4:35pm Thursday 14th May 2009
IF you walk on the pavement outside St John’s Church, in Blackburn, you step on two gravestones.
Lying side by side, one remembers John Callis, a schoolmaster and local excise officer, of Penny Street, born in 1756 and found dead in his school room in 1820.
The other is a memorial to William Callis, a grocer, of Salford and Darwen Street, who had been the Sergeant Major of Blackburn Napoleonic Volunteer Force, 1812.
His portrait, painted in full uniform, is possessed by Blackburn Art Gallery.
Now one of his descendants, Harry Callis, is trying to find out more information about the family after tracing his roots as far back as John, before ‘hitting a brick wall’.
He knows John and his wife, Mary, had a son William, who married Elizabeth Holt in 1801 and was the father of 17!
He also had a sister Jinnie, who married Thomas Fish, of Darwen, in 1776.
Said Harry: “There are obviously many Callis connections in the Blackburn area and I have traced many other of the family to other counties.
“Can anyone help me and I can pass on any details I know?”
You can contact him on harrykathcallis@hotmail. com
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