Flanders Callaway House, Femme Osage District, St. Charles County, MO

After living for about 12 years in the Femme Osage District of St. Charles County, MO, Flanders Callaway (James, Joseph Callaway) purchased 400 arpens of land in June, 1811, about eight miles west of his original grant. During 1811 and 1812 he built a log house on this property and moved his family there near the village of Charette. In 1813 he sold his original grant to his son, John Boone Callaway. He purchased an additional 802 arpens of land near his new residence in 1815 which made him the owner of approximately 1022.5 acres. His house was in Montgomery County when Flanders died in 1829 and that area became Warren County before Jemima Boone Callaway died in 1834.

The log house which Flanders Callaway built in 1811-12 was unusual for the area and the time period as it was quite large and had two stories. It was well built as it survived several floods of the Missouri River which completely inundated it more than once. In the 1920s a porch had been added and the house had been covered with siding (as pictured in photo). In 1968 the house was completely dismantled and sold, remaining merely stacked logs until 1979 when it was purchased by the current owner and moved to St. Charles County for reassembly.

The house is now located in the Femme Osage area on a grant originally belonging to Jonathan Bryan, a near relative of Rebecca Bryan Boone. It is in the same area where the Daniel-Nathan Boone house stands, not far from Callaway Forks and the original grant of Flanders Callaway. It is being reconstructed by hand methods as authentically as possible to appear as it was when built in 1811-12. When restoration is completed, the owner plans to furnish it as it might have been in the early nineteenth century.

Robert E. Thomasson, M.D., a St. Louis surgeon, is the owner and active participant in the reassembly of the Callaway house. His primary nonmedical interest is early Missouri history including the history of the buildings, equipment and other items in his growing collection. For the 1984 CFA Annual Meeting in St. Louis, he was the host on the premises for the group tour and the guest speaker at the family dinner on Friday night.

The above article was written by CFA Historian, Bobbie L. Callaway, and originally published in the 1984 CFA Journal. The photo is courtesy of Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, MO.

For updated information and photos visit www.danielboonefamily.org

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