I have been away from home, but on my return I noticed a number of emails regarding
the book, "Callaway Baptist Preachers, 1789-1953," by Timothy Walton Callaway,
DD. The book was copyrighted in 1953 and published the same year by the Fuller E.
Callaway Foundation, LaGrange, GA.
Timothy Walton Callaway, DD, was a descendant of Isaac Callaway, Jr. and his wife,
Elizabeth Barrett, of Wilkes Co., GA. The parents of Isaac Callaway, Jr. were Isaac, Sr.
& Elizabeth Arnold Callaway of Montgomery Co., NC.
The introductory material in this book is very full of ERROR. All would do well to
ignore that material. The correct ancestral lineages of these Callaway Baptist Preachers
have been proven over the last 25+ years by the Callaway Family Association, Inc., and the
lineages are posted (some still in the process of being prepared for posting) on the CFA
website at
www.callawayfamily.org
The actual biographies of these Baptist preachers were submitted to T.W. Callaway by
their descendants, and in later cases, by the preachers themselves. The early biographies
are mostly provable civil and church records. However, all these Baptist preachers
descend from two Callaway ancestors: Peter Callaway, immigrant to Somerset Co., MD and
Joseph Callaway, immigrant to Essex Co, VA. The Wilkes Co., GA preachers descend from
Peter Callaway of Maryland.
In this "preachers book" mention is made of Thomas Callaway of Charles Co.,
VA as a probable ancestor. That possibility has been disproven. Thomas C. of Charles
City Co., VA "died in this country with no heirs" and his land grant was
escheated to the Crown - due to lack of no heirs. The land was then granted to another
person.
Someone responded to the notes on the Baptist preachers with the information of
descending from John & Bethany Arnold Callaway of Wilkes Co., GA, through their son,
Job(e) who moved to Coosa/Autauga Co., AL. That is true, but Job(e)'s wife was Mary
(known as Polly) MILNER (not SMITH), and they were married in either Wilkes or Oglethorpe
Co., GA.
Further mention was made to "Gad" Callaway with the statement that his name
was probably shortened from "Gadston." That is not true. Gad Callaway's
name was really GADDAH Callaway, and he was named for his mother who bore the surname
GADDAH.
So, please be cautious when using old published material on the Callaway family. Most
of it contains these errors, researched (if at all) during a time when records were not
readily available, and contacts between researchers were more difficult.
I am sorry that I will have little time to respond to questions about these matters.
The CFA English Research Team is leaving August 31 for another month of research in
English records - on the search for the ancestry of Peter Callaway of Maryland and Joseph
Callaway of Virginia. Time is getting shorter and shorter.
Thanks,
Sherrill U Williams, Genealogist, CFA, Inc.
SherrillUWilliams(a)prodigy.net