Callison, Cyrus G.

CALLISON

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/28/2021 at 23:24:44

History of Warren County, Iowa; Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns & Etc., by Union Historical Company, 1879, p.736

CALLISON, CYRUS G., farmer, and stock-raiser and shipper, Linn Township, Sec. 18; P. O. Commerce; born in Virginia, in 1831, and when quite small his parents came to Illinois, where he was raised, and made it his home till he came to this county, in September, 1856; he was married in Illinois, in 1854, to Miss Mary Golden, of that State; by this union they have a family of five children: Martha J., Caroline T., Abner F., Wm. G., and Jacob G.; he was raised on a farm, and now owns a finely improved one; his interests in the way of lands, in this county, is 630 acres.

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.904

CYRUS G. CALLISON
For over fifty-two years Cyrus G. Callison has been a resident of Warren County, Iowa, and has been prominently identified with its upbuilding and development from pioneer times down to the present. His early home was in Virginia, for he was born in Greenbrier County of the Old Dominion in September 1832. His parents, Isaac and Hulda (Hickman) Callison, were also natives of Virginia and in religious belief were Methodists. By occupa­tion the father was a farmer and he met with success in his chosen calling. In early life he supported the Whig party but on its organization joined the Republican Party, voting for Abraham Lincoln. He died in Knox County, Illinois, and his wife passed away in Carroll County, Iowa.
Cyrus G. Callison was only eighteen months old on the removal of the family to Vermilion County, Illinois, where he spent his boyhood and youth, his education being obtained in the district schools. At the age of twenty-four years he went to Fulton County, Illinois, where he engaged in farming on rented land for three years, and in 1856 came to Warren County, Iowa. Here he purchased one hundred acres of wild land on section 7, Linn Township, for which he paid six hundred and fifty dollars - all the money that he had. His first home here was a log cabin with a sod chimney and old-fashioned fireplace, in which he lived in true pioneer style for two or three years. He then built a frame house, which is still standing, and recently erected a large two-story dwelling, which is one of the finest in the township. Although he came to the County in very limited circumstances he has been more than ordinarily suc­cessful, owing to his untiring industry and careful management, and at one time he owned seventeen hundred acres of land, but has since given the greater part of this to his children, though he still retains five hundred acres of very valuable land in LinnTownship. He still continues to manage his place and carries on general farming.
In Vermilion County, Illinois, Mr. Callison married Miss Mary Golden, a native of that state, who died in 1873, at the age of fifty-six years. She was an earnest Christian woman and a good housekeeper, and Mr. Callison attributes not a little of his success to her encouragement and assistance, for she was to him a true companion and helpmate. They became the parents of seven children, of whom two died in childhood. The others are Martha, the wife of Carl Hansen, a successful farmer of Linn Township; Calvin and A. F., who are both engaged in farming in Oklahoma; William, who is still with his father upon the home farm; and Jacob, who is farming in Madison County, Iowa.
During his early residence in this County, Mr. Callison experienced many of the hardships and trials incident to life on the frontier. During his first summer here he ran out of money. He took a load of watermelons to Des Moines, which was then the nearest trading point, and after selling them he devoted the proceeds to the purchase of a pair of boots. Money was scarce, times were hard and he had invested all of his money in land. Upon his one hundred acre tract there was not a stick large enough to make a riding whip. At a time when flour was worth six dollars per hundred shorts were used for making bread.
Although reared in the Methodist faith, Mr. Callison has for many years been a member of the Society of Friends and helped to build the Friends Church on his farm in 1880. He has led an exemplary Christian life and is a strong prohibitionist, having never used liquor nor tobacco in any form. His upright, honorable life commends him to the confidence of all with whom he is brought in contact, either in business or social relations and he is justly numbered among the best men of the county.