George Callahan is the oldest living resident of Grey Eagle (as of May, 1940, the printing of the article in the Long Prairie Leader), for he came there when his father, the first settler there, took his homestead. He has held a notarial commission for some 52 years or more, and has assisted in the transaction of an amount of business that cannot be even estimated at this time. He was living at Sauk Center when the Great Northern, then known as the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway, was built through that town; but he had returned to Grey Eagle by the time the Little Falls & Dakota Railroad was built in 1882 through Grey Eagle 58 years ago.
He has a good memory and the writer is much indebted to him for accounts of early incidents in Grey Eagle history. He can remember when Big Birch Lake was much frequented by Indians for fishing. He has described for the writer, how the Callahan family threshed their wheat with a flail, then crushed the grain between wooden rollers so that it could be used. They made maple syrup in the spring and later planted some sorghum from the stocks of which they squeezed the juice for boiling down into molasses. Fortunately, meat was easy to get and a little money could be gotten by selling furs, the skins of rats, deer, bear and wildcats.
He remembers taking his first dinner at the hotel Ignatz Reichert in Long Prairie in 1873. Of late years he has had considerable notarial work and has followed real estate and insurance business to a considerable extent. In recent months, Mr. Callahan has not enjoyed the best of health.
George Callahan is the oldest living resident of Grey Eagle (as of May, 1940, the printing of the article in the Long Prairie Leader), for he came there when his father, the first settler there, took his homestead. He has held a notarial commission for some 52 years or more, and has assisted in the transaction of an amount of business that cannot be even estimated at this time. He was living at Sauk Center when the Great Northern, then known as the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway, was built through that town; but he had returned to Grey Eagle by the time the Little Falls & Dakota Railroad was built in 1882 through Grey Eagle 58 years ago.
He has a good memory and the writer is much indebted to him for accounts of early incidents in Grey Eagle history. He can remember when Big Birch Lake was much frequented by Indians for fishing. He has described for the writer, how the Callahan family threshed their wheat with a flail, then crushed the grain between wooden rollers so that it could be used. They made maple syrup in the spring and later planted some sorghum from the stocks of which they squeezed the juice for boiling down into molasses. Fortunately, meat was easy to get and a little money could be gotten by selling furs, the skins of rats, deer, bear and wildcats.
He remembers taking his first dinner at the hotel Ignatz Reichert in Long Prairie in 1873. Of late years he has had considerable notarial work and has followed real estate and insurance business to a considerable extent. In recent months, Mr. Callahan has not enjoyed the best of health.
Family Members
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Bertha Ellen Callahan Barry
1882–1957
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Maude Belle Callahan Galligan
1884–1974
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Lulu Mae Callahan Woodman
1886–1970
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Harry Sylvester Callahan
1889–1964
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Blanche Callahan Eldred
1892–1972
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Fred Burtram Callahan
1893–1959
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Thomas George Callahan
1896–1978
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Ruth Marie Callahan
1899–1902
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Grace Callahan Root
1900–1990
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Dorothy Bessie Callahan Petersen
1904–1990
