He lived with his wife Fitzina H. Callicot (1829–1867) at 158 High Street in Brooklyn at the time of the death of their one-year-old daughter Mary Fitzina in 1852. Later they had another daughter, Williamina Frederica (1854–1875).
In 1860, during the debate of black suffrage, he told the Assembly that "the proposition to put Negroes on a footing of political equality with white men is repugnant to the sense of the American people. They will never consent to share the proud title of 'American citizen' with an inferior and abject race."[2]
In March 1861, Callicot assisted Mitchell Sanford to defend Assemblyman Jay Gibbons at the latter's trial before the Assembly on charges of bribery. After Sanford's unexpected death on March 29, Callicot pleaded on behalf of Gibbons until the latter was expelled by the Assembly on April 3.
In 1863, the New York State Assembly was tied, having 64 Republicans and Democrats each. The election of a Speaker proved to be difficult. During the stalemate, Callicot offered the Republican leader Chauncey M. Depew a deal: If the Republicans elect him Speaker, then Callicot would help the Republicans elect a U.S. Senator from New York. Depew accepted, and on January 26, Callicot was elected Speaker on the 92nd ballot. Shortly afterward, the Democrats accused Callicot of improper and corrupt proceedings to achieve his election as Speaker and a Select Committee was appointed to investigate. On April 20, the Assembly adopted the majority report of the Select Committee, declaring Callicott "entirely innocent."[3]
At the next state election he was defeated for re-election to the Assembly.
In 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed him Customs Collector at Brooklyn, New York. In 1868, he was accused of "traffic in illegal liquor", and convicted. He was fined $10,000
and sent to prison for two years. After serving out his term at Albany Penitentiary, he continued to be detained there because he did not pay the fine, and was released only after a presidential pardon in December 1870.[4]
In 1890, he had been the editor of the Albany Evening TimesinAlbany, New York, for more than 15 years, when Governor David B. Hill transferred the State Printing from the Albany Argus, a pro-Cleveland paper, to Callicot's paper. As the editor, Callicot had "carried on the business of political assassination, abusing the best and lauding the worst men of the Democratic Party. He has used the knife and hatchet freely upon such Democrats as Samuel J. Tilden, Daniel Manning, the Cassidys, Governor Lucius Robinson and President Grover Cleveland."[5]
In 1896, he became the editor of the Albany Argus.
^The name is often written Callicott in contemporary newspaper accounts, but in the letter he sent to Secretary of State Lansing in 1918 he signed his name with only one t.
^[1] Google book = Craig Steven Wilder: A Covenant with Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn (Columbia University Press, 2000, ISBN0-231-11907-0)
Samuel Austin Allibone (1859). A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American ... Trübner & co. A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors, Living and Deceased, from the Earliest Accounts to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century: Containing Thirty Thousand Biographies and Literary Notices, with Forty Indexes of Subjects compiled by Samuel Austin Allibone (page 148; Trübner & Co., 1859)
[9] Death notice in State Service: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Government of the State of New York and Its Affairs ed. by James Malcolm (State Service Magazine Co., Inc.) [The site states it is a 1917 edition, but the text says: "...1863, fifty-seven years ago..." which dates the death in 1920. The 1917 year must be wrong anyway since he was alive in 1918 and sent a letter from Germany.]
