Joseph Raymond Callahan (May 30, 1892 – July 31, 1977) was an American farmer, businessman, and politician.

Biography

Callahan was born on a farm near

Milford, Illinois Milford is a village in Milford Township, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,158 at the 2020 census. The village's name comes from its location, where the Old Hubbard Trail forded Sugar Creek and where a gristmill st ...

Iroquois County, Illinois Iroquois County is a county located in the northeast part of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States Census, it has a population of 27,077. It is the only county in the United States named Iroquois. The county seat is W ...

. He graduated from the Mitford Township High School in 1912 and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Callahan was a farmer; he also raised cattle and hogs. He served as president of the Illinois Farmers Union. Callahan was involved with the Democratic Party and served as the Chairman of the Iroquois County Democrats for twenty years. In the 1948 Democratic primary, Callahan nearly lost his position with the county party as a precinct committeeman after allowing a black family to hunt on his land. Due to partisan gridlock during the 1961 decennial redistricting, the

Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...

ordered an at large election for all 177 members of the Illinois House in 1964. Voters were given ballots three feet long. Callahan was one of the 177 members elected in the subsequent statewide election. He served in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

from 1965 to 1967. During his term he served was assigned to the Committee on Agriculture; the Committee on Industry and Labor; and the Committee on Public Utilities, Railroads & Aviation. John P. Touhy, as

Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives The Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives is seventh (behind the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, and President of the Senate, respectively) in the line of succession to the office of ...

, appointed Callahan to the Water Resource Management Commission. In 1965, a map was drawn which placed Callahan and longtime Democratic incumbent Joe W. Russell of Piper City. The 42nd district included all of Kankakee,

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

, Ford, and Grundy counties as well as southwestern

Will County Will County is a county in the northeastern part of the state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 696,355, an increase of 2.8% from 677,560 in 2010, making it Illinois's fourth-most populous county. The county sea ...

. Callahan did not run in the 1966 general election. Republicans James R. Washburn and Thomas R. Houde, and Democrat Joe W. Russell won the 42nd district's three seats. Callahan died at the Iroquois Memorial Hospital in

Watseka, Illinois Watseka is a city in and the county seat of Iroquois County, Illinois, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately west of the Illinois-Indiana state line on U.S. Route 24. The population of Watseka was 4,679 as of th ...

Family

One of his sons, Gene Callhan, was a political staffer to several Illinois Democrats before becoming a lobbyist for

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Callahan's granddaughter Cheri Bustos served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. Another granddaughter

Colleen Callahan Colleen Callahan Burns is an agribusiness news reporter and Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. She was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Illinois's 18th congressional district in 2008. Family C ...

is the Director of the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the state parks and state recreation areas, enforces the fishing and game laws of Illinois, regulates Illinois coal mines ...

.Our Campaigns.com. – Colleen Callahan
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Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Callahan, Joseph R. 1892 births 1977 deaths People from Milford, Illinois Military personnel from Illinois Businesspeople from Illinois Farmers from Illinois Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly