The Callans and McClarys, by John Edward Callan - Callanworld

The Callans and McClarys
Chapter 23
MAthew Cary Davis
and
Bertha Elizabeth
Murray
Mathew Cary Davis, the
maternal grandfather of Nancy
McClary, was born on 1 May
1908 in Arkansas City, Kansas.
He died on 11 Feb 1988 in
Columbia, Mo. He was buried
on 14 Feb 1988 in Ss Peter &
Paul Cemetary, Boonville. He
married Bertha Elizabeth
Murray on 20 Sep 1930 in
Kansas City, Mo. They resided
in Boonville, Mo. He was employed
as a salesman and dealer.
The family moved to a
house on llth Street when Beth
(Davis) McClary, Nancy
McClary’s mother, was about a
year old.
“I don’t remember living
anywhere else,” Beth says. “My
early memories of the house
were the wood cook stove in the
kitchen and the big gas heater in
the dining room, and that my
potty chair sat in the pantry
under the shelf. There were a lot
more trees around when I was
little. We had lote of fruit trees
also; Peach and Plum and Apple
and Pear and Cherry. I remem-
ber we kept chickens , cows,
sometimes pigs and once even
sheep. We had large gardens
also.”
Mathew and Bertha met in
Arkansas City, Kansas. They
dated in high school and were
married in Kansas City, Mo.,
where they were working at the
time of their marriage. They
moved ot Lyons, Kansas, where
there son Bob was born. They
left Lyons in 1939 to go “they
knew not where,” but Mathew
said he would know it when they
got there, according to their
daughter Beth (Davis) McClary.
“He told me later that they
almost stopped in Sedalia, Mo.,
but something didn’t feel right to
him when he got there, so they
came further east. When they
came over the hill and saw the
town below along the river, and
discovered the fact that there was
a pool hall in town for sale, they
decided to stay.
“Mom was expecting John
at the time and he was born in
Boonville.”
~ 88 ~
Beth wrote down many
memories of her father in a
family album she assembled in
Boonville the late 1980s. Of her
father, she wrote, “Everyone
called him Bubs.”
“I don’t know why but it
was the name he had as a child.
His brother was called Pug so I
guess Dad had the better of the
two nicknames. They called
Mom Bibs when she was in
school. Probably because her
name was Bertha. She hated the
name Bertha and when they
moved to Boonville she told
Dad not to call her Bibs anymore.
I can remember him