OLDEST PERSON IN COUNTY DEAD
Passing of C.C. Calloway, Past Ninety-Six Years, Lived on Jefferson County Farm 62 Years

The death of Congrave Clinton Callaway, at his home about two miles northwest of Fairbury, on Tuesday, Febr. 9, 1932, closed the career of a pioneer of this region, distinguished in many ways.

Mr. Callaway was the oldest person in the county at the time of his death and had held that distinction for several years. He was also the oldest person who ever lived in the county with a reliable record of his age. Besides that he lived on one farm for 62 years and held one of the longest records in that respect of any person in the county if not the longest. He lived and died on land that he homesteaded in 1869. There has never been a transfer of title on that land nor a mortgage on it from that day to this.

He came from a family of pioneers, the "Clan Callaway" so-called by his niece, Mrs. M.L. Smoot, biographer of the family. They were Southerners and Mr. Callaway was a Confederate soldier and held to his Southern traditions to the last. He served three years in the Confederate army and his father was killed in the Civil War. His mother died in 1867 and he was left without a home, which started him to the great west.

He was born in Howard County, Mo., August 27, 1835. His ancestors were of English stock, settlers in Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and with his migration, Nebraska, always pioneers and lovers of new land, the soil and freedom.

The original house built on the homestead in the early days is still a part of the present home, and within it are dishes and pieces of furniture of the original homestead days now greatly prized by his descendants.

About 25 years ago, Mr. Callaway retired from active operations of his land and since the death of his wife, his daughters, Susie and Agnes, have looked after him and superintended the farm, most of which has been rented out.

After he came to Nebraska, Mr. Callaway was married to Miss Eliza Browning on June 12, 1870. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. Mark Noble, who is still alive, over 90 years of age himself, now living at Portland, Oregon. Mrs. Callaway died June 10, 1919 and was buried on the forty-ninth anniversary of her marriage.

They had eight children, one son C.C. Callaway Jr., dying in 1912. The oldest daughter, Etta, now Mrs. R.L. Gray, lives on a farm ten miles south of Fairbury. Joe Callaway lives in Holt county, Nebr. Mattie, now Mrs. Edgar Shoebotham, lives in Nance county, near Fullerton. W.F. Callaway, a son, lives in Canada and Chas. B. is a grain buyer in Fairbury. The two daughters, Agnes and Susie, as stated above, reside on the homestead.

Mr. Callaway's life should be an inspiration to the present complaining generation. He came to this county with $5 and a yoke of oxen, a covered wagon, two cows and a few pieces of furniture. He lived in a one room house, 14X16 for his first home, the lumber being sawed at Mattingly's mill at Fairbury. The siding was hauled from Waterville, Kans.

Before he retired from active life, Mr. Callaway had the original 160 acres he homesteaded and 240 acres besides, all of which, 400 acres, he still owned at the time of his death.

He lived thru the grasshopper days and asked for and received no aid from the Red Cross or any other organization or people. He lived thru drouths, panics and hard times and saw the inventions that came along, enjoyed them and kept up with the times, serene in his individuality and confidence that he could manage no matter what came along. A little more of that spirit today would do wonders in the present bewildered world.