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Note: I (JPC) suspect that Caleb was named for his mother's father, Caleb Barron, since the given name of Caleb does not appear in any of the Childress history that I have covered to date. Caleb was born in Texas, per the 1860 Federal Census records. His wife Mary Elizabeth Overton likely died while giving birth to their second child, Mary Elizabeth Childress, in November 1879. Following his wife's death, Caleb and his two small children moved in with his mother, Jemima Barron Childress, who was a widow by that time. The 1880 Census records reflect this move, and gives Caleb's age as 24 years old at the time of the census. It is interesting to note that Caleb married his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Overton, in 1873 when he was only 17 years of age.
In 1883, Caleb remarried to a substantially older Susan E. Weaver (the aunt of his first wife, sister of his first wife's mother and 12 years Caleb's senior) and presumably moved out on his own with his family. My aunt, Metta Childress Stephenson, has said that Caleb and his second wife, S.E. Weaver, had twins who died at birth and are buried in the Ebenezer Cemetery. When Caleb died in about 1885 at the approximate age of 29, his two children were living with his wife, Susan E. Weaver. I am unsure when she passed away, but the children, William Thomas and his sister Mary Elizabeth, were taken in by their maternal grandfather, Dr. Samuel Overton, in 1893 and Dr. Overton was appointed Guardian by the Court.
I have not yet located a death certificate for Caleb, but it seems to me that he may well have had acute diabetes, since it tends to strike every other generation. Caleb's grandfather, Obediah Childress, Sr., probably had diabetes (he is listed as being blind in census material). Caleb's grandson (my father) John F. Childress, also had diabetes. Dr. Samuel Overton treated Caleb Childress (shown in the 1885 ledger on page 293) during the summer of 1885, visiting and medicating Caleb, his ex-son-in-law and now husband to Dr. Overton's wife's sister, a total of 29 virtually consecutive days, charging $3.50 per visit. A final entry dated November 19, 1885 indicates Dr. Overton took in payment "one horse worth $50," leaving an unpaid balance of $49.50. It appears that this last entry was made in different handwriting than Dr. Overton's, likely of feminine origin.
I believe Caleb Childress was buried in the Ebenezer Cemetery, but there are no markers indicating his location. There are, however, four small "generic" stones marked "Childress" in the cemetery, not far from where William Thomas Childress (Caleb's son) is buried, and I believe these four stones may be for Caleb and his second wife (or wives), and perhaps the twins who died in infancy. The generic foot stones were placed there by Metta Stephenson, Caleb's granddaughter, but she did not know who actually was buried in the graves.
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