Carson County, TX
Biographies

John R. Callaghan Carson Co., TX Jack Co., Texas John R. Callaghan was born in West Virginia, the son of slave-holding parents with large plantation interests. The fortunes of war, however, left them impoverished, but he remained on the home plantation until 1885, at which time he migrated with his family to Kansas, and the next five years he spent in farming in Kansas, at Kiowa, Barber County, and from farming he turned his attention to railroading. He came to Texas, in 1890, as an employee of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, and established his home at Panhandle, where he spent the rest of his life. After coming here he continued in railroad work for two years, as superintendent of construction. Carson County was at that time but sparsely settled, but the railroad brought in more people, and soon Mr. Callaghan saw the need of a hotel at Panhandle. Accordingly he erected the Callaghan Hotel, the first hostelry opened to the traveling public in the town. This hotel he conducted for a period of thirteen years. In the meantime, in 1892, he established the J. R. Callaghan Mercantile Co., which he conducted, in connection with operating the hotel, until his death. He died August 26, 1903, at the age of fifty-one years. As a business man he was successful. He accumulated a comfortable fortune, his possessions including both farming and town property. Politically, he was a Democrat, but he never sought or filled office. He had no time for office holding; his own business affairs occupied his whole attention. His religious creed was that of the M. E. Church South. Bettie J. (Morton) Callaghan, Mr. Callaghan's wife, also a native of West Virginia, died at Panhandle in 1908, at the age of fifty-six years. She had accompanied him to Texas, and shared with him the privations of frontier life and the later success he achieved through his efforts here. They were the parents of twochildren: Canterbery F. and Asbery A. Canterbery F. Callaghan was born in 1872, and died in 1890, shortly after the removal of the family to Panhandle. He had been educated at Kiowa, Kansas, and was a railroad man, in the employ of the Santa Fe. He met with accidental death while in train service, at Wellington, Kansas, and is buried at Kiowa, that State. Asbery A. Callaghan, the only survivor of the family, was born at Craigsville, West Virginia, November 16, 1878. He was educated in the Polytechnic College at Fort Worth, Texas, where he graduated in 1897 from the Commercial Department; and he took a four years' course in the Literary Department of Fort Worth University. On his return home from the university he became associated in business with his father, and at his father's death succeeded him in the interests above outlined. On first entering the mercantile business, young Callaghan assumed the responsibility of its management, and has conducted it ever since, for a period of twenty-one years. The Callaghan general store is the oldest mercantile establishment in the town. Mr. Callaghan is a stockholder and director in the Panhandle Bank, he owns about two-thirds of the city's business property, and he has two farms, four hundred and eighty acres in extent. During his college days, Mr. Callaghan was corporal and afterward captain of the College Guards Infantry Co., and throughout his business life as well as in college work he has taken the initiative. He helped to organize the Panhandle Commercial Club and was its first secretary, serving one term. He served four terms, eight years in all, as County Treasurer of Carson County, and at the end of his last term openly declined to be a candidate for re-election, announcing the fact through the columns of the Panhandle Herald. This announcement was received with much regret by the people of the county. Mr. Callaghan has always harmonized with the Democratic party and has taken an active part in politics ever since he became a voter. He helped to organize the Carson County Democratic Committee, and since its organization has been its secretary. As the representative of this committee, he met Governor Colquitt on the train en route to Snyder from Post City, Texas, on May 2, 1912, and gave him an invitation to deliver an address at Panhandle. May 13, the Governor addressed at Panhandle the largest assembly ever gathered in the entire Panhandle section. Mr. Callaghan is associated with the church in which he was reared, and is one of its trustees, and he has membership in the fraternal organizations of the I. O. O. F. and W. O. W. Mr. Callaghan's favorite playmate in the primary school days is now his wife. This was Miss Louie A. Henson, daughter of Col. A. L. Henson of Jacksboro, Texas, Sergeant of the Texas Rangers, Sheriff of Carson County, and for many years a prominent stock man in the Panhandle. They were married June 5, 1901, in the M. E. church at Panhandle, by the Rev. Henry R. Coleman, and are the parents of two children: Lillian, born October 30, 1903, and Pauline, May 23, 1906, both natives of Panhandle. [A history of Texas and Texans, Volume 4 by Francis White Johnson, 1914 – Transcribed by AFOFG]