Callaway Family Association - October 2000 CFANet

Hello, all you Olympic Games fans. Now that the 27th Olympiad is finally over, we can get back to normal routines, like writing the Bulletin. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) carried about 18 hours of coverage daily. Congratulations to Sydney, Australia for hosting such a tremendous event. We have three Australian CFA members, in the persons of Dr. Bruce Callaway and his son Geoff, plus Sir Frank Callaway, one of the best known personalities in the international sphere of music education.

Dr. Bruce and his wife, Dawn, together with Geoff, were at last year's Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA but, unfortunately, they will not be able to get to Callaway Gardens this year. It looks like my wife, Rosemary, and I may be the only "foreign" members in attendance. Too bad we don't have more of an international presence at those meetings. A step in that direction, though, will be when the new Board has its May 2001 meeting in Victoria, B.C.

In the last Bulletin, I mistakenly had Guy Newland moving to Oklahoma, when in reality he moved to Alabama. Also, Robert Stansbury's e-mail address had a typo. It should have been rastansbury at worldnet.att.net .
Sorry for any inconvenience, Bob.

1. Helen Imburgia of Aston, PA has given me a little update on the Clint Eastwood book, for which she did the genealogical research. It has not been published in the USA, only in the U.K., due to possible law suits. The author, Patrick McGilligan, has told Helen that the most favorite chapter is the one she did the research for and proofed for him.

2. Speaking of the U.K., Cary Moore and Sherrill Williams met with CFA member Bill Piper in Richmond, Surrey last Sunday, Sept.24, a few days prior to returning home. We hope to hear more about this meeting when Cary and Sherrill report at Callaway Gardens.

3. Still on the subject of the U.K., Barbara Callaway (Pollack) of Rutgers University directed the Rutgers Study Abroad Program in Britain and Ireland last year. Rutgers has students in two universities in Ireland, two in Scotland, and eight in England. This meant lots of traveling - a great way to spend a year in England, she says. Having lived in Lewes, a truly lovely town overlooking the South Downs in Sussex, ten miles from Brighton, Barbara felt she was there alongside Bernard and the "ladies", commenting on their first report from England. Barbara has been at Rutgers since 1972. She has served as Dean of the Graduate School, Associate Provost of the Newark Campus, and Provost of the New Brunswick Campus during her years there, as well as a Professor of Political Science. Since 1996 she has been back in her department enjoying the lifestyle of a faculty member. Barbara wishes to get to a Callaway Family meeting, but being a working woman, she says it will have to wait until retirement in about three years. She is a Charter member of CFA.

In Bulletin # 7 we had a letter from Dr. Joseph Pitt Chancey, Jr. regarding his mother, Mrs. Floy B. Chancey, who had moved from assisted living to a nursing home in March. Dr. Chancey has now informed us that his Mother passed away on June 22, 2000 at 101 years of age, after suffering a massive heart attack. She was the widow of Joseph P. Chancey, Sr., son of Ada Callaway. Mrs. Chancey was a Charter member of the Callaway Family Association, and so revered all the "old timers", many of whom have now gone on. She attended many of the annual meetings, including one or two at Callaway Gardens. Even at the age of 101 she had expressed a desire to go this year.

I just talked to Victor Calloway, Meeting Chairman, on the phone and he reports that registrations have been coming in well, and he hopes to have about 120 by the time the meeting begins on October 12. Everything is in order and he understands that Howard "Bo" Callaway will be there at the Opening Ceremony. Having watched part of the Buick Challenge today, being played at Callaway Gardens Resort, I see that the weather is perfect. Hopefully, it will remain that way at least until October 15. The next Bulletin will feature a report on this special Annual Meeting.

For anyone attending the Annual Meeting, a side trip to visit the Troup County Archives in LaGrange, GA is recommended. It houses the Callaway Family Association Archives. The Director, Kaye Lanning Minchew, extends a warm welcome to anyone interested, and she says, "It would be great if so many people came that we were swamped." Kaye has kindly written an article for the Bulletin, and it follows.

