The Angry Doctor
Another one of us - but where is his legacy?
While updating the Callin Family History, I ran across another cousin who researched the Callin family. His name was Dr. Frederick Blecker Callin - and I am left with questions.
Hugh Callin (1817–1856) was the youngest son of John and Elizabeth (Simon) Callin. He was born in 1817 while his family still lived in Pennsylvania. His older brother, William, was my 3rd-great grandfather, which makes Hugh my 3rd great-granduncle. Their sons were 1st cousins, and almost certainly knew each other:
John H. Callin - my 2nd-great grandfather; William’s oldest son, and author of the book of War Poems I published in 2022.
George W. Callin - John’s younger brother, and author of the 1911 “Callin Family History.”
Dr. Fred Callin - Hugh’s son, and the subject of today’s post.
Origins
Hugh married Barbara Ann "Barbary" Mathews (1826-1886) on 13 April 1843, and they settled on a farm in Milton township, not far from where Hugh grew up. In 1850, they are listed next door to a Mathews family, which may be Barbary's parents, sister, and brothers. Hugh's occupation is listed as "chairmaker," and they already had two of their four children:
Mary Etta Callin1, born 29 Apr 1846, Ashland County, Ohio; married Jacob L Sattler, 26 Sep 1871, Ashland, Ohio; died 18 Aug 1913, Ashland County, Ohio.
John F Callin, born in 1850, Ohio; married Catherine Ann Steigerwalt, 26 May 1879, Ashland County, Ohio; died 27 Dec 1907, Ohio.
Frederick B Callin was born in 1854 - this post is his story.
Margaret L "Maggie" Callin was born in 1856 in Ohio. Maggie died, unmarried, on 19 Dec 1882 at the age of 26 and was buried in Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio.
Hugh died on 17 April 1856, at 39 years of age. After Hugh's death, Barbary's older sister, Mary Mathews, appeared in the household on the 1860 Census, likely helping Barbary raise the children.
In November 1874, Barbary married William Davis (1836–1915), a widower with three small children of his own. His first wife, Rebecca, had died in May 1874, barely two years after the birth of their son. Barbary died at the end of 1886, and her will was executed in January 1887. She left money, furniture, and bedding to her daughter, Mary Sattler, and her granddaughter, Amy (whom Barbary names in the will as "Emma B. Sattler"). She left the rest of her estate to Mary and to her son John, minus $133 he owed her. She specified in her will that the forgiveness of the debt of $400 she loaned to Fred when he went to medical school would be his bequest.
Doctor Fred B. Callin
Frederick Blecker Callin (1854–1920) was only two years old when his father died, and was 22 when his mother remarried. As discussed above, Barbary loaned Fred the money he needed to attend medical school, and she forgave his debt as her bequest to him when she died in 1886. He graduated from Ohio Medical University, Columbus, in 1893, after returning from a year studying medicine in Germany. He established an allopathic medical practice in Akron, Ohio.
He married Harriet R "Hattie" Crippen (1859–1944) in Ashland on 25 March 1883. They had a son, Sampsell Callin, in May 1884. Sampsell died in January 1887, and his brother, Moreland Guy Callin, was born that October.
The Angry Doctor
I always hesitate to judge people based on the records I find, but Fred seemed to get into a lot of trouble. As I've researched the various Callin families over the past two years, articles about Fred kept turning up in my other searches, painting a picture of a proud man who may have had a bit of a temper. He also seemed to incite the ire of those around him.
In 1901, there were two newspaper items about an alleged violent incident between Dr. F.B. Callin (incorrectly named as “Frank” in the first article) and G.P. “Uncle Dry” Huddleston:
Another clipping from 1912 recounts a dust-up between Dr. Callin and a would-be poet:
Akron, O., June 22 [1912] - It wasn't an iceberg that struck M.L. Atwater, author of the poem, "The Titanic Struck an Iceberg," but the fist of Dr. Fred B. Callin, Akron physician, according to the story the poet told the police today. Atwater asked Callin to buy a copy of the poem, and Callin asked to read it. Atwater held the paper up, but with the blank side toward Callin. Callin's blank stare turned to wrath, and he is alleged to have slapped Atwater, first on one cheek and then on the other. The doctor was arrested on the charge of assault and battery.
“Doctor Failed to Take Stock in a Blank Poem,” from The Chronicle-Telegram, 22 Jun 1912, Sat, Page 1
Dr. Callin was sued for “performing a criminal operation” by a patient named Mrs. Clara Shinn in 1917, which was reported in the newspaper. The article seems to show that despite the incidents chronicled above, he was well-known in Akron, and had many friends, which made jury selection difficult.
Fred planned to spend the winter of 1920 in Florida on his son's farm, but after he arrived in St. Augustine, Fred unexpectedly dropped dead in the street on 28 March. After his death, his body was returned to Akron, and he was buried in Stow Cemetery.
One Remaining Mystery
Dr. Fred may or may not have been a genealogist himself, but he seems to have known who his relatives in Ireland were. He made a trip there in 1907, and despite writing to the relevant genealogical societies, no one has a record of this trip or any clues to learn more:
Since there is no “County South, Ireland” I assume he visited County Louth - but again, I have found no evidence in any of the available resources.
We keep digging, trying to learn more about our common Revolutionary War ancestor, James Callin, and looking for DNA matches.
Rest well, Dr. Fred, and try to stay out of trouble!
Mary Etta’s granddaughter was Margaret Althea Forbes:
