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ALDERSON, John Duffy
(1854—1910)
ALDERSON, John Duffy, a
Representative from West Virginia; born at Nicholas Court House (now
Summersville), W.Va., November 29, 1854; attended the common schools; sergeant
at arms of the State senate 1871-1873; doorkeeper in 1872 and 1873; studied law;
was admitted to the bar in 1876 and commenced practice at Nicholas Court House;
appointed prosecuting attorney for the counties of Nicholas and Webster in 1876;
elected prosecuting attorney for these counties, reelected in 1880 and 1884, and
served until January 1, 1889; clerk of the State senate 1883-1887; elected as a
Democrat to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses (March 4,
1889-March 3, 1895); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the
Fifty-fourth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Nicholas, W.Va.; delegate
to the Democratic National Conventions in 1900 and 1908; died in Richwood,
Nicholas County, W.Va., December 5, 1910; interment in a private burial ground
at Summersville, W.Va.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present BLIZZARD, Judge
Reese
CALLAGHAN, John R. CAMDEN,
Johnson Newton, lawyer, founder. United States senator was born March
6, 1828, in Lewis County, W.Va. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Nicholas
County in 1852. He was engaged in the banking business in 1854-58, when he
entered into the development of petroleum and manufacturing interests at Button;
and was made president of the First national bank of that city in 1862. He was
the nominee of the Democratic Party for governor in 1868 and again in 1872; and
was a delegate to the democratic national conventions of 1868, 1872 and 1876. In
1881-85 and 1893-95 he was United States senator. He organized and built the
railroad from Fairmont to Clarksburg, opening up a coal field which is now
marketing over a million tons of coal and coke annually. He was president of the
Monongahela river road; and the West Virginia and
Pittsburg road. He died in 1908.
Submitted by Anna Newell
Judge Blizzard, one of West Virginia's noted attorneys
and jurists, who has been a
resident of the city of Parkersburg for a great many years,
engaged in active and successful
practice, is a native of
Nicholas County, West Virginia,
where he was born October 17, 1865. His parents were James and Elizabeth Blizzard of that county, who subsequently moved
to Gilmer County, where the subject of
this sketch attended the public schools and was later graduated from the Glenville State
Normal School. After graduation he engaged in teaching in the public schools
of Gilmer and Calhoun counties in which he was quite successful.
After following this profession for several years he took up the study of law in the office of Linn and Withers at Glenville and was admitted to the Bar of that county. He subsequently located at
Grantsville, Calhoun County, where he opened an office and began what soon turned out to be a very lucrative
practice. He possessed, in a large degree, energy, force of will and
tenacity of purpose to
win. He was found in his law office early and late, went to the bedrocks of his cases, and when he appeared in court he knew the law and tried them successfully, in most
instances; consequently, in a remarkably short time he made a reputation as an
unusually successful young lawyer. In the meantime his business kept on
expanding.
The Republican party, to which he belongs,
nominated him for Judge of the
Circuit Court in a Democratic district and he was elected, after a heated contest, and filled the position creditably
and ably. At the end of four years he resigned andopened an office in the city ofParkersburg, where he, in a short
time, built up a large practice. Shortly after he located at Parkersburg he was
appointed United States District Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia,which office he ably
filled for ten years.
His force ofwill, self-reliance andcourage are more than common. From the beginning
he had no assistance and really
wanted none. In whatever duty he entered he threw his strong personality. He
likes everybody andis owned by
none. If there is such a personage as a "self-made man" Judge Blizzard is that
one. He mapped out his own career
andwon out grandly. He is not only an able lawyer, but he is a leader in
civic matters. He is a farmer
andstock raiser, speciallyof fine bred horses, andfor a number>ofyears he has been president ofa successful banking institution in
the city ofParkersburg. He has
been twice married andhas seven
children. He has always been a Republican in politics. He helps every one who
needs help andseeks for himself
the help ofnone. Hs is one man
who "paddles his own canoe."
[
Bench And Bar of West Virginia byGeorge Wesley Atkinson, 1919 –
Transcribed by Therman Kellar]
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]
[Herringshaw’s
National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand
Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United
States, by William Herringshaw, 1909 – Transcribed by AFOFG]
Thomas B.
Hamilton, a native of
(II) James B.,
son of Thomas B. Hamilton, was born in Nicholas county, now West Virginia, in
1831, and came with his parents to Fayette county when he was a mere baby. He
grew up on the old
(III) Alexander
Wetzel, son of James B. and Matilda I. (Wood) Hamilton, was born June 2, 1856,
at Hawks Nest,
Mr. Hamilton
married, January 11, 1882, at
[WV and its people; Volume 3; By Thomas Condit Miller and
Hu Maxwell; Publ. 1913; Pgs. 883-884; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea
Stawski Pack]
MURPHY, O. J., Farmer, Secs. 22 and 23; Woodstock P. O.; born in Nicholas Co., Va., December 22, 1814 ; came to McHenry Co., IL, November 20, 1838 ; owns a farm of 232 acres of land; value of property, $14,500; was elected School Director, the first, in District No. 4, over thirty years ago. Married Emma Chenoweth, of Randolph Co., West Va., August 11, 1842; she was born October 24, 1819; had seven children - six living. [1877 McHenry County, Illinois Directory - Transcribed by K. Torp]
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