Butte County
Biographies
JAMES BARTON DOUGHERTY
JAMES BARTON DOUGHERTY. – A prominent
business man of California and Nevada for more than thirty years, the late
James B. Dougherty became an influential citizen of Butte County during his
residence here. He was born at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, a son of Capt.
James Dougherty, a master of vessels plying in the transatlantic trade. The
father was accidentally killed by drowning when his son was but a lad of
twelve. The mother died a year later. Thrown upon his own resources when he was
thirteen, this sturdy lad secured what education he could in the public
schools, but principally by contact with the world. He drifted to British
Columbia, where he became a miner, then he went to
Alaska and followed that occupation in that territory. Still engaged in that
calling, he drifted into Nevada, and at Cortez became foreman at the Winburn Mine, where he remained for nine years, when the
mine closed down. He then went to Carlin, that state, and was engaged in the
hotel business for seven years, gradually building up a reputation as a
hotel-keeper. Selling out his building and business he went to Dunsmuir, Cal.,
and bought the Shasta Hotel. Here he built up a good trade, having all the
Pullman trade that went over the Southern Pacific; he also owned the Western
Hotel at that place. At the time of the big fire he lost both hotels, having
but little insurance. He then sold the site of the Shasta Hotel to a Mr. Weed,
and the other site to the Dunsmuir Bank. He owned a good residence property and
the post-office building, which Mrs. Dougherty still owns. In 1906, Mr.
Dougherty moved to Chico, leased the Park Hotel, purchased the furnishings and
ran it as a first-class hotel until his death, August 7, 1909. He was buried in
the Holy Cross Cemetery in San Francisco. He was a tall, stalwart, handsome man,
with a pleasing personality; he was affable, and was kindness itself. He was a
member of Dunsmuir Lodge, No. 297, F. & A. M.; Yreka Chapter, No. 15, R. A.
M.; a Knight Templar, Mount Shasta Commandery, No.
32, at Yreka; a Scottish Rite Mason, San Francisco Consistory, No. 1; and a
member of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., San
Francisco. He also belonged to the Odd Fellows and the Elks.
While interested in copper mines with
Thomas Whelen at Pine Valley, Nev.,
Mr. Dougherty became acquainted with Mrs. Mary (Whelen)
Kaney, a widow, twenty-one years old. This
acquaintance ripened into love, and they were married, at Pine Valley, by
Father Moloney, three years later. Mrs. Dougherty was
born in Liverpool, England. Her father was Redmond Whelen,
a wholesale lumber merchant in Liverpool. He died at the age of seventy-two,
and his son, Patrick Whelen, succeeded to the
business, and he died soon after. Her mother was in maidenhood, Ann Joyce. She
died in Philadelphia, leaving five children: Thomas, a cattleman at Palisades,
Nev., who died in 1907; Michael, a retired contractor of Philadelphia; Patrick,
successor to his father’s business in Liverpool and now deceased; Mary, Mrs.
Dougherty; and Catherine, Mrs. Walsh, who died in Philadelphia.
Mary Whelen was
next to the youngest child in the parental family, and she was educated in the
Mount Pleasant Convent School, Liverpool. She married, there, Andrew Kaney, who was mate on a steamer. He was accidentally
drowned one year later, leaving his widow with an infant son, Thomas Redmond Kaney. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Kaney, with her baby, came to Nevada to make her home with
her brother, Thomas Whelen, at Palisades. There she
met Mr. Dougherty and they were married in 1882. After that she followed
his fortunes wherever they took him, sharing his pleasures, successes and joys,
as well as his misfortunes, until he died. Since that time she has divided her
time between Chico and San Francisco, making her home in both places. She owns
a forty-six-acre ranch near Durham that she is having set to almonds.
The son by her first marriage, Thomas R.
Kaney, received a good education and was a graduate from the University of
Nevada as a mining engineer. He was married at Virginia City, Nev., to Annie
Donohue, who was also a graduate from that university. Mr. Kaney
went to Dunsmuir and managed the Western Hotel for Mr. Dougherty, and while
living there he passed away, leaving two sons, James B., and Thomas Mervin,
both attending Santa Clara College as proteges of
Mrs. Dougherty. The death of her son was the principal cause of the removal of
Mr. and Mrs. Dougherty to Chico, for Mrs. Dougherty could not endure
living where so much sorrow had come into her life. Mrs. T. R. Kaney married again, Leo Hermann becoming her husband. After
the death of Mr. Dougherty, Mrs. Dougherty leased the Park Hotel to
Mr. and Mrs. Hermann, and they are now conducting the business
successfully.
Mrs. Dougherty is a member of St. John the
Baptist Catholic Church at Chico and is a liberal contributor to its charities.
She supports those projects that have for their aim the betterment of social
and moral conditions in Butte County, where she has many friends by whom she is
highly esteemed.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
23 April 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
885-889, Historic Record
Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies