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The Editor’s Corner

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The Cumberland Road (aka The Old Pike, The National Road)

 Background ~

The Cumberland Road is the only highway of its kind ever wholly constructed by the government of the United States. When Congress first met after the achievement of Independence and the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the lack of good roads was much commented upon by our statesmen and citizens generally, and various schemes were suggested to meet the manifest want. But, it was not until the year 1806, when Thomas Jefferson was President, that the proposition for a National Road took practical shape.

Traffic on the National Road, according to eyewitnesses, was from dawn to dark, a never-ending procession which often sorely taxed maintenance workers. This scene depicts congestion at bridge over Wills Creek near Cumberland, Maryland

Tradition, cheerfully acquiesced in by popular thought, attributes to Henry Clay the conception of the National Road, but this seems to be error. The Hon. Andrew Stewart, in a speech delivered in Congress, January 27^th, 1829, asserted that “Mr. Albert Gallatin was the very first man who ever suggested the plan for making the Cumberland Road.” As this assertion was allowed to go unchallenged, it must be accepted as true, however strongly and strangely it conflicts with the popular belief before stated. The reader will bear in mind that the National Road and the Cumberland Road are one and the same. The road as constructed by authority of Congress, begins at the city of Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, and this is the origin of the name Cumberland Road. All the acts of Congress and of the legislatures of the States through which the road passes, and they are numerous, refer to it as the Cumberland Road. The connecting link between Cumberland and the city of Baltimore is a road much older than the Cumberland Road, constructed and owned by associations of individuals, and the two together constitute the National Road.

~ Excerpt From The Old Pike, by Thomas B. Searight, 1894.

Editor’s Note – Seeing how the road starts in Maryland, and so does Peter’s line, it seems many of his descendants must have made at least some of this road’s journey. How many of you have “Callaway” ancestors who traveled this road? I encourage you to send in articles for the e-newsletter, about your ancestors making this arduous journey. It doesn’t have to be lengthy or fancy. For example, just tell us where the road took them, when they might have traveled it, any experiences along the way that you may know about. Send them to me, and I will take care of adding them. My email address is , and I look forward to hearing from you.      ~ Donna

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From the President’s Corner

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Like everyone else, I have been watching TV for news of the war.  It seems incredible that my nineteen year old grandson, a freshman in college, now has no room mate as the twenty year old Marine Reserve was called up in early January and is now on duty in the Middle East.

As I have listened to the names of the Naval units I am reminded of the many battles and wars in which our young men have fought.  Callaway men have been there starting with the French and Indian War when brothers Col. William, Col. Richard and Capt. Thomas commanded forts on the Pigg River in the western portion of Virginia.  They were in the American Revolution including my Capt. Charles Callaway who fought in the Va. Continental Line and was at the surrender at Yorktown. So were his four brothers.  They were with Jackson at New Orleans, and the records of the War Between the States (1861 - 1865) list hundreds of Callaways who fought on both sides.  I have seen their graves in "Flanders Field" from WWI and in Normandy in WWII.  A Callaway is one of the group sculptures newly erected in the Tidal basin as a monument to the soldiers who fought in Korea.  A Lt. J.G. in the Navy who took off from The Bonhomme Richard and never returned is listed on the Vietnam Wall.  Some of our CFA members have sons and spouses who were in Desert Storm.  Now I am sure many Callaways are in Iraq.  Let us know who they are so we can pray for their safety and honor their service.  God Bless Them All.

 Pat Schnurr, CFA President

Over Christmas we were briefly visited by our youngest son Peter, his wife Kristen, and for the first time I was able to view and hold our youngest granddaughter Morgan Olivia Callaway, then just 7 months old. Peter, who is a civil engineer works in London whilst his wife is a music teacher there. The CFA genealogy researchers, President Pat Schnurr, Sherrill Williams and Cary Moore will recall that Pete and Kris helped organise the historic meeting at Richmond-on-Thames which resulted in a valuable exchange of research material between they and other international Family researchers (see Photo and report by Cary, CFA Journal XXV11 2002 Page 74). Peter Callaway's ancestor is Sir John of Rockbourne manor, Hampshire, born ca. 1470. 

