Butte County
Biographies
FRANK MARION CALLAWAY
FRANK MARION CALLAWAY.—By his own unaided efforts, Frank Marion Callaway has
achieved success in life. Left an orphan when but a mere youth, he has by his
indomitable grit and energy worked his way up from the very humblest of
beginnings to a prominent place among the representative citizens of Butte
County. He was born in Fredericktown, Madison County, Mo., May 12, 1860, a son
of Powell and Maggie E. (Berryman) Callaway. The father was also a native of
Madison County, Mo., and there his death occurred about 1870; he and his wife
were the parents of seven children, all boys, three of whom are living, Frank
Marion being the youngest and but a babe when his mother died.
About ten years after his mother’s death,
Frank Marion Callaway began supporting himself, working for his brother, John
Callaway, on a farm in Madison County during the summer months, and receiving
eight dollars a month for his labors. He remained with his brother about four
years, assisting with the farm work and going to school during the winters. At
fourteen years of age was doing a man’s work on a farm during the summer, for
fourteen dollars per month, the rest of the year working for his board and
attending school. Farm wages were low at that time, and when twenty years old
he was receiving eighteen dollars a month, the best wages paid in that section.
In 1881, at the age of twenty-one, Mr.
Callaway came to Sutter County, Cal., and there his marriage occurred, to Miss
Aggie Black, who was born in Marysville. She was a daughter of a pioneer who
was a partner in the Buckeye Mill until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Callaway are
the parents of one child, Evelyn, a graduate of the Chico High School, and also
of the State Normal, class of 1917. Mr. Callaway
worked for eight years on ranches near West Butte, and then began working for himself, raising garden truck, Irish and sweet potatoes,
melons, beans, etc. He ran two large wagons to Colusa and Marysville, selling
the products of his ranch, selling in Marysville alone sixteen hundred
cantaloupes in one week, not to say anything about watermelons. He also raised
hogs and cattle, buying cattle for feeding purposes.
Mr. Callaway sold out his interests in Sutter County and
located in Chico, Butte County, in 1903. Here he purchased forty acres, the
land being a portion of the sixth subdivision of the Bidwell
rancho. He set out his acreage to almonds and prunes, reserving ample drying
yards for his fruit, and has put in the latest in horticultural improvements.
He also raises alfalfa, melons and potatoes, and hogs. He later sold twenty
acres of his ranch and built a fine residence on the balance of the property.
He irrigates his orchard from his well, by means of an electric pumping plant.
Mr. Callaway is a member of the California Almond Growers’ Association, and the
California Prune and Apricot Association. Fraternally he belongs to the
Meridian Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is Past Grand and
ex-Representative of the Grand Lodge, also a member of the Great Oak Camp, of
Woodmen of the World. Both Mr. Callaway and his wife are members of the Rebekah Lodge at Meridian. The family are
members of the Christian Church.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 October 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1057-1058, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte
County Biographies