My Great Grandfather was Henri Joseph CALLUS (1854-1930). Although he was born and raised in Turkey, both his parents were born in Malta. In fact our Callus ancestry in Malta goes back a long long way. My aim on this site, is to bring together all the genealogical and historical material gathered by myself and other family members over the years, to tell the story of our Callus origins and migrations to the four corners of the globe. Along the way are many deviations and not a few gaps and unanswered questions. I hope that this site will therefore encourage others to get in touch to help flesh out the gaps.
Navigating this Site for Callus Articles
Since starting this site I have published a lot of blog chapters on the Callus family history. All articles can be found using the ‘Search’ box (see top right side bar) on this or the Home page. For ease of navigation however I have now also included a full list of article headings and their links below. The original introductory text for this page on Callus ancient origins has been moved to a new Blog article (included in the links below).
In the Beginning – My Callus Pedigree from the 1500s
Hyeronimus Callus the Apothecary (fl. 1491-1519)
A Maltese National Hero – Dr Joseph Callus (c.1505-1561)
The Lost Garden of Dr Joseph Callus (c. 1505-1561)
Tracing 17th Century Callus Ancestors
From the Blue Sea I Took my Name
Another Callus Revolutionary? Napoleon and Alexandre
The Rise and Fall of the Callus Fortunes – Cotton (18th Century)
The Rise and Fall of the Callus Fortunes – Plague of Malta 1813
Exodus – To The Levant And North Africa
The Maltese Levantines of Constantinople
The Callus Family of Constantinople in the Mid to Late 19th Century
Petraki Han – A memoir by Francis Xavier Calleja (1892-1970).
Please use the contact form at the bottom of this page to send me your comments, queries or contributions.
Last updated: January 2021
From Lancs to the Levant 
I like this very much. It is fascinating on the earliest records of my maiden name Callus
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Thanks for the positive feedback. That’s really encouraging.
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Hello , I am Nikolai Callus from Malta , and i have been searching for my family tree alot maybe we can email 🙂 i really matched lots of your information , with the information i was given by my late grandfather ..but wish to further more my email is callusnik25@gmail.com
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I can’t believe you have pulled all this history together on your own. It looks great. I have an article on the Olga which I will dig out and post on the site. Love, Fx
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Ah but it’s a labour of love Fi, but I’m probably also a bit OCD! Great to hear from you and thanks for sending some feedback.
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Hi,
I just read your article on the Maltese Levantines with great interest. Your blog is not only interesting for the Callus genealogy, it provides a lot of wonderful historical material.
By any chance, did you happen to see any mention of a Calcedonio Callus in your researches ? He was my great great grandfather, born in the 1850-60 and leaving in Galata. His daugther Adriana, my great grandmother immigrated to France with her husband after WWI and, according to the few documents that I have, they were all members of the Maltese community at the S.S. Apostles Petri et Pauli church (although I also have a couple of records from the St. Esprit Cathedral).
If no, I’d like to have a look by myself. How did you manage to get access to the parish registers of the Latin RC churches in Istanbul ?
Thanks,
-Florian.
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Hi Florian,
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I am really pleased my articles are of interest to a wider audience and it seems an excellent way to link up with other families searching similar lines.
Yes I have come across a Calcedonio Callus as it happens and I think I might be able to help you get further information. The parish records for all the old Latin RC churches in Istanbul including S.S. Peter and Paul are held on microfiche by the Mormons in Utah. You can order these to view via their FamilySearch website for a very small fee. They will deliver the films to the nearest research centre at one of their Churches of Latter Day Saints. You will be notified when the film has arrived and then have to make an appointment for a viewing slot. They have all the kit at the research centres and will guide you through using it and you are allowed to take photocopies. The snag is that it can be quite difficult to get enough time to read the films which is why I have got a record of your Callus but not the detail. I looked up the most pressing records for myself and then jotted down as many Callus names as I could from the index pages.
So what I have is a note for a marriage of Callus and Camilleri in 1887 at S.S. Peter and Paul, marriage register page 274. Then there is a baptism record same church for Adriana in 1888, p.74.
A quicker method is to contact a lady called Marie-Ann Marandet, who is a member of the Levantine Heritage Foundation. She has undertaken a huge amount of mapping all the Levantine families in the parish registers of Istanbul and has published these at Geneanet.org – (try this url, but you might need to register for the site http://gw.geneanet.org/marmara2?lang=en&p=calcedonius&n=callus).
