Butte County
Biographies
MARION ALLEN McDANIEL
MARION
ALLEN McDANIEL.--A well-known citizen of Butte
County, who has made his influence felt in the upbuilding
of his locality, who enjoys a distinct popularity and
wields a strong influence for the betterment of local conditions, is Marion
Allen McDaniel, of Dayton. He was born in Flora