 

Above a photo of Morgan with her proud parents, and one of her with even prouder grandparents, Bruce and Dawn!

Cheers,
Bruce and Dawn Callaway

Editor’s Note - The following family story was graciously submitted by Victoria Hawkins de Rosa. It is always nice to read about some “Callaway” women. I know you will enjoy it.

  There must be some vector of attraction to Topeka.  My grandmother was Sarah Columbia Callaway (13th child), daughter of Robert Smith Callaway of Marshfield, Mo.  After their mother Viola Belle Trousdale died, Sarah and her sister Martha left for Kansas.
   Sarah began her career in a one room sod school house somewhere in Kansas (anyone know where?, write me at vrdaroza at ix.netcom.com) where she was a little overwhelmed teaching farm kids not much older than herself and much larger than herself.  She would do that rotating through the different student's houses where each family would provide
room and board as part of her payment. I believe she did that for several years.
   Her older sister Martha had located to Topeka to open a dress shop about one block from the capital.  Martha was a wonderful seamstress but very shy and not much in the sales department.  So eventually, she asked Sarah to come and help her with the shop.  Sarah left teaching and joined Martha at the dress shop. 
   Now Sarah was not intimidated with anything, now that she had faced down the big farm boys and she could sell!  So they became quite a team with Sarah in the front dealing with the ladies and Martha doing the production part in the back. Sarah had a wonderful figure and with her auburn hair piled high I am sure she was a good ad for her sister's dresses.
   They attended the Methodist Episcopal church not far from the capital.  Wonder if the ministers were related in the article from the last newsletter that was just published? That is where Sarah met her husband William Charles Hawkins and they were married in that church in 1889.
   As fate would have it, even though my parents were born in Ohio and Michigan, our family also ended up in Topeka when I was growing up for about 13 years and we attended that same church.  Topeka was not a very big town then and I am sure it was much smaller in the 1880's and so even if the Callaway ministers from last month were not closely related, I am sure they knew of each other.

So much for my small world story.
Victoria (Hawkins) da Roza

Editor’s Note - The following family story and photographs were graciously submitted by Debs Cofer. It is an especially good description of family migration. I know everyone will enjoy reading it.

 I am submitting the arrival of my family's line in America.  Please note that the Cofers and Callaways join in at least two places after arrival in Georgia making me a double Callaway.

 I have included a couple of pictures that I took when I traveled back to Maryland and the land of my fathers.  I have attached a picture of my Grandfather. It was probably made during one of the stopovers of the itinerant photographers that passed through Wilkes Co.

 As with the Callaway line, the Cofers have not found the direct link back to England from which the original John Cofer left in the 1640's.  There are many possibilities that have been traced, but nothing locks in.  The name probably comes from someone making boxes for a variety of purposes.  In the 1600's coffers were used for holding valuable items.  The King James Version of the Bible uses that term in several places.  A box built in a stream of water to isolate a part of the wall at the edge is even today referred to as a coffer dam.

 John Cofer was transported to America by Nathaniel Pope into Westmoreland Co. Virginia.  Land grants were awarded based on the ability to develop the land.  This required people.  The more people a person could have in his hire, the more land he could get.  Nathaniel Pope was a large landholder in Virginia.  His daughter married John Washington.  They were the great grandparents of George Washington.  George was born in the same area that my ancestor helped develop.  George Washington was born on this property, but moved to Mt. Vernon farther north to develop his own property.

