was the daughter of Oscar Rowan Baker (1854–1940) and Mary A Aydelotte (1858–1946), born on 24 March 1887 in Knightstown, Henry County, Indiana. They raised their son and a nephew, Robert Eugene Murphy (see above).

Robert died at his home in Indianapolis on 28 November 1935. Jennie moved to Mecklenburg, North Carolina, but returned to Winchester, Randolph County, Indiana, in 1944 to live with her mother. Sadly, about a week after undergoing major surgery in Detroit, Jennie died there on 26 August 1945 and was buried in Fountain Park Cemetery in Winchester.

     1. Robert Baker Montgomery (1912–1970) was born on 13 May 1912 in Gary, Lake County, Indiana. He was living with his uncle, Paul Baker, when he died on 23 December 1970 in Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana.

     E. Charles Lee Montgomery (1886–1927) was born on 20 July 1886 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana.

He married Mary Fern Ault (1890–) on 26 September 1908 in Rochester. Fern was born on 5 September 1890 in Rochester, and her parents were Oliver S Ault (1866–1930) and Hester Elvina "Hattie" Barrett (1866–1954). Not long after their wedding, the entire Ault family - Oliver and Hester, Fern and Charles, and Fern's five siblings - moved to Everett, Snohomish County, Washington.

Charles found work as a mason in Everett, where he and Fern appeared on the 1910 Census. A couple of years later, they were back in Rochester, where their daughter was born, and then, Charles took the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, where he worked for the Dantzler Shipbuilding Company. Their son was born there, and they appeared in the 1920 Census, but a few years later, Fern and the children returned to Washinton State. That's where they were living on 27 March 1927, when Charles died in Jacksonville, Florida, following an operation for the removal of a kidney. His body was returned to Rochester, and he was buried in the Oddfellows Cemetery there.

Fern remained in Seattle after Charles died, working as a clerk in a department store. About 1932, she married the widowed proprietor of a bottle factory named Albert Lewis Vanvaley (1868–1941) and moved with him back to Everett in Snohomish County. After Albert died on 26 November 1941 and was interred in View Crest Abbey Mausoleum in Everett.

Fern remained in Everett for many years but she eventually married again. She and Paul F Glaser (1878–1973) were married on 6 February 1953 in San Diego, California, and lived in Seattle. Paul died on 24 November 1973, and Fern followed on 8 August 1975; they are buried together in the Acacia Memorial Park in Seattle, King County, Washington.

     1. Unnamed Montgomery (1910–1910) was a baby boy born to Charles and Fern in Everett on 7 March 1910. He died on 2 May 1910.

     2. Margaret Beth Montgomery (1913–1997) was born on 4 January 1913 in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. She attended Lincoln High School in Seattle, class of 1931.

In 1932, she married a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy, and traveled with him, working for the war effort in California and Virginia. They had four small children together, then divorced in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1942. She remarried William Calvin Hutson (1914–1974) on 4 October 1944 in Camden County, North Carolina, and they returned to Marysville, Snohomish County, Washington in December 1945. They ran farms in Snohomish County until 1969 when they moved to Tulare Beach (also in Snohomish County).

Bill died on 5 June 1974 in Marysville, and Margaret died there on 11 January 1997. Margaret was survived by six of her seven children, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

     3. James Edgar Montgomery (1917–1980) was born on 10 May 1917 in Biloxi, Harrison County, Mississippi. He served in the U.S. Navy from 12 February 1945 to 14 April 1946, and he died on 23 August 1980 in Everett, Snohomish County, Washington.

Edgar most likely married Genevieve Cecelia "Jennie" Zuk (1915–2002) between 1937, when he appeared in the Everett city directory living at 2130 Colby avenue, and 1940 when the couple appeared in the U.S. Census. Jennie was born on 22 May 1915 in Seattle, the daughter of Polish immigrants, Alex Zuk (1889–1966) and Julia Wojnar.

Edgar worked for his step-father, driving a truck for the Van Valey distribution company, and he and Jennie appeared in the Everett city listing through 1957.

Edgar died on 23 August 1980; Jennie died on 21 January 2002.

     F. Guy D Montgomery (1891–1960) was born on 1 February 1891 in Fulton County, Indiana. On 18 December 1909, he married Ethel Lackey (1889–1976), daughter of  Andrew Lackey (1846–1894) and Angeline Goss (1848–1943). She was born on 3 January 1889 in Rochester.

