I am the great granddaughter of William J. Harahan, who was President of the Seaboard Air Line prior to becoming President of the C & O Railway for the second time in 1935. (Son of James T. Harahan, President of the Illinios Central RR)

I am looking for information about my great grandfather during the years he worked for SAL. I have had some success finding information about him since he held a position of prominence in several railroad companies but anything anyone can add would be more than appreciated.

Please feel free to email me directly. Thank you.

-- Ruth Culver (pkfangus@aol.com), October 30, 2002

Answers

Speaking of Railway Ages & Gazettes, the Georgia Tech Library in Atlanta has a good collection in bound volumes. Perhaps other major libraries in other cities have these helpful volumes. Some railroad museums with research libraries may have some.

-- Conrad Cheatham (ccheatham@ureach.com), November 04, 2002.

Mrs. Culver: the Seaboard's annual reports would be a good starting point, for they would note what your greatgrandafther's administration achieved. Some of our members have complete sets of same, plus the Society sells certain copies through its Product Catalog. Another resource is the Bruno Business Library at the University of Alabama, which houses one of the largest annual report collections in the country. (Staffers will duplicate copies or perform research for a fee). The John K. Barringer Library at the St. Louis Mercantile Library has extensive railway collections and its curator, Gregory Ames, should be contacted. He might have bio material or a vertical file. Your greatgrandfather's appointment to the Seaboard would be noted in both Railway Age and Railway Review magazines. Again, the Barringer repository has copies for most years, and certain copies are for sale thru the Advanced Book Exchange (www.abe.com). Insert the Keyword 'Railway Gazette' to execute a search of sellers. (Incidentally, Railway Age succeeded Railway Gazette, and a complete run exists at their Manhattan office). A publication entitled Pocket List of Railroad Officials, published by Simmons-Boardman, might render cursory info. An invaluable resource would be the Minute Book of the Seaboard's Board of Directors, who would have hired your greatgrandfather. Possibly, this exists in the corporate records vault of CSX Transportion in Jacksonville. (Send an inquiry to the Corporate Secretary's office). As you probably know, there is a C & O and B & O historical society, which also maintains collections. Good luck!

-- Gregg Turner (gturnerfamily@webtv.net), October 31, 2002.

We certainly consider it a priviledge to see your post on our site, Ms. Culver, and I hope some of our regular visitors and members can be of some help in locating more about your gr. grandfather. We have several Seaboard "experts" in our organization who can probably answer your questions.

Sincerely, Buck Dean, Webmaster & Membership Director ACL&SAL HS

-- Buck Dean (bdean@jngray.com), October 30, 2002.