Hugh McCalop Biography

Portrait & Biographical Record of Montgomery, Parke & Fountain Counties, Indiana (Chapman Brothers, 1893) p. 400

Hugh McCALIP, a retired minister of the Missionary Baptist Church is now identified with the farmers and stock raisers of Montgomery County and has a finely appointed farm in Scott Twp. He is a native of this state and was born Aug. 17, 1835 in Bartholomew Co. His father, HK McCalip, was b. in Ky and was 12 when the family settled among the early pioneers of Bartholomew Co, this state where he grew to a stalwart manhood and in due time was married to Miss Catherine RAY. He was a farmer and was actively engaged in his occupation in the same place in Bartholomew Co until his demise in 1883. His wife survived him until March 1890 and was then laid to rest by his side. They were people of high moral character and were devout members of the Missionary Baptist Church, to which he had belonged 40 years and he was a deacon of the church. The following of their children survive: our subject; Goodson, a farmer living in Nebraska; William a resident of Columbus; John, a resident of Crawfordsville and Margaret wife of David VANSHIKE, a harness maker at Scotia, NB. The subject of this biographical review passed his boyhood on his father's farm in his native county and besides receiving a thorough drilling in all that pertains to farming obtained such an education as was afforded by the district schools. In early manhood he married Miss Samantha J. daughter of Daniel TERRY, a farmer of Shelby Co. After his marriage, he located on a farm and continued to farm in Barth. Co. until the war broke out. When Pres. Lincoln issued his call for 300,000 volunteers he laid aside his work to help fight his country's battles, enlisting in Aug 1861 in Co. I, 67th Ind. Inf. He saw much hard service in the ensuing years, but performed his part well in camp and on the field. He was with his regiment at the battle of Ark. Post and during an engagement with the enemy at Munfordsville, Ky he was taken prisoner but was paroled, and his military experience was brought to an end subsequently by his honorable discharge April 11, 1863. After he left the army Mr. McCalip engaged in the boot and shoe business at Hope, Indiana for two years and was then elected Township Trustee. He served in that capacity two terms and then devoted himself exclusively to the ministry, whose sacred duties he had taken upon himself in 1864. He first filled the pulpit of the Sharon Church in his native county occupying it for four years. His next charge was the Dry Fork Baptist Church in Shelby County and he afterward presided over the Acton & Brookfield churches for two years. The succeeding two years the churches at Geneva and Hawk Creek had the benefit of his pastoral care. Having very acceptably filled these various appointments, his health gave way from his too zealous labors and he abandoned the ministry. Removing to Greensburg, he resumed his former business for a time. The third year with renewed health he took up his sacred calling again, receiving the appointment as missionary from the Flat Rock Domestic Missionary Association. He did good work during the year that he held the office and at the end of that time he resumed preaching and looked after the spiritual interests of the Brookfield and Acton Churches. Two years later he exchanged the pulpit for secular work once more and for a year kept a hotel at Hartville. Returning to Hope he was elected Justice of the Peace by his old fellow citizens. Mr. McCalip's next move was to Osborne, KS where he turned his attention to the barber business. He remained there two years and then came back to this native state and for a year was occupied at the same trade in Rockville, Parke County. He spent the ensuing two years at Crawfordsville, living retired the first year and the second accepting a clerkship in a grocery store. While there his first wife died May 2, 1881 and June 22, 1882, he was married to Amanda E. GALEY the daughter of john MUNNS of Ripley Township. After his second marriage our subject located in Scott Township, where he now lives. He has a fine farm 190 acres whose well-tilled fields yield large harvests, and its improvements are of the best, the residence, a handsome structure of a modern and appropriate style of architecture and the out buildings well planned and substantially built. Mr. McCalip does a general farming business and raises stock of good breeds. HIs sheep are the celebrated Oxford variety and he has a valuable flock of 140. Mr. McCalip is the father of four children by his first marriage: Luella, who lives at Crawfordsville; William R, Amos, who is a printer in the Star office; and Mary, who lives in the family of the Rev. Mr. Hayes, a Presbyterian minister at Muncie. Mrs. McCalip has one child by a former marriage who is now the wife of Dr. Waldon at New Market. This brief outline of the life of our subject shows him to be a Christian gentleman of irreproachable character, who has exerted a good influence in whatever community he has lived and the Missionary Baptist Church has in him one of its most earnest and faithful workers, who has been a very useful instrument in spreading its doctrine and promoting the healthy growth of the church. His wife is also a member of that church. He is a Prohibitionist in politics and takes an active interest in the temperance cause.

Submitted by: Karen Zack