Guy worked in a garage, as a mechanic, and in sales, with a brief stint working in Chicago as a grocer in 1913-1914 before returning to Rochester. Guy and Ethel had their daughter while they were in Chicago, and their son was born back in Rochester. Then at some point between appearing in Rochester on the 1920 U.S. Census and appearing in Los Angeles on the 1930 Census, the family moved to California.

Guy died on 20 November 1960, when he and Ethel were living in Whittier, Los Angeles County, California. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. Ethel remained in their home there until she died on 29 November 1976 and her remains were cremated. They were survived by their son, Harold.

     1. Frances Mae Montgomery (1913–1958) was born on 14 January 1913 in Illinois, probably in Chicago. Her family relocated to Rochester, and then to Los Angeles, where she graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1932. In 1940, she was single, living at home with her parents, and working as a stenographer.

While I was not able to find documents to fill in the rest of her story, we know from her record in the California, Death Index, 1940-1997, which lists her parents' surnames, that Frances M. Andre died in Los Angeles County on 17 September 1958. She was buried in  Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Los Angeles County, as her father would be two years later.

     2. Harold D Montgomery (1915–1983) was born in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana, on 16 December 1915. He graduated from Los Angeles High School three years after his sister, in 1935. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 18 November 1945 and was stationed at Amarillo Army Air Field. Records indicate that he lived in Los Angeles after the war, and he died there on 26 November 1983.

As far as I can tell, no one from this family survived Harold.

     G. Hugh Montgomery (1894–1895) was born to Com and Alla Montgomery on 9 August 1894, died on 29 March 1895 at 7 months of age and was buried in Rochester's I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

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Just a few more people to talk about, but we're getting closer to the end of the tree! Yes, again. I know, I said that more than a year ago. But we shall press on next week!

As always, if you've found one or more of your relatives mentioned in this blog, please get in touch. You can comment below (anonymous comments are usually not as helpful), or email "mightieracorns" at Gmail.com.

We now have more ways to reach out:

a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/MightierAcorns/
a Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/MightierAcorns
a Ko-Fi cup - https://ko-fi.com/mightieracorns


...and if you prefer a private group, we still have the Callin Family History group on Facebook for "cousins only" (there will be a question about how you're related to the family before you can join).

Until next time... Happy Hunting!

The 20th Century Callin Clan

Amanda Walker, about 1873

(Since John Henry Callin is the next family member on our list, I'm reposting this earlier piece on his family. Enjoy!)

This is the story of one generation of one family; just a little more than one life span. It was a century that bridged centuries, saw three major wars, and took my family from the old frontier to a new one. It was one generation that multiplied two ancestors into many cousins... but enough poetry - let's get started!

My great-great grandmother Amanda Lydia Walker was born in 1857 on Scotch Ridge in Wood county, Ohio. Her father was born in New York around 1828, and there is some speculation that his parents were Scottish immigrants who arrived after the Revolution. In 1874, when she was 17 years old, she married 33-year-old schoolteacher and Civil War veteran John Henry Callin.

John was the oldest son of William Callin and Elizabeth Berlin (who we read about in November's "Silk or Satin" post). William was a prosperous farmer known in the county for his physical strength and his industriousness, but not for his education. John, however, 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. If it is true that William's farm was a stop on the Underground Railroad, that may have contributed to the enthusiasm his sons showed for enlisting in the fight. 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 a Lucy Patterson in October 1865, according to his pension records - it isn't clear whether she is any relation to the Captain Patterson who commanded John's unit during the war, or what happened to cut that relationship short. Needless to say, there isn't any mention of this first marriage in the biographical sketches of John in the Wood county history. At any rate, they do not seem to have had any children, and John was free to marry Amanda nine years after his wedding to Lucy.

John & Amanda Callin's family - c. 1892

John and Amanda's eldest son, Byron Herbert, was born in November of 1874 - the year they were married. The following year they had a daughter, Leota, who died in infancy. After a few years, they had another son - my great-grandfather, John Quincy, who was born in 1879. Then, starting in 1885, when John would have been 6 and Byron would have been almost 11, the rest of the children came along in quick succession - Emma, their only sister (1885), Prentice (1887), Welles (1889), and Ray (1890).

The family photo to the right shows the whole family from around 1892. Standing up in the back are Byron and John Q. Amanda is seated on the left with Prentice and Welles to her right and left; John H. is holding Ray and Emma is standing to the right.

B. H. Callin, May 1895

Byron was a precocious young man, and he seems to have decided to follow in his father's footsteps as an educator early on. By one account, he was given a teaching certificate by the county board of examiners at age 16. In 1894-5, he taught at the school in New Rochester, Ohio; then attended Berea College in Berea, Kentucky for a term; and he attended the 1895-6 winter term at Findlay College in Findlay, Ohio. On July 18, 1896, he married Fannie E., daughter of John and Eliza Muir of Scotch Ridge, Ohio.