Or visit Geneanet’s main page and search for Callus – you should come across the page where she has recorded info to date. I’ve taken a quick look and she does also have some basic info for Calcedonio Callus. This shows that he married Teresa Camilleri but no dates or children are shown. It does show that both were god parents to Ignazio Cocchino in 1892 in Istanbul and the mother of Ignazio was a Camilleri so probably Teresa’s sister! With the register page numbers above, I think Marie Ann would probably be able to look up the records for you and fill in the blanks. You can either contact her yourself through the Geneanet website or her page at the Levantine Heritage website (www.levantineheritage.com) or come back to me and I will email her directly for you.
Good luck!
Angela
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Your blog is my new favourite blog! I love the way you write and your thinking process with regards to the information you have found. I am currently trying to piece all my findings and writings together, and hopefully produce a family history book that I hope to publish 🙂
I am sure you have come across most these links, but have a look at my page of links I use for my family research in relation to Malta: https://missmalta.wordpress.com/links/
Keep up the good work!
Charmaine x
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Thank you Charmaine, praise indeed. I have just visited your blog and it seems we have a lot in common. I shall be interested to take a longer read of your pages as your approach I think is also quite similar to mine. There are some links I have not found yet so very useful too. I am now a follower!
As you have some Algerian connections, you should check out my post on Maltese migration as I found some interesting info on the Maltese who went to North Africa.
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Ohh I will have to stalk your blog a bit more to find this post – I am still delving into Maltese migration to North Africa, so anything you have, I will be very interested in reading 😀 Will have a looksie 🙂
I came across a free online course which is starting up in the next couple of weeks, it might be of interest to you: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/genealogy
I’ve joined the course to hopefully gain some new perspectives and more so I am keen on the DNA testing in relation to genealogy. I’ve come across a handful of people who are of Maltese decent that have signed up for the course 🙂
Anyway, keep in touch, let me know if I can help in any way and I look forward to reading more about your family history findings 😀 x.
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Hi Angela
I was amazed and very happy to find so many members of my family listed on your blog. I’m very impressed by the amount of work you have done on this. My grandma was Lydia Spittle (nee Calleja) and her mother was Elise (although your list calls her Elizabeth) Callus. I have many photos of them all, and various family stories and details which could possibly fill a few holes. I also have an oil painting dated 1882 of a member of the family who I think was an architect. I understand the family were involved in shipping marble from Italy and Malta to build in Istanbul but I’m not sure when that was. It would require some sorting through what I have but wonder if any of it would be useful.
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Hi Esme,
How fantastic that you have found me! I knew Lydia’s family must be living in the UK and really hoped one day you might get in touch. I’m thrilled to hear from you. I will email you privately so we can continue our conversation and I would love to see your photos.
I am intrigued to learn about the marble shipping connection too, because I have very recently been researching my Polish ancestry and come across an associate with a similar line. Certainly also one of the Griscti was an architect in Istanbul. There is even a building called the Griscti Apartments!
Let’s get in touch!
Angela
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Dear Angela
I have enjoyed reading your well researched blog. I am colating information. With regards to my ancestry. I am hindered by document: The Borg Family Tree” starting with
Malta about 1836
Wife
Giuseppina
Mother of
CONTANTINOS
1 st 12.4.1868
Wife
Ferdinanda née Demaria
Obviously my great grandmother Giuseppina and her son emigrated to Constantinople. They were blessed with 9 children. My father being the fourth child. My grandfather had a dairy farm in Constantinople and as far as I know he used to travel and bring in livestock from other countries. Interested to find out the name and date of my great grandfather (Giuseppina’s husband) and the date the emigrated. I was born in Constantinople and evacuated to Egypt, India, Eritrea, Cyprus, UK, Australia
Any information would be much appreciated, I have exhausted places of information.
A well researched material. Enjoyed reading.
Kind regards
Anna Penney née Borg
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Dear Anna,
Thank you for your comments on my site. I was interested to hear of your family connections with Istanbul. There are a number of good sources for finding out about the Maltese in Istanbul via the Levantine Heritage website (www.levantineheritage.com), which has lots of contacts, family testimonials and links for various records, so that would be a good place to start.
