WILLIAM LOUIS CURRAN

Butte County

Biographies

WILLIAM LOUIS CURRAN

WILLIAM LOUIS CURRAN.—A public official who stands for the enforcement of the laws without fear or favor, and who is therefore highly esteemed by his fellow citizens, is William Louis Curran, the city marshal of Oroville. His father, Hamilton Curran, was a railroad man on the Illinois Central at Sioux City, Iowa. There were eleven children in the family, and William, the youngest, was educated in both private and public schools. When he was fourteen he came west to “paddle his own canoe,” and in 1894 he arrived in Butte County and spent some four months at Bingham Ranch, where he worked first as a farm hand and then as a cook. Such was his success in the latter field that he traveled through much of the state, finally returning to Butte County.

Oroville has been the center of his home life for some years past, for he was here when the city was organized and conducted a well-known lunch counter. Then he was appointed to the police force under “Dutch” Wilson, then marshal, but after a while he quit that post and started a furniture store in the old post office building, removing later to Bird Street, opposite the Courthouse. When he sold out this business, he started a vacuum cleaning plant, and in this as well as in other ventures he was eminently successful.

A Republican in national politics but decidedly independent when the issues are purely local, Mr. Curran, in 1911, was elected city marshal, and took the office in May for a term of four years. His administration of that important responsibility met with general approbation, and in 1915 he was re-elected for another four years. On July 1, 1918, Mr. Curran was appointed by the United States Employment Bureau as the local agent at Oroville.

At Keswick, Mr. Curran was married to Kate Ogg, a native of Hastings, Neb., by whom he has had two children, William and Orville. Mrs. Curran is as popular as her husband, who has many friends in the circles of the Woodmen of the World, the Eagles, and the Moose, of which organizations he is an honored member.

Transcribed 4-25-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.

Source: "History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 901-902, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.

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