 After four years John Cofer moved across the Potomac in the Port Tobacco area.  Sometime either before or just after this he married Sarah.  The last name is unknown.  John died early and Sarah married twice after that to Barnes and then Godshall.  John acquired property there and some of the family lived in that area for 150 years.  He had three sons, Francis, Thomas and John.  Francis moved to what is now Burke/Fairfax VA.  Thomas married and had children, but his line seems to have a break in it. John, my ancestor married Elizabeth Thomas and had at least four children. Names of two sons and one daughter are known.  Henry from this union married Elizabeth Clements and had at least four sons.  Matthew of this group married Elizabeth Boswell.  Matthew fought in the Revolutionary War, but died about 1799.  His three sons took the mother and moved to Abbeville, SC in the early 1800's.  Sometime around 1820, all three sons, Joseph B., Thomas and John moved with their mother to Wilkes Co. GA. All, including the mother Elizabeth Cofer applied for land grant from the newly ceded Indian areas. 

 John, my ancestor from this group married into an established Wilkes Co. family, Mary Williamson in January, 1826.   Mary was the daughter of John Claybrook Williamson and Mary (Polly) Callaway.  Polly was the daughter of Isabella Henderson and Joshua Callaway.   Joshua was the brother of Job, one of the original Callaway's in Wilkes Co.  (An interesting note is that Isabella Henderson roots can be traced back to King Edward II of England)

 John and Mary had six sons and three daughters who lived to adulthood.  Of these Matthew DeKalb Cofer was the youngest born in 1844 just three years after John died.  Mary did not remarry, but kept all the family together. Mac and Eugenia were married September 12, 1867, with a record of that marriage in the archives. Eugenia Callaway would be about a fourth cousin on his mother's side.  Eugenia was a descendant of Job, through Jacob, Parker and Seaborn her father.   

 I guess this makes me a double Callaway.

 Matthew and Eugenia had two children, Walter C. born in 1868 (we assume the C stands for Callaway, but have no hard evidence) and Lucy Ann, before she died in 1873.  Mac remarried another cousin, Georgia Cofer and they had at least five additional children.  All seemed to marry into old line Wilkes Co. families. 

 Walter married Josephine Hampton in December 1890.  My father, Walter Matthew, was born in January 1892 and Walter C. died later that year.

 Several years later, Josephine remarried W. T. McAvoy who had at least nine children already.  One of those married a Callaway.  About 1899, Josephine and W. T. left Wilkes Co. for Palo Pinto Co. Texas with my father who was almost 8, a younger half brother and several of Mr. McAvoy's children.  My father grew up in Texas and married a local Texas girl, Sarah Spear.  After three children were born, they then moved to Hall Co. Texas in the late 1920's and had four more children.  I am next to the youngest of that group.  I have one son, Gary living in Cincinnati, OH who has two sons to carry on the name.  I also have two daughters. 

 With that history, I can trace eleven generations of Cofers in the US since the first immigration.

Query # 5
Subject – Malinda Frances Callaway
Submitted by – Kate H. Bradley
katehbradley at earthlink.net

I have information on the marriage of Malinda Callaway to West D. Lovelady (aka Wesley). I have all of the children, births and deaths and photos of their daughter Rhoda and descendants thereafter. I am seeking any information on Malinda and photographs from this branch.

Query # 6
Subject – Francis Willis Callaway
Submitted by – Carl F. Callaway
ccal5832 at attbi.com

Would appreciate any info on Francis Willis Callaway family in 1860. They are not on the 1860 census for any state as published by the CFA. They appear in 1850 and 1870 in Dewitt Co., Tex. 1870 census shows wife Mary Woods as HEA due to remarried to H. G. Woods in 1867 after F.W. died in 1866 and H.G. Woods died in 1869.