John Q. Callin (right)
Bowling Green HS football

John Q. also grew up to become an educator, though he didn't make as many headlines as his older brother. John played the left halfback position on the Bowling Green High School football team, and broke his ankle during a play against the Perrysburg team - which made the local papers. (BGHS beat Perrysburg 35-0!) He graduated in May 1900, and was listed in the commencement program  as delivering an Oration, Unnoticed Heroes.

(Given that theme, he probably would have appreciated the idea of Mighty Acorns!)

At the Turn of the Century, the Callin family was coming of age. The family portrait below was likely taken in 1902, around the time John H. moved the family to Fostoria. Standing from left to right in back are Ray (12), John Q. (21), Emma (15), Welles (13), and Prentice (14). Seated in front are Byron (26, and living in Dayton by this point), John H., and Amanda.

I estimate that John H. retired from teaching around 1889 - at 49 years of age. He seems to have gone back to farming, and he became more active in the Grand Army of the Republic. Even though his pension records indicate that he was never commissioned by the Union, he was known in his community as "Colonel Callin", which was possibly his rank in the GAR. His mother, Elizabeth, was living in his home in Bowling Green when she died in 1903.

John & Amanda Callin's family - c. 1902

John Q. married Bertha Cramer in 1906, and their daughter, Yvonne, was born in May of 1907. They had two sons: John Norman, in 1912, and Robert (my grandpa Bob), in 1920. They stayed in Fostoria that whole time, presumably supported by John's teaching.

Byron’s marriage to Fannie Muir didn't last long. Records of their divorce have proven to be elusive, but in 1906 he surfaced in Baker, Montana where he married Ruby Cole. Their daughter Opal was the first of John H. and Amanda's grandchildren, and she was born in April 1907, in Minnesota.

During their courtship, Byron and Ruby were riding in a buggy, going on a hunting trip, when the horse became spooked and in the subsequent furor, the gun that he had in the front of the buggy discharged and struck him in the right side of his jaw. He carried a terrible scar on his face for the rest of his life - and in the portrait below, you will note that he keeps his right side turned away from the camera. According to Truman Matcham, a son of Emma Callin, the family was always suspicious of the story and felt there was more to it than Byron would admit.

Welles Monroe Callin was born on April 19, 1889 in Bowling Green, Ohio. He grew up there until 1902, when the family moved to Fostoria. Welles attended Fostoria High School where he was the captain of the Ohio State Championship football team in 1907.

Emma Beatrice, born July 8, 1885, married a man 41 years older than herself in 1907. George D. Matcham was widowed when his first wife, Marion Worcester, died the year before. They had been married since 1871, and had opened a 20-room cottage at Linwood, a resort town on Lake Erie, just a few years before. George and his first wife never had children, but in November 1908 he and Emma presented John and Amanda with their first grandson, George Jr. Since John H. is also said to have owned property at Linwood, it seems likely that his new son-in-law may have helped him get started in the business of building resort cottages.

Welles Monroe Callin, c. 1908

After his high school graduation on November 10, 1908, Welles married Lucy Patterson, daughter of a local Fostoria city councilman, George B. Stone. They eloped to Windsor, Ontario, Canada and moved to Detroit. Welles’ brother Prentice was living there also, and they may have moved in with him. This marriage didn't work out and they were divorced shortly thereafter; they had no children.

Welles and Prentice then seem to have left for Edmunds County, South Dakota where their brother Byron was living.  He held a number of degrees, including at least one in theology, and had been a traveling preacher for a time in South Dakota, as well as teaching school at nearly every level.

Prentice George Callin
Hattie Own

Byron and Ruby had a second daughter, Elda Geraldine, while living in South Dakota, then Byron moved the family to Plevna, Montana. Welles seems to have followed them, but Prentice returned to Ohio where he homesteaded a piece of property and married Hattie Owen in 1910.

It was around this time that Byron began calling himself “Herbert”, his middle name. Welles evidently thought this was quite elegant and is listed in the 1910 census as “Monroe Callin”, though nobody ever seemed to call him that. In Baker, Montana, he met Marion Elizabeth Silvernale, the daughter of Baker's blacksmith, Charles Silvernale. They eloped sometime in 1911. It was quite a scandal, and there was even an article in the local paper with the headline, “Where is Marion Silvernale?”

