Who was Alexander Callahan? He was Speaker of the Senate in which state?

[pronker]

I have a document signed 'Alex'dr Callahan', possibly 'Callahon', beautifully calligraphed with 'Speaker of the Senate' next to the signature. Canada, as well as some states such as Tennessee and Illinois *in the past* have had Speakers of the Senate, but on no list can I find Alexander Callahan, or Callahon. Would anyone know of this person? It

Comments

[raktajinos]

I absolutely love stuff like this (and I'm a history researcher by trade) so if you could give me some of the details of the document (or even a scanned copy of it) I'd love to solve this mystery!

[pronker]

Thanks for the swift reply!

I am so glad you answered and since taking a magnifier to the piece (which is 1/2 inch x 3 inch), some details emerged: the 'Alx (with 'dr' superscript, with a period underneath) was confusing, with the 'dr' looking to be part of 'Callahan or Callahon' but now appears to be 'Mahon.' The capital M, written in the fashion of the times, resembled 'all' and now the name resembles 'Alexander Mahon'. 'Mahan' would be more common a name, though, I think? The ink is sepia and the whole thing has been part of someone's long ago collection, with glue remnants on verso. I could post a photo of it but alas have no scanner: it would be a crummy cameraphone photo. The 'Speaker of the Senate' is written to the right of the signature in beautiful calligraphy.

[curtana]

If it's Alexander Mahon, then it's most likely this guy: http://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:pa.speakerofthesenate.2.1825

[pronker]

That's fantastic work, thanks a lot! I was searching Tennessee, Kentucky, Canada, and Ohio, but not Pennsylvania, lists for Lt. Governors and/or Speakers of the Senate, and also on findagrave and bing, but came up with nothing.

I've posted a photo on another comment, should you care to give an opinion. The 19th century handwriting can be a puzzling thing to decipher.