Another place to look is the Geneanet website via their ‘Search’ facility (you can do basic searches without paid membership). Marie-Ann Marandet has a huge database of Levantine family names on http://www.Geneanet.org. I did a quick search and found a CONSTANTINO BORG born March 1866 in Constantinople who had a daughter Giuseppina who married Eduardo Buttigieg. However I’m not sure this is your ancestor as her father Constantino was married to Grazia Buttigieg not Ferdinanda. If you have other names in your family tree though, it might be worth checking them against these records.
Hope that helps.
Good luck.
Angela
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Hi Angela’
Thank you so much for your reply and your web sites you suggested. I will try them.
much appreciated and grateful
Kind regards
Anna
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Hi Angela,
I’m of Callus dissent as well and wanted to get in touch to see if I could add to your research or even find out about my Callus heritage.
I ony know as far back as my grandparents. My dad’s family (Callus) is originally from Gozo.
I live in the U.K. I’m contactable on k_callus@hotmail.com.
Thank Kev
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Hi Angela,
Thank you for all your hard work.
I am trying to find my grandfathers details Salvatore Joseph Andrea Callus born on the 12 January 1880 in Valletta.
I have just come back from Malta and spoken to someone from the public registery office, unfortunately they could not find any birth details as at that time it was not necessary to register the births, and I do not know the names of my great grandparents.
My grandfather moved to Turkey, but again I haven’t any dates.
Thank you if you can give me any help.
I live in Scotland and my email address is: almselder@gmail.com
Kind regards
Alma
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Hi Angela
i have only just begun to explore your many blogs and the links to so much other information. Of course, i was captivated by your first sentence “My Great Grandfather was Henri Joseph CALLUS (1854-1930).” as he was my Great Grandfather too! My Grandfather was Andrew and my father Peter. i was introduced to your website by cousin Moira, whom i am sure you have met!
I am a little disappointed that the Polish colonel from Napoleon’s army story is not likely to be true. do you have any more information on how the Polish connection came about?
best regards
Frank Callus, Wellington NZ
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Hi Frank,
Welcome to my website and thank you for contacting me. I hope you enjoy exploring these pages further. You can find out more info on our Polish connections via the links from the Puchalski page: PUCHALSKI – POUHALSKI Our connection is via our Great Grandmother Christina Callus nee Pouhalski. I do have more research to publish on this branch of the family but going forwards via the descendants of her siblings. Going backwards has proved extremely difficult and it is so frustrating not being able to find out exactly what part of Poland they come from. The Napoleon story keeps coming up too so I am sure there is something in that but so far I can’t prove it.
Anyway, to reply to your other comment, I am delighted you have got in touch. Moira and I have been in correspondence for many years collaborating on this family history but we only actually met up this weekend for the very first time, when I also met several other members of your branch of the Callus clan including your brother Paul. My grandfather was Victor, Andrew’s younger brother, so according to my family tree software that makes us second cousins and Moira my first cousin once removed. We have all received all sorts of stories and legends down our various family twigs over the years so it is fascinating to share them and find out how much is actually true! Moira inherited many documents and photos from Andrew Callus and did much of the original research to get the Callus line back to 1688. I have built on that, researched some of the other branches and looked at the historical context. I hope it makes for an interesting read.
Do please let me know if you can fill any gaps or have any questions.
Best wishes,
Angela
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Hello Angela
I am a Callus as well. My father had told us that we are from Valletta. He always said that his father and his grandfather are from Valletta. This is all i know!
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Hi Mark,
Thank you for visiting my website and taking the time to comment.
Valletta is the capital city of Malta. The Callus family go back a long way on the island, most of them came from the south but I am sure some would have lived in Valletta at some point and it was where the main ships docked so the departure point for anyone wanting to emigrate.
Angela
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Hi Angela, You and I both have the same great grandfather. Bernard Joseph Callus was my father. I now live in Adelaide, South Australia and migrated here in 1962 with my wife Irene Denise Callus. I have three children, Paul, Annette and Sharon and seven grandchildren. Paul, my son lives and works in Thailand. He married a Thai woman. My two daughters . Annette and Sharon are both married and live locally. I have a fair bit of the family tree but I am always interested to learn more.would love to communicate with if you would like to. Kind Regards John and Denise Callus.
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Hi John,
How lovely to hear from you, thank you for contacting me and telling me all about your family. Yes do please get in touch by email and we can continue the conversation.
Kind Regards,
Angela
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