April 10, 1937

Mr. Will N. Calhoun
Ridgley, Lake County, Tennessee

Dear Sir:

I am writing you this letter as I received a letter from my father, under date of April 4, 1937 from West Plains, Missouri.  My father, Henry Oliver Calhoon, tells me he is your cousin, and that you spell your name Calhoun.  He further states that when he was down there at a family reunion that the discussion came up over the spelling of the name Calhoon and that he with you and some of the rest of the folks went to the cemetery and grave yard where his and your grandfather, Warren Walker Calhoon was buried there in Tennessee and that you found the name on the tombstone and grave-marker spelled “Calhoon”.

Well, cousin Will, I am writing you this letter and forwarding a copy of this letter to my father at West Plains, Missouri and also a copy to Judge Marian M. Calhoon at Moorefield, West Virginia.  The last week of February, 1937 I was at Moorefield, Pettersburg (sic), West Virginia and Cumberland, Maryland on a business matter and looking after some clients’ the Twenty Second Judicial Circuit of West Virginia, Marian H. Calhoon, a son of the late Marian N. Calhoon, Sr.  They have lived for years there in West Virginia, in fact the Judge as I recall informed me was born there in that county and he and his father were law partners for many years.  The Judge and his friend, a Mr. C. L. Judy, attorney at law, Petersburg, West Virginia informed me when I was over there that he was preparing and writing a book and history of the Calhoon family there in West Virginia and asked me some questions in regard to our family and their ancestry.  I stated to Mr. C. L. Judys who informed me he had lived and was the sixth generation of Judys living in that county in West Virginia, that you were a cousin of mine and living in Tennessee and would probably be able to furnish us with more definite information than any one that I could recall.   So on my return to Kokomo I wrote to father at West Plains, Missouri and he furnished me with the address to which I am writing In this letter.  If I recall correctly, father told me you were preparing or writing a book on family history of the Calhoon family and had gone into the matter very carefully and would probably be able to furnish us with the best and clearest definite information of the family history of the Calhoons there in Tennessee and their ancestors back in the Carolinas.  If you did write a book or can inform me along these lines, I would appreciate you letting me know in the self-addressed stamped envelope herewith enclosed.

My father, Henry Oliver Calhoon was 72 years of age the second of February, 1937, and my mother who was 69 years of age on the sixth day of March, 1937 are now living and residing at West Plains, Missouri where they have resided for more than forty years since moving from near Aurora in Lawrence County to West Plains in Nowell County, Missouri, their present home.  My father, Henry Oliver Calhoon had two brothers, Will N. Calhoon who died some years ago in Stone County, Missouri.  He left surviving him six sons, cousins of mine who are living in and around Aurora in Lawrence County and Galena, Stone County, Missouri.  My father has five sons and two daughters, and I am the oldest of the seven living children as there were six sons and two daughters born to my father and mother.  My brother younger than I, Amos Shirley Calhoon., is at Fort Pierce, Florida on the East Coast Railroad and has been in the railroad business since he was seventeen years of age.  He has two sons and one daughter.  The next brother, Marvin Jasper Calhoun of Spokane, Washington., is the only brother who spells his name Calhoun. While in the army in the World War from payroll records got his name changed and spelled it Calhoun. He has one son.  The next younger brother is John Roy Calhoon near Omaha, Nebraska. The youngest brother, Raymond McCue Calhoon, is a carpenter and contractor living in St. Louis, Missouri. He has one son and one daughter.  My two sisters are, Amy Blanche Brockett, living with her husband and two daughters at South Pass, Wyoming and the younger sister is Dorthea Nurilds Oerlein (sic) is living with her husband and daughter at Rincon, New Mexico.  Father has two living sisters, one in Los Angeles, California, Mary Ann Hunter and the other sister, Cora Preston, is living at Springfield, Missouri.

My grandfather being Augustus Newton Calhoon and his father, my great grandfather, Warren Walker Calhoon.  I am unable to give the date of birth or death of either my grandfather or great grandfather.  I would appreciate if you can furnish me with any additional history of ancestors back of Warren Walker Calhoon,  who his father or grandfather where and when they were born if you know and date of death, where they lived or were born and where they died.  Augustus Newton Calhoon and his wife, Mary Bell Calhoon, my grandmother and also my grandfather and grandmother, William Cyrus McCue, are buried in Spring River Cemetery near Verona, Lawrence County, Missouri.  If there is any information or question further that I can answer along these lines that you think of, please let me know.

I will state that there are quite a number of families, in fact five different families of Calhoons living at Kokomo, Indiana.  I am pretty well acquainted with those living here as some of the early settlers settled in this country almost 100 years ago but I cannot trace any of them back close as relatives unless some of them might be descendants from Warren Walker Calhoon or his brothers and sisters, as I understand you said Uncle Joseph Calhoon and my grandfather, Augustus Newton Calhoon were of a large family, I understand eight brothers.  With kindest regard I am your cousin two generations removed.

Jesse W. Calhoun