Query # 7
Subject – Iva Belle Callaway
Submitted by – Joanne Hillis
HeavenlyDays at bresnan.net

My line of Callaways stems from Ohio. My grandmother was Iva Belle Callaway. Her father was Henry Callaway, his mother was Lucinda Bailey. His grandfather was Calvin Callaway, grandmother was Mary Mcquirt. We do not know who Calvin’s dad was or what happened to him. His mother was Melinda Acton, and stepfather was Christopher Malone. They were married in N.J. Does anyone have a line on Iva Belle? Do you know if the immigrant was Peter Callaway? I would appreciate any answers anyone might have. Thank you, Joanne Hillis P.S. Were they English and what part?

The Landmark, Statesville, North Carolina, December 25, 1900

Brought Back from Texas
A North Carolina Moonshiner who escaped in 1896 Landed by Texas Officers.

 In April, 1896, M. M. Callaway, of Watauga County, NC was convicted in the Federal Court at Statesville, North Carolina, of removing spirits and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in the penitentiary at Albany, NY. Soon after this Mr. T. J. Allison, then United States marshal, started to Albany with Callaway and other prisoners. The marshal stopped at Greensboro to get other prisoners, expecting to spend the night there and go on to Albany next day. In getting off the train at Greensboro Callaway, who was in the charge of a deputy, made his escape. It was learned afterward that he had gone to Texas, where his father and other relatives lived, and papers were sent for him. Wednesday United States Deputy Marshal R. M. Warden, of the northern district of Texas, with headquarters at Dallas, and Mr. E. F. Gates, assistant chief of police of Dallas, arrived in Statesville with Callaway.  Callaway had been living in Rockwall County, Texas, but he had, Marshal Warden says, been implicated with some of his kinsmen in a cattle stealing scrape, and for the past 18 months Callaway had lived in Virginia. The Texas officers kept track of him, however, and from Virginia he went to Mountain View, Oklahoma, where Marshal Warden arrested him on the 10^th of the present month.

            Callaway will have to be resentenced before he can be sent to the penitentiary for the crime of which he was convicted in the Federal Court here, and it is presumed that he will remain in jail until the regular term of the court next spring. Callaway’s full name is Milliard Monroe Callaway and in Texas he passed under the name of J. M. Monroe. He has a wife and children at Mountain View, Oklahoma.

Editor’s Note – Personally, I like a little “excitement” in my family tree. So for any of you who do also, and would like to know, please email me and I will give you this “notorious” Callaway’s ancestry. 

The Laurel Daily Argus, Laurel, Mississippi, June 8, 1912

 

“Why is a Cat?” - a Burning Question

A MINIATURE house of representatives, made up of a hundred or more of the “baby members,” who are serving their first term in congress, convened at Rauscher’s the other night and spent the evening joyously. It was the first banquet of the kind ever held. Party lines were forgotten, the methods of the house, the personalities of the older members, were burlesqued by the “youngsters.” There are 120 members in the house serving their first term, the greatest number since the beginning of congress, due to the political upheaval in 1910. The business of the evening, after the banquet had been cared for, was a bill introduced by Representative William C. Redfield  of  New York,  placing a duty of $1

on all cats, and parts of cats, whether wild, pole or domestic in type, brought into this country or its possessions. The bill also provided for a special additional duty on Maltese cats of 40 cents per pound of malt contained in each cat. Catnip was to be placed on the free list. The measure, declared its father, was to protect the American cat industry. The Democratic opposition to the bill was led by Representative Frank B. Willis of Ohio. He denounced Representative Redfield as representing the cat industry. Free cats, Mr. Willis declared, were indispensable to the American people. Representative Linthicum of Maryland made a stirring address, upholding the catsup industry. Whether the measure finally was passed or turned down was never quite decided. The burning question which developed from the debate was “Why is a cat?” Those in charge of the banquet were Oscar Callaway of Texas, Edwin C. Underhill of New York, Asher C. Hinds of Maine, William D. Stephens of California, J. Charles Linthicum of Maryland, Henry G. Danforth of New York and Steven B. Ayres of New York.

Editor’s Note – Can anyone identify the Oscar Callaway of Texas referred to in this article?  

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The History Corner

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