Tuesday Tagging - Leaning Man

Picture found in Callaway Collection of Photographs, Unidentified Male

Do you know who this might be?

P00011 - "Leaning Man"

Albumin Print, circa 1860 - 1890

Costume, circa 1890s

Costume is similar to 1890 fashion illustration, notice the jacket, shirt collar and tie.

The 1st Wife, the 2nd Wife...Arkansas Marriages

I've heard people with teeth clenching frustration bemoan tracing women in their family history and I'm right there with them when search before 1850.  After 1850, they are still gritting their teeth and I'm smirking along. The only furrowed brow I really encountered were with Jonathan Hosea Callaway's two oldest daughters, Mary Ann Rachel and Martha Van. Their birth dates were clearly recorded in the family bible but not their marriages. 

Without a record of their marriage and their husbands' last name, it becomes difficult to trace them through census records. However, an hour at the genealogy center on Ancestry.com (Library Edition) soon solved this issue. These are transcriptions, not copies of the originals (if you know anything by now is that I thrive on the originals, so I'm still working on getting those).

Transcription: Mary R. Calloway, Female, age 23, born abt 1840, residing in Ashley Co. Arkansas, marries F F Brud, Male, age 34, marriage date - 23 December 1863

I'm still a little furrowed on this one because the surname Brud is not popping up. I really need the original in case there was an error in the transcription (i.e. the name was misspelled). 

The 2nd daughter was Martha Van and apparently went by "Mattie" since her step-mother was also a Martha. I found "Mattie Van Calloway" also married in Ashley County, Arkansas on December 5, 1867 to J. H. Riggin. Still smirking I did a search on FindaGrave.com and found she died on May 7, 1880.  Again her husband is listed as Rev. J. H. Riggin. I blinked... and blinked again. Wait, is that right?!

I quickly shuffled through my files for the youngest daughter of Jonathan Hosea Callaway. Her name was Louisa "Lula" Mason and she married.... yep, there it was, "John H. Riggin." Married  September 24, 1880 - just 4 months after her sister's death. Oh, Come on! Maybe this was a cousin with the same initials? Right? Right?

I checked to see if Lula's J.H. Riggin was a minister too... yep. Then I found these photographs. The back says "Riggin & 1st Wife Callaway." The dating of the photograph puts it between 1860 and 1890, well within the time period for Mattie's marriage to J.H. Riggin. Therefore, based on the above collected evidence and until new evidence proves me wrong, this is one of the few pictures I have of Martha "Mattie" Van Callaway.

That's Arkansas marriages for you and if you think about the time period, it actually makes a lot of sense. I could go into a cultural anthropology thing, but I think I'll save that for another article.

Halloween Tribute

"Dear Ancestor" by Walter Butler Palmer (1906).

"Your tombstone stands among the rest
Neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished marble stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn

You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh and blood and bone
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so
I wonder how you lived and loved
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot
And come to visit you."

J.H. Callaway, buried Hamburg Cemetery, Hamburg, Ashley Co., Arkansas

Sarah Ann Caroline Callaway-Griffin, buried County Line Cemetery, Nashville, Howard Co., Arkansas

Joseph Pitt Callaway, buried Hillcrest Cemetery, Temple, Bell Co., Texas

Susan Amelia "Ada" Nancy Elizabeth Callaway-Chancey, buried Highland Park Cemetery, Ozark, Franklin Co., Arkansas 

Louisa "Lula" Mason Callaway-Riggin, buried Rose Hill Cemetery, Arkadelphia, Clark Co., Arkansas 

Tuesday Tagging - Family Picnic

Picture found in Callaway Family of Photographs, Unidentified Family

Do you know who any of these might be?

P00010 - "Family Picnic" 

Albumin Print, circa 1860 - 1890

Costume, circa 1890s

There are many costumes to chose from in large collections of pictures like these. I try to focus on one clear image, preferably a child since their clothing styles are easier to identify and mark the period. Think about it, children often grow out of their cloths about the time the fashion is changing. Meanwhile adults will wear out of fashion cloths for years before replacing it.

Here is a cropped image of the child I chose to focus. The child is wearing a sailor outfit which was popular in the 1890s.

Pity Me... Pairing Pears!

The photographs have taken over my life. I've become obsessed with identifying the people in them. I'm not concentrating on the ones that have no identification... no, I'm obsessed with the one's that do. In other words, I'm trying to Pair Pears! 

It's crazy because they are all Callaways. But which branch and how many generations removed? The only way to answer these questions is to spider-out. What I mean is I have to spin out the genealogy web to included descendants of descendants. The results look more like a snow flake than a web... actually it looks for like a contagion epidemic map from the CDC. 

The CDC's basic indexing method starts with zero patient. In this case, I'm starting with Jonathan Hosea Callaway. That's pretty far back but photographs became available in the 1820s and 30s. To be thorough, that's why I'm starting with him. He's indexed as C-01.

Then I have list out his offsprings, then each offsprings's offsprings, continuing until I reach the 5th generation.  Do you know how many people that is?! I don't, but it looks like I'm going to find out. The whole idea of indexing aunts, uncles, 1st cousins, 2nd cousins... just makes my head hurt. 

But it's already paying off. Below is a picture (I'm pretty sure) of Edward B. Callaway, 6th offspring of John Hansford Callaway.

 

The thing about doing this is that you don't collect your evidence all at once. New evidence may come forth later, either a month or years. So conclusions reached now may need to be re-evaluated and changed later. Unlike the 10 Commandments, history isn't set in stone. So if you're doing genealogy or looking for answers here, remember that those answers can always change. 

Tuesday Tagging - A Family & One Shocked Little Girl

From Callaway Collection of Photographs, Unidentified Family

Do you know who this family might be?

P00005 - "A Family & One Shocked Little Girl"

Albumin Print, circa 1860 - 1890

Costume, circa 1880s

Costume is similar to style found on 1881 postcard fashion print - notice the drop waist on the girls' dresses. This is the polonaise style consisting of a drop waist and false pleated skirt. 

Thank You, Mr. Boyd & Family Maps!

*For reasons unknown there's been problems with this post. The following first paragraph was missing from the initial publishing.

I didn't post on Friday because I wanted to tell you about my experience at the "Genealogy Lock-In" program at Haggard Library. This was a great opportunity for people to utilize various resources across Texas, attend free workshops and receive assistance from the fabulous Genealogy Center staff. And I got to combine two of my favorite things... my hobby and my job. As a representative for my museum, I was there with my portable audio and imaging lab helping people preserve their family history. I met one lady with whom I spent several long minutes discussing photographs. She was lamenting about her family photographs, many of whom are unidentified and a problem I'm quite familiar with (see Tuesday Tagging). We discussed strategies for aging photographs, typing to fashion. As I was walking away I saw another woman with a catchy black shirt was contrasted with her silver hair. It said, "I seek dead people!" She laughed saying, "Only people like us get it," referring to the women and a few men milling around. 

One of the men I met was Mr. Gregory A. Boyd. If you've ever used the "Family Map" books in the library or www.HistoryGeo.com then you've used the brainchild of Mr. Boyd. He's a one-of-a-kind guy, a combination of "attorney, software engineer, and historian" according to Arphax Publishing Co. website. I use the visual placement of the land lots on the map to determine relative proximity to different family branches. For instance, I discovered that the Baker family farm and the Callaway family farms were within a mile of each other. That proximity explains how Irene Baker and John Callaway probably met and later married.

From "Family Maps of Coffee County, Alabama" page 205

Another puzzle the maps solved was to a reference in the family bible. 

The Callaway family bible says: "Rachel Callaway, wife of John [D.] Callaway & mother of J. H. [Jonathan Hosea] Callaway died near Geneva on the 8th day of January 1848 at the residence of J H Callaway & was buried near Dr. Jones where also lies Lany and her 2 little boys J A & H L Callaway." The big question was where is this Dr. Jones place? Again, the proximity of names came to my rescue in the Family Maps. While highlighting the Callaway land, I didn't immediately notice the Jones on the far left until I looked at the historical map on page 145. There I noticed the "Jones Cemetery."

From "Family Maps of Geneva County, Alabama" page 145

The puzzle began to make sense and it was due to Mr. Boyd and his team's (that's his wife and one other person) hard work. I got to shake his hand and thank him personally for helping me answer some genealogical questions. I thought about asking for an autograph because I sincerely appreciate his work... but decided not to. If you have a chance to attend an all day genealogy workshop, I definitely recommend it. I know I'll me coming back to this one.