Louise & Larry wrote:
I am researching CALLAHAN- CALLIHAN- CALAHAN in No. GA
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I have been researching the Callahan family of Jackson County, Georgia,
and Chambers County, Alabama, and East Point (Fulton County), Georgia
for years. William is believed to have moved from Jackson County, GA, to
Troup County, GA, to Chambers County, AL, to Fulton County, GA. ---- See
below:
William Callahan and his wife Harriet Amanda Oslin were both born in
Georgia. He was born March 6,1811; she was born October 26, 1818. On
May 16, 1839, they married in LaGrange, Troup County, Georgia. They had
at least nine children, all of whom were born in Alabama (most likely in
Chambers County). William was a carriage maker, but in January of 1860
he died of fever after five days’ sickness. Then Harriet, with the help
of her older children, supported the family working as a seamstress in
LaFayette, the county seat of Chambers County. It is apparent from her
children's occupations that she insisted that they get a good education.
At the time of 1880 census she was living with her daughter and
son-in-law, Ella and J. H. Murphy in LaFayette. She died June 19, 1890
in LaFayette.
William’s parents are unknown to this writer, but there were other
Callahans in Chambers County. Most likely they were related to William.
One Callahan researcher referred to William’s father, as “James
Callahan, late of Jackson County, Georgia”. There was a 30-year-old
carriage maker by the name of Wesley Callahan on the 1860 census for
Chambers County. Wesley and his family lived in LaFayette, three
dwellings from William’s widow. In 1850 Wesley had been living in
Jackson County, Georgia, in the household of 73 year old James Callahan,
a farmer born in North Carolina. The 1860 Jackson County, Georgia,
census also shows a 53-year-old wagon maker named John Calahan (spelling
on census).
Research in to north Georgia revealed the following:
The 1809 Jackson County, Georgia, tax listing has four listings for
"Calahan":
John on page 1,
James on page 1,
John on page 11,
Edward on page 3.
The 1820 Clarke County, Georgia, census showed following:
Calahan, Edward L 1-0-0-1-0-0-1-0-0-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Calahan, Joshua 0-0-0-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-1-0-3-0-0-0-0-1-0-1-0-0-0
Calahan, William 3-0-0-0-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Page 12A of the 1850 Jackson County, Georgia, census included:
Calahan John 43 M W Wagon Maker 1,000 GA
Calahan Abarilla 44 F W GA
Calahan Mary A. 16 F W GA
Calahan William G. 10 M W GA
Calahan James H. 14 M W GA
Calahan Elizabeth C. 12 F W GA
Calahan Zachary T. 5 M W GA
Page 58A included:
Calahan James 73 M W Farmer NC
Calahan Mary 60 F W GA
Calahan Mary 28 F W GA
Calahan Wesley T. 19 M W Laborer GA
Calahan Sarah F. 17 F W GA
If you assume that Wesley Callahan was living on his father’s farm in
1850 and that he moved to the same section of LaFayette to work at the
same trade as William Callahan it seems logical to also assume that they
were related! It was the custom of the time to name the first son after
the wife's father and the second son after the father’s father. William
and Harriet may have reversed the order since their first son was James
and their second son was William.
It seems possible that the family tree for the Jackson County farmer was
as follows:
James Callahan, farmer, born about 1777 in North Carolina (living in
Jackson County in 1840, and 1850). His children:
- son John Callahan, wagon maker, born about 1807, living in Jackson
County in 1860.
- son William, a carriage maker, born in 1811, in Georgia (moved to
Chambers County, Alabama, about 1839-40).
- son or grandson Wesley, a carriage maker, born about 1830, living in
1850 in Jackson County, 1860 in Chambers County.
The 1860 Chambers County census contains a 22 year old farm laborer
named John Calahan, and the 1870 Chambers County census contained a 28
year old farmer named J. W. Callahan. These could be the same man or
different people. He/they could also be related to the above Callahans.
It’s too early to state these citizens’ relationships, but it presents
some ideas for investigation!
Harriet Amanda Oslin Callahan’s father was William Watters Oslin, also
a carriage maker, who was born September 11, 1795. Alexander Nunn’s book
"Lee County and Her Forebears" (Lee County, Alabama) shows he was born
in Virginia, but both the 1850 and 1860 censuses showed he was born in
South Carolina. In 1836 William and his wife Mary Stephens were members
of Oak Bowery Methodist Church. The Oslin family has been traced back to
John Osling, who was born February 20, 1662/63 in Cowbit Parish, England
and died October 14, 1710, in New Kent, Virginia.
The nine known children of Harriet A. Oslin and William Callahan were
as follows:
1. James Hughes Callahan was born May 29, 1840. In 1860 James was a
clerk in Chambers County. He served in Company A, 1st Alabama Cavalry
during the Civil War. He married Mary Edna Rush on August 3, 1865 in
Harris County, Georgia. He died on October 29, 1915. Mary was born
September 23, 1844 and died November 16, 1918. She is buried next to
James at the New Hope Methodist Church in Harris County, Georgia.
2. William Boran Callahan was born March 2, 1843 in LaFayette. Records
indicate he went by the name “W.B.”. He was a printer in Chambers County
at the time of the 1860 census. On March 6, 1862, in LaFayette, he
joined Company I, 37th Alabama Infantry, CSA, for “3 years or the war”.
