The Namesake of Calloway Lake

About a mile north of Calloway Lake, just above the boundary between Arlington and Euless, lies the largely forgotten Calloway Cemetery. The cemetery was donated by the Callaway Family in 1886 to the families and descendants of the citizens of Euless.

Richard H. Callaway was born February 6, 1832 in Tennessee (his family used the "Callaway" spelling, while others began using "Calloway").

The Callaway family appears in the 1850 census of District 4 of Franklin County, Tennessee, headed by Margaret Callaway, who was born about 1772 in North Carolina. Also in the family were Richard’s parents, William Callaway (born about 1794 in Kentucky), his wife Esther Callaway (born about 1798 in Virginia). Esther Callaway moved to Tarrant County with her sons and died here. It is possible she is buried in an unmarked grave in Calloway Cemetery in Euless.

Richard became one of the pioneers of northeast Tarrant County, arriving here in the early 1850s. He married Catherine "Cate" Coble of Grapevine about 1858. He was a member of a local Confederate militia company and spent the rest of his life in Tarrant County. He is buried in Calloway Cemetery.

R. H. Callaway first appears here in the 1854 Tarrant County tax list; at that time he did not own any real estate. His brother was here as early as 1852. The voter registration of his brother, J. W. Callaway, dated November 19, 1869, said he (J. W.) was living in Precinct 3 and had been in Texas since about 1852, in Tarrant County since about 1853, and in Precinct 3 since about 1854.

Richard H. Callaway's wife Catherine was born on February 23, 1834 according to family sources, in Bedford County, Tennessee. She was a daughter of Jacob Coble and Mary Kimbro. Catherine’s mother eventually came to Texas, died here, and is buried in Grapevine Cemetery.

On September 13, 1859 Richard patented a tract of one hundred sixty acres in northeast Tarrant County. A little over three years later, his brother, J. W. Callaway, patented the one hundred sixty acres adjoining it on the west. Richard’s tract was a square, one-half mile on each side. These plots are in present-day south Euless.

R. H. Callaway was elected ensign of Capt. J. R. Cummins Company, also known as the West Fork Guards. Callaway’s name appears on a muster roll for that company prepared on June 29, 1861, the original of which is in the Texas State Archives in Austin.

R. H. Callaway appears in the Tarrant County tax list of 1869 as the owner of the entire two hundred eighty-acre Samuel Kephart survey, worth seven hundred sixty dollars, and the entire R. H. Callaway survey of one hundred sixty acres, worth one dollar per acre. He also owned eight horses worth two hundred eighty dollars, eight cattle worth thirty two dollars, and miscellaneous personal property worth one hundred dollars.

The Kephart survey property was due south of the R. H. Callaway survey property, but did not join it (the two properties were separated by the J. R Newton survey). The south end of the Kephart land did not reach the West Fork, but it got near to it. Most of Calloway Lake, an abandoned oxbow of the Trinity River and the only natural lake in Tarrant County, lies mostly within the Kephart survey. The lake was the site of Bird’s Fort.

R. H. Callaway and his family appeared in the 1870 census of Tarrant County’s Precinct 2. He owned real estate worth $2,500 and personal property worth $700. This census shows his birthplace as Tennessee. He and his wife had three children living with them that year: J. E. (a female); M. A. (a female); and B. K. (a male, born about 1868). Also living with them was a laborer named W. H. Harrison, who was born about 1835 in Tennessee.

R. H. Callaway appears in the 1870 agricultural census of Tarrant County. His farm in that year consisted of one hundred forty acres of improved land and six hundred eighty-two acres of woodland. His farm was worth two thousand dollars and his farming implements and machinery were valued at one hundred dollars. He owned eight horses, two mules, nine milk cows, six other cattle, four sheep, and thirty hogs. All his livestock was valued at eight hundred dollars. He had on hand one hundred twenty-five bushels of winter wheat, four hundred bushels of Indian corn, and one hundred bushels of oats.

In the 1873 Tarrant County tax list, R. H. Callaway appears as the owner of eighty acres of the W. E. Owens survey worth three hundred dollars, eighty acres of the J. A. Freeman survey worth one hundred sixty dollars, ten acres of the A. F. Leonard survey worth three hundred dollars, and one town lot in Birdville worth one hundred dollars. He also had seven horses worth two hundred dollars, thirteen cows worth fifty dollars, and miscellaneous property worth forty-eight dollars.

Callaway’s real estate holdings in 1873 are scattered across northeast Tarrant County some distance from the Calloway Cemetery area. The Leonard and Owens surveys are now in Grapevine, while the Freeman survey is in Southlake. None of the three share a boundary with any of the others.

Richard H. Callaway died May 2, 1874 in Tarrant County. His age is stated on his grave marker as 42 years, 2 months, and 26 days. The Texas Historical Marker in Calloway Cemetery in Euless records that Richard’s widow, Catherine Callaway, deeded one and one-half acres for the cemetery in 1886.

In 1880, Cate Callaway and her children lived in Grapevine where she headed her family when the census was taken that year. With her were her three children: Joella, Maggie A, and Benjamin C. Callaway. Also in the family were her unmarried brother, Samuel D. Coble, and a laborer from Kentucky named Toos S. Shacklett.

Cate Callaway died in Grapevine August 8, 1906. An obituary appeared for her in the Grapevine Sun on September 1, 1906. It read:

“Just as we go to press we learn that Mrs. Kate [sic] Calloway, after an illness of only a few days, died Thursday night. She had been in feeble health for some time previous to her death. Mrs. Calloway has been a resident of this community for upward of thirty-five years and had a large circle of friends and acquaintances. She leaves three children to whom we extend our sympathy. She lies buried in Grapevine Cemetery.”

Joella Callaway was born in December 1859. She married W. F. Hendricks (1856-1896) in Tarrant County on November 20, 1888. She died in 1942 at her home in Smithfield, but she had lived many years before that in Fort Worth. She and her husband are buried in Grapevine Cemetery. An obituary appeared for her in the Grapevine Sun on October 8, 1942.

Maggie Allen Callaway was born November 24, 1862. She married Dr. Henry Clay Gilbert (1850-1932) in Tarrant County on November 25, 1884. They were well-known in the Smithfield area for decades. She died at her home in Smithfield at 6:30 p.m. on July 18, 1946 and was buried two days later beside her husband in Smithfield Cemetery.

Benjamin C. Callaway was born in January 1868. He and his wife, Nora May Miller, were married in Tarrant County on July 15, 1893. When the censuses were taken in 1900 and 1910 they lived in Grapevine. He had apparently died by the time his sister, Joella, died in 1942.