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WILLIAM CARNAHAN
Vol. 3, p. 1270-1271

William CARNAHAN. Now head of Carahan Grocery Company of Ramona, and
until recently mayor of that city, William Carnahan has made a truly
creditable ascent in the business career he chose for himself and
during the past fifteen years has led the way in not only the
commercial enterprise, but also in the civic upbuilding of his
section of Washington County. Mr. Carnahan began his career as a
clerk and by close attention to his work and with exceptional ability
in the handling of the complications of business has promoted himself
to a place among the most successful merchants in Northern Oklahoma.

Nearly all his life has been spent either in Kansas or Oklahoma. He
was born in Elk City, Kansas, September 28,1879, a son of J. D. and
Hattie (WISDOM) Carnahan. Hs parents were born in Illinois, were
brought to Kansas when children, and were married there. J. D.
Carnahan died at Ramona in August, 1914, at the age of sixty-nine,
having lived in that community for about sixteen years. the mother is
still living at Ramona. They have two sons, William and Jesse C., the
latter of Bartlesville.

His father being a farmer and stock raiser, William Carnahan grew up
in the environment of a Kansas farm but from the age of five lived in
Elk City until he was seventeen, and gained his education in the
schools of that place. In 1897 he removed to Bartlesville, and has
been in Washington County ever since. His first employment was as a
laborer, and then for one year he bought grain for William JOHNSTONE,
of Bartlesville. In 1900 he came to Ramona and for five years was an
independent grain and stock buyer. In 1915 his business as a merchant
concludes ten years of successful establishment. In 1905 he started a
grocery and meat market, which from year to year has grown steadily
and has more than kept place with the local demand. The Carnahan
store at Ramona is in a large brick building on the main street the
store room being 35 by 80 feet, with two storerooms, one 16 by 40 and
the other 20 by 40. The company also operates its own electric light
plant and ice plant, and not only furnishes facilities for cold
storage but also manufactures a large amount of ice for the local
trade. Five clerks are employed in the establishment at Ramona and he
also has a store at Skiatook, known as the Carahan-Wood Grocery
Company. Mr. Carahan has developed both a retail and wholesale house,
and carries a stock valued at about $6,000 and supplies large
quantities of groceries to other small towns around Ramona. He
conducts his establishment in what is known to the trade as the "
Wiley Plan" and has made his store the headquarters for pure food,
specializing in high grade staple products and also fresh groceries
and fresh meats, getting the supplies for his market from the home
grown grain fed stock of Washington, butchered and cured in his own
slaughter house and storage plant. Mr. Carahan owns a ranch of 120
acres, and keeps his stock there and has a slaughter house on his
farm. His record as a business builder has been greatly appreciated
by his fellow citizens, and six years he was a member of the town
council and for four years held the post of mayor. This latter office
came to him without solicitation and on the basis of fitness, and he
gave. the town an excellent administration and which was marked by
many civic improvements and by generally high standards of civic
spirit.

Mr. Carahan is a republican in politics, is affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias and the
Modern Woodmen of America. He owns a good home in Ramona, and was
married in 1910 to Miss Edith REUSH, who was born in Colorado.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Jean Owens October 29, 1998.