W. B. was captured at the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. He was
paroled six days later. His unit was exchanged and he continued to serve
with the 37th . Later in the war he was transferred to the medical
department. After the war he took the oath of loyalty to the Union in
Chambers County. He married Janie Elizabeth Giddens September 7, 1869 in
Lee County, Alabama, but they lived in Chambers County. Janie was born
June 1, 1846 in Lee County. After the war he worked at The Enquirer-Sun
in Montgomery, Alabama and later was editor and proprietor of the
Opelika Observer. Late in the century, he published the newspapers The
West Point Shield and The West Point Press, in West Point, Georgia,
which is across the Chattoochee River from Chambers County. In 1890 W.B.
and his family moved to East Point, Fulton County, Georgia. He owned The
Manchester Press (later Manchester, Georgia, changed it’s name to
College Park) and was listed as a newspaper editor at the time of the
1900 Federal census, living in East Point. Janie died in East Point on
December 5, 1910, and W.B. died there on July 11, 1911. They are buried
in the Hillcrest Cemetery, on Stanton Road, in East Point. They had five
children:
I. Mary Jimmie Callahan (July 17, 1870-December 9, 1896), who married
Calhoun H. Austin.
II. William Thomas Callahan Sr. (1873-1953), a printer, who married
Annie Dodge. Their children included John H., Lillie, William T. Jr.,
Annie Bell, A. Dodge, Jim A., Mary, Ella, Mamie, George, and Helen.
III. Hattie V. Callahan (1876-after 1900), a teacher, who married Sam
W. Ramsey. Their children included Elizabeth, Sam W. Jr., and Virginia.
IV. Dr. Render Blanchard Callahan Sr. (July 1879-March 1932), a
dentist and city alderman, who married Claudia Lavonia Schell. Their
children were Render Jr., Janie, Sara Elizabeth, Francis, William Boran,
Harold Quigg, and Sidney Claude. (William’s son, Wylie B. Callahan owns
and operates East Point Hardware in downtown East Point), MY WIFE IS A
SISTER OF WYLIE CALLAHAN!!!!!!!
V. Eleanor Giddens Callahan (June 1882-1973), who married Henry S.
Reese. Their daughter is Jane.
3. Andrew J. Callahan was born about 1844. On March 6, 1862, he enlisted
with his brother William in Company I, 37th Alabama Infantry. He was
listed as a drummer. Like his brother, he was captured at the fall of
Vicksburg and was also paroled six days later. At Vicksburg, he served
as a nurse and a courier at Hospital #2. His assignment to the hospital
may have been an effort to keep him out of battle by his uncle, Dr. John
Oslin, who was the regimental surgeon of the 37th Alabama. Dr. Oslin had
also joined the 37th in March 1862 in LaFayette. After the war Dr. Oslin
moved to West Point, Georgia, then to Columbus and then to Gainesville,
where he died in 1906. After the Vicksburg prisoner exchange, Andrew
returned to the army and on January 30, 1864 was elected lieutenant in
Company F, 25th Alabama Regiment. He fought against Sherman’s army in
north Georgia and was wounded near Griffin, Georgia. A member of the
hospital staff wrote his family that he was recovering, but then he took
a turn for the worse and died August 5, 1864. He was buried at Griffin
“at the soldiers graveyard in his best suit…in a pine coffin”. His grave
is in the Stonewall Confederate Cemetery, on Memorial Drive, Griffin,
Georgia.
4. Mary E. Callahan was born about 1846. In 1870 she was a
schoolteacher. Later she married Abel Lewis Robinson, II, of Chambers
County. Able was born about 1840 and died in March 1917.
5. Patrick Henry Callahan was born about 1848. In 1870 Patrick was a
dentist, living in Chambers County.
6. John Callahan was born about 1851.
7. Sara Callahan was born about 1853.
8. Simon Oslin Callahan was born July 3, 1856. Simon was named after his
mother’s brother, Simon S. Oslin, a chaplain in the Confederate Army.
Simon Callahan moved to Jacksborough (later Jacksboro), Texas, in 1878.
On May 4, 1880, he married to Minnie Specht, a member of one of the many
families of German decent that populated the Lone Star State. She was
born April 25, 1862 and died August 18, 1936. Simon was listed as a
charter member of the Godfrey Commandery No. 37, Knights Templar in Jack
County, Texas. He was in the sheet metal and plumbing business for over
half a century. The people of Jacksboro knew him as “Chief” because he
was the chief of the local volunteer fire department for 57 years,
beginning in 1882. Besides his interests in the volunteer fire
department and the Knights Templar, he was a member of the Jacksboro
Coronet Band, in which he played the bass drum. Late in the century, an
undated article from the newspaper The LaFayette Sun (LaFayette,
Alabama) reported him visiting his sister, Ella Murphy, in LaFayette.
Since the article made no mention of his mother, it is assumed that his
visit was after his mother died in 1890. Simon died September 7, 1942.
He and Minnie are buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Jacksboro, Texas.
Simon and Minnie had five daughters and one son, as follows:
I. – Pear, who married Charley Stewart,
II. – Minnie, who married a Mr. Simpson,
III. – Ellie Mae, who married J. B. McMahan,
IV. – Lillian, who married F. A. Farmere,
V. - Mr. S.O. Callahan, Jr. (S.O.C. III currently lives in Amarillo,
Texas. S.O.C. IV runs the company that S.O.C. III owned until his
retirement. S.O.C. V currently works for the business).
9. Ella Callahan was born about 1857. She married Mr. J. H. Murphy. Mr.
Murphy was a dry goods merchant in Chambers County.