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CALHOUN, SAMUEL (1788-1875). Samuel Calhoun, plantation owner, a relative of John C. Calhoun, was born in the Abbeyville District of South Carolina in 1788. As a captain in the Indian War of 1812 he was company commander of the Fifth Cavalry. He later moved to Georgia, where he operated a plantation and married Elizabeth Finney. They had six children. Elizabeth died in 1836, and Samuel moved to Alabama shortly afterwards. There he married Catherine O'Brien, and they had two children. Calhoun moved his family and slaves to Texas in 1845. They settled in northern Walker County, where Calhoun amassed a large block of land. Eventually he acquired several thousand acres in Walker, Madison, and Houston counties. His son William built a plantation home called Osceola in Madison County at the junction of Bedias Creek and the Trinity River. The plantation served as a riverport, ferry crossing, and sometimes stage stop. Calhoun died in 1875 and is buried in Walker County.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Walker County Genealogical Society and Walker County Historical Commission, Walker County (Dallas, 1986).

James L. Hailey

 

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