The Troup County Archives in LaGrange, Georgia, operates a joint city, county, and school board archives and records center, a local history manuscripts repository, and a local history and genealogy library. The Archives collects, protects, and makes available for research local government records and manuscripts, audiovisuals, and printed materials relating to the history of the West Georgia area. Collections date from the beginning of the county in 1826 to present times.

The Archives staff includes Director Kaye Lanning Minchew, Charles Kelly, photo archivist, Paul Wetherington, II, processing archivist, three research assistants, and bookkeeper Diana Thomas. Staff members will be glad to answer inquiries about the holdings. Please contact the Archives at 136 Main Street, P.O. Box 1051, LaGrange, GA 30241 or 7068841828 or fax 706-884-1840 or e-mail at info@trouparchives.org. The staff is always happy to give tours or more information about the workings of the Archives! The Archives is open to the public free of charge. The Archives is open Monday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday & Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Archives is located 17 miles north of Callaway Gardens just of U. S. 27.

CALLAWAY COLLECTIONS

Several collections at the Troup County Archives relate to various branches of the Callaway Family. In 1897, Fuller E. Callaway, Sr., and several local businessmen took over operations of Dixie Mill, a new textile mill that had just opened in LaGrange. Thus began the Callaway textile mills that grew to operate over a dozen mills located within one hundred miles of LaGrange. Fuller Callaway, Jr., sold the company to Milliken and Company in 1968. The Callaway legacy continues in LaGrange and West Georgia through the Foundation's extensive philanthropic activities.

The Callaway Family Association papers are the official records of the family genealogical association. The papers date from 1970 to present and include both official organization records such as membership roles and annual meeting notes plus extensive genealogical files donated by members. Most of these papers have been indexed and the Association maintains a computer program to assist in searching for Callaway family members in census and other genealogical files. A wealth of material about family members can be found in this collection. (Note: The Archives welcomes donations of family files and genealogical materials to this and other collections.) The William Choteau Callaway Memorial Book Collection of family histories and books written by Callaway Family members is also maintained at the Troup County Archives.

Collections relating to the family include those of Fuller Callaway, Sr.'s son Cason. The bulk of the collection starts in 1936 when Cason retires from active management of Callaway Mills and begins to develop Blue Springs Farms and the Georgia Better Farms Project (a Depression and World War II era project to improve farming conditions in the State.) Extensive correspondence files document these projects while later correspondence files, blue prints, and records of plantings document the transformation of Callaway Gardens from spent cotton fields to a lush garden resort. The Collection also contains records of Howard H. "Bo" Callaway's years as president of the Gardens and includes many photographs, brochures, articles, and videotapes about the Gardens. (Additional Cason Callaway materials are at the Richard B. Russell Library at the University of Georgia and at the Gerald Ford Presidential Library.)

The Fuller E. Callaway Family Collection includes copies of Fuller Callaway's outgoing correspondence in 1909-1922, scrapbooks of news clippings about the mill, photos of the mill and mill supervisors which document everything from picking cotton to producing cloth, rugs, bed spreads, etc., and family papers, articles, and photographs documenting the Callaway family in Troup County.

Related papers include the J. L. Hand Family Collection. The papers document J. L. Hand's business activities in South Georgia, including the activities of the Hand Trading Company, a large family-run department store in Pelham that operated until 1984. Mrs. Fuller Callaway, Jr., and Mrs. Cason Callaway were daughters of J. L. Hand and the Hands have are many connections with LaGrange.

A special oral history project with Alice Hand Callaway, Fuller Callaway Jr.'s widow, culminated in the production of a video, Ferrell Gardens: A Growing History. Mrs. Callaway spent sixty five years overseeing the development of Ferrell Gardens, the gardens that surround the family's Hills and Dales home in LaGrange before she died in 1998. Sarah Coleman Ferrell who planted boxwood mottos and developed former cotton field terraces into a lush green garden started the Gardens in 1842. The oral history project will focus on the growth and development of the historic gardens over the last 150 plus years.

Kaye Lanning Minchew
Director, Troup County Archives
136 Main Street
P.O. Box 1051
LaGrange, GA 30241
http://www.trouparchives.org