Biography of Capt. E. Addison McCaleb

Capt. E. Addison McCaleb was a farmer and stock-raiser born in Putnam County, Illinois in 1833. He was the sixth child of Samuel and Catherine McCaleb, who had ten children. After attending rustic log schoolhouses and one year at Judson College, he taught for two winters. He served in the United States Army for seven months and later settled on a wild piece of prairie land in Dade County, Missouri, where he became an extensive farmer and owner of 1,003 acres of land, dealing largely in short-horned cattle. He was a Democrat, a Mason, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Christian Church.

Capt. E. Addison McCaleb, farmer and stock-raiser of Lockwood Township, and son of Samuel and Catherine (Wood) McCaleb, was born in Putnam County, Ill., in 1833. Samuel McCaleb was born in Rockbridge County, Va., in 1794, and his wife in Mason County, Ky., in 1801. They were married in Kentucky about 1819, and from there removed to Ohio, thence to Indiana, and in 1832, to Putnam County, Ill., where Mr. McCaleb died in 1839. He was a stonemason and bricklayer by trade and was justice of the peace for many years. Mrs. McCaleb lived a widow for over forty years and died in Illinois in 1882. They were the parents of ten children, eight sons and two daughters. Of these children, Capt. E. Addison McCaleb was sixth in order of birth. He was educated in the rustic log schoolhouses of Illinois, until seventeen years of age, and then attended one year at Judson College, at Mt. Palatine, Ill., after which he taught two winters. He was married in 1853 to Miss Susan Conrad, a native of Schuyler County, Ill., and the daughter of Jeff. Conrad. Mrs. McCaleb died in Illinois, in 1868. To this union was born seven children, four now living. November 7, 1872, Mr. McCaleb took for his second wife, Miss Ara E., daughter of Townsend G. and Zilla Fife, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. Mr. Fife died in Illinois, but his wife is still living. The second Mrs. McCaleb was born in Illinois. To this union were born five children, two now living. Mr. McCaleb served seven months in the United States Army, Company B, Seventy-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and operated from Covington, Ky., in 1862, to Vicksburg, Miss. He was in the attack on Haines Bluff, and was at the capture of Fort Hinman, at Arkansas Post. He enlisted as second lieutenant, was afterward made captain, but resigned in April, 1863, on account of disability, and returned home. In 1870 he came to Dade County, Mo., and settled on a wild piece of prairie land in the southwest part of the county. He is now one of the most extensive farmers of Dade County, being the owner of 1,003 acres of land, with 800 acres under cultivation. He deals largely in live-stock, and is engaged in rearing short-horned cattle. Since 1886 Mr. McCaleb has lived in Lockwood, and was justice of the peace for three years. He has been a Democrat in his political views all his life, and his first presidential vote was cast for James Buchanan in 1856. He has been a member of the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons for thirty-five years, now belonging to Lockwood Lodge, and to the Greenfield Chapter and Commandery. He has been senior warden. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Lockwood Post, and he and wife are members in good standing in the Christian Church. He has been an earnest worker for the cause of education, and for the general up building of the country. His children are named as follows: Lydia, wife of William Forrest, of Putnam County, Ill.; Kate, wife of Joseph Miller; Clarence A., and Samuel A. Capt. McCaleb was reared in the pioneer days of Illinois, by a widowed mother, who had a large family to support, and much of his success, integrity and uprightness is due to the early training of a true Christian mother. His advantages for an education were very limited, but by earnest effort on his part he obtained a good practical education, and is one of the prominent agriculturists of Dade County.

Source:

Goodspeed, History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, Missouri; Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co., 1889.

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