CASTLETOWN, OMAGH, COUNTY TYRONE BT78 5QY, NORTHERN IRELAND, TEL +44 (0)28 8224 3292
(No date yet established for re-erection at the Folk Park)
The Richard McCallister family house is typical of that of significant numbers of Ulster emigrants, and more traceable and better documented than most. Built in 1827, the McCallister house has, in sequence, been extended and used as the Cabell County Poor House and in latter years the family home of the McKendree (McKendry) family.
The McKendree house early 1915
The McKendree house early 1915. Formerly Poor House post 1854. Formerly Richard McCallister's house to 1854. (Two bays to right of photograph)
Preserved an estimated 85% intact within the extended poorhouse structure, it is a two-storey, double-porch log house 22ft by 18ft with cantilever roof. Weatherboarding has preserved the condition of the structure.
The house was located in Salt Rock, Cabell County, in the westernmost reaches of West Virginia, next to the Ohio border. Many of the McCallister kin remain throughout the area.
The story begins with James McCallister (Richards grandfather, born in Ulster in 1720, who emigrated to Pennsylvania before 1747, where he married Mary McGloughlin on 27th January 1747). The couple moved on to what became Bath County, Virginia in 1760.
James was a soldier in the Old Virginia Regiment in 1756, and made a declaration of his service in February 1780, presumably for pension purposes. (He was 60 by this time.)
On the 9th May 1764, James had bought 150 acres of land and settled on the Jackson River in Virginia. In 1771 he served as Constable of Botetourt County, Virginia, a county which is documented as having a population made up of 90% Ulster/Irish settlers at that time.
James and Mary had eight children:
1. John 1754 1829 died: Allegheny County, Virginia
2. Richard 1756 1825 died: Putnam County, West Virginia
3. Edward 1758 1830 died: White County, Illinois
4. James 1760 1797 died: North Carolina (possibly by Indian attack)
5. Thomas 1765 1810 died: Allegheny County, Virginia
6. Garrett 1765 1810 died: Mason County, West Virginia
7. Hannah 1768 ? died: married in Bath County, Virginia (Barnett)
8. Mary 1770 ? died: married in Bath County, Virginia (Waters)
Of the eight children, Richard (1756 1825), their second son, is our focus.
Richard married Margaret Nickell (also known as Nichols and Nicholas) on 19th October 1780 in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia). She was a daughter of Isaac Nicholas and Margaret Curry. Richard and Margaret moved to (now) Putnam County, West Virginia before 1810. They appear in both the 1810 and 1820 Kanawha County census.
Richard and Margaret had twelve children between 1782 and 1809. The seventh child was Richard junior, born 1792, who married Sarah Nichols in 1821 at Kanawha County, West Virginia. The house at Cabell County was the home of Richard Junior and Sarah Nichols. Richard senior died 2nd July 1825, aged 69. He and his wife are buried in the Love-McCallister cemetery adjacent to the Teays Valley Nazarene Church, opposite the Baptist Church. Many descendants of this generation appear to have remained farming in the area to the present day. There are several sources for family history in the vicinity family bibles with genealogy sleeves, early photographs etcetera.
One story in the family is of how Richard junior settled at Salt Rock. He was allegedly chasing Indians over the mountains after they had stolen a horse, and he discovered the valley where they eventually settled. Richard juniors house (the subject of our interest) was reportedly the first McCallister homestead in this valley at Salt Rock. Two other cabins, one contemporary with Richard juniors house, a modest 16ft by 14ft one-storey structure, still survive within a mile of Salt Rock. James Rayburn McCallister, a Civil War veteran, was born here according to local family sources.
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