My Genealogy Hound

Judge George W. Calhoun, of Wright County, Mo., was born on the 24th of July, 1824, and is the eldest of ten children, four of whom are living, born to the marriage of James Calhoun and Barbara Pence. The father was born in the “Palmetto State” in 1803, and was reared on a farm in Alabama, coming to Missouri in 1844, and locating on Wolf Creek, and there died on the 10th of June, 1846. He was a second cousin of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. His wife was born in Madison County, Ala., about 1807, and died on the 5th of October, 1881. The paternal grandfather, William Calhoun, was born, reared and married in Ireland, and there his first wife died. He thereupon immigrated to America, locating in South Carolina, where he erected a large mill, and in time acquired considerable wealth. He married his second wife in South Carolina, and by her became the father of two children. The maternal grandfather of Judge Calhoun was a German, who emigrated to America at an early day, and took an active part in assisting the colonists to free themselves from the British yoke. He died in Tennessee about 1835. He was the eldest of seven brothers, the youngest of whom weighed 250 pounds, and all were noted for their large statures and great strength. Judge George W. Calhoun grew to manhood in Lawrence County, Tenn., and was there married to Rebecca Sanders, who was born in Tennessee in 1820, her father having been a prosperous farmer and blacksmith of Lawrenceburg. They had eleven children: Henry, who died at the age of twenty-six years; James F., Louisa J., wife of Rev. Jackson Barnett; Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Thomas Moody; William, Mary A., wife of R. Johnson; Barbara, wife of Rev. Joseph Young; John; Martha L., wife of Gen. J. Strunks; Joseph, one of the popular local educators of Wright County, and Brantley S. Judge Calhoun located on a farm on Wolf Creek in 1844, and was there engaged in farming for forty-five years. In 1880 he was elected on the Republican ticket as judge of Wright County, being re-elected in 1882 for two more years. He owns a valuable farm of 160 acres in Douglas County and two lots in Norwood. In 1864 he enlisted in Company G of the Sixteenth Missouri Cavalry, having previously belonged to both the Home and State Militia, and served until the close of the war. For the past thirty-five years he has been a member of the Free Will Baptist Church, and throughout his career has always supported the cause of temperance.