Exact date of death for Jonathan Wilson Callaway

I've written before about my first cousin, 4X removed, Jonathan Wilson Callaway.

I think I'd like to have known him in real life, but I expect we may not have gotten on. I just bet Jonathan preferred demure women whose opinions mirrored his own.

Anyway, I figured from the date of the purchase of cemetery plots at Oakland & Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park by his widow that Jonathan probably died in May 1894.

So it was good to stumble upon the letters of administration from his estate in the Clark Co., AR probate books.

He died on 2 May 1894, the same day Annie Vickers bought the plots at Oakland.

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I've updated his Find a Grave memorial.

How I spent my long New Year's weekend...

Some Calloway cousins I never even knew I had came knocking...

A brother and two of his sisters, as well as one of his first cousins.

They are descendants of William Arnett Calloway and Fannie N Mahar/Maher. They use the variant spelling of the surname with an O instead of an A. William Arnett's surname on his gravestone is spelled C A L L A W A Y, so I expect either his son changed the spelling or the gravestone carver made an error.

I've spent some of the weekend talking on the phone, texting and emailing with all of them, who suspected when they found my online family tree that we must be related.

We are fourth cousins, 1X removed - or so says the relationship calculator in my genealogy database. Our common ancestors are John S T Callaway and Amy Stamps.

I've told them the story of the inauspicious beginnings of our eldest ancestor on this soil, Peter Callaway, and how a bastard child gave rise to the colonial dynasty that is now known by the Callaway Family Association as the Peter line.

There are already some twists, turns and a couple of brick walls in their extended families.

Let's start with Fannie N Mahar/Maher. I cannot for the life of me find her parents. I'm beginning to think she hatched.

But I expect it's more likely that her surname has been badly misspelled.

I'm delighted to be able to add C A L L O W A Y to my tags list.