Her family was not exactly smitten with the idea of their little girl seeing a divorced man, but the couple settled in Whitefish, Montana where Welles went to work for The Great Northern Railroad. They had three boys, Cameron Welles (1912), Charles Silvernale (1913), and John Kenneth (1920).

In 1913, John Henry died at the age of 72. Ray was attending college at Gambier, Ohio (probably Kenyon College), and Amanda moved to Vermillion to live near the Matchams. In 1920 she and Ray were living in the home of a widow named Anna Sherod, where Amanda worked as a housekeeper. Welles was still in Montana with his young family, but it seems the rest of the boys gravitated to Middlefield in Otsego county, New York.

John and Prentice Callin

Byron and family were in Middlefield in 1915. Prentice was there, as well, with Hattie and their two boys, Owen (1911) and David (1914); both boys were born in Ohio, so they must have moved not long after David was born - and by 1917 they seemed to be back in Ohio. Byron and Ruby stayed in New York state through at least 1923 or 4, and had the last three of their children there: Perda Jane (1916), Elsie Permilia (1920), and John Elijah (1923).

After Congress passed the declaration that entered the U.S. into World War I in April 1917, 2.8 million men were drafted into the Army. John and Prentice seem to have enlisted (or at least registered for the draft), though it isn't clear whether they were in the U.S. Army or an Ohio unit. They were a bit older than the average recruit - Prentice was 30 and John was 38. It doesn't appear that they got far from home before hostilities ended in November 1918, which was surely welcome news to the rest of the family.

The good news was not to last. On September 21, 1921, one year and one day after the birth of his youngest boy, John K., Welles was on a short run from Troy to Libby, Montana. He was standing on the platform between the locomotive and the tender when a heavy coal rake, that was sticking out beyond the side of the locomotive, struck a trestle and knocked him off of the train and into the riverbed. He landed on his head and died instantly. He was 32 years old. He is buried in the Missoula Cemetery in Missoula, Montana.

Ray Callin, with
Mary Delcamp

John Q. and Bertha moved to Schenevus, New York (not far from Middlefield) around 1921, when Bobby was about six months old. John taught there for a few years before moving back to Ohio. In February 1923, George Matcham died of pneumonia, leaving Emma with five children - the youngest being three years old: George Jr. (1908), John Edward (1912), Marjorie (1915), Truman (1916), and Ruth Ellen (1920). Emma remarried five years later to Gus Heimsath, and the aging Amanda moved into their home in Oberlin. That same year, 1928, Ray married Mary Delcamp.

Byron Herbert "Prof"
Callin, 1923

Sometime after the birth of John Elijah, Byron and Ruby had moved back to South Dakota from New York. Truman Matcham later recalled that the family felt that the reason Prof moved so often may have been because he was “asked” to leave. He recalls that when he was young and the family was talking about Prof, the kids were told to go out and play. It seems that Prof had quite a liking for the ladies. Some time around 1930, Prof told Ruby that he was going to look for work. He never returned. She divorced him and raised the family alone.

At some point after this, Byron married again. Records about this union are sketchy. They had one child, Flora Ida, but this marriage also ended in divorce. He remarried and another daughter was born, Ella Margaret.

On November 30, 1933, in Alford, Florida Byron Callin was shot to death. There are several stories about what actually happened. One is that he had been repeatedly trespassing on his neighbor’s property. Another was that it was a land dispute with his in laws. His death certificate states “Gunshot inflicted homicidally”. His occupation is listed as “Farmer.” Flora made numerous attempts to look at the records of the incident, but the County of Jackson, Florida refused to allow her access. No arrests were made. The whole incident simply went away. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Alford.

Mercifully, Amanda did not live to see Prof's ignominious end. She died in February 1933 at Oberlin, and after that, the Callin family began to move out of Ohio more permanently.

John Q. and Bertha had moved back to Fostoria from New York by 1930, but they soon decided to move down to Florida, once again following Prof's lead. John tried his hand at building resort cottages around the growing town of Orlando, and they lived out their days in Winter Park. By then, Ray and Mary had moved to Florida, also, with their son, Glenn, who was born in 1936. Prentice stayed in Ohio until the mid-1950s before moving to San Diego with Hattie.

It was barely 100 years from when Amanda, a daughter of Ohio's pioneering settlers, was born in 1857 until the 1950s saw the dispersal of her children and grandchildren to the East and West Coasts - and John Q.'s death in 1956. They were teachers, preachers, soldiers, builders, and adventurers who saw America come through some of its most celebrated episodes; and their lives were bracketed by the end of the Civil War at one end, and the rise of the Civil Rights movement at the other.

And that's just one family.