Logan County, West Virginia Biography: Alfred D. CALLIHAN ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 137 ALFRED D. CALLIHAN. A brief outline of the personal career of Alfred D. Callihan recalls a number of the de- velopments in the mining district of Southern West Vir- ginia during the past thirty years. His intimate association with the coal interests of the state began in the New River field during the construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail- road there in 1891. Mr. Callihan, whose home is at 713 Tenth Street, Huntington, is superintendent of the Paragon Colliery Company at Yolyn, Logan County. Mr. Callihan was born at Greenup, Kentucky, October 3, 1872, son of Daniel and Sallie (Willis) Callihan, both na- tives of Greenup County. His father was born in 1814 and died in 1892. The mother died July 20, 1920, at the age of eighty-six. Daniel Callihan was a farmer and country mer- chant, was a republican in politics and was a Methodist, while his wife was a Baptist. Alfred D. Callihan, fifth in a family of seven children, attended school at Greenup until he was about eighteen years of age. At that time he entered the service of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company as a water boy dur- ing construction work on the Eastern Cincinnati Division. Soon afterward he was in the train service in West Vir- ginia, in the yards at Sewell, and there came successive promotions to more responsible work, leading from bill clerk to train master and the operation of trains over all the branches of the Chesapeake & Ohio leading into the va- rious coal fields. In 1897 Mr. Callihan became associated with coal pro- duction with the McDonald Colliery Company at McDonald and the Cranberry Fuel Company, being superintendent of both properties. In 1908 he took charge as superintend- ent of the White Oak Railroad and the Piney River and Paint Creek Road as joint superintendent for the Virgin- ian Railroad Company and the Chesapeake & Ohio. While performing these duties his home was at Oak Hill. In 1915 he took over the management of the Guyan Val- ley Coal Company at Crown in Logan County. This sub- sequently became the property of the W. E. Deegans in- terests. Then, in 1920, Mr. Callihan came to Yolyn in charge of Paragon Mines Nos. 1 and 2. This is likewise Deegans property. In 1902 Mr. Callihan married Janie Dixon, daughter of S. Dixon, of Price Hill, Raleigh County. They have a son, Dixon. Mr. and Mrs. Callihan are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Huntington. He is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at McDonald, the Royal Arch Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery at Huntington, the Shrine at Charleston, and in politics he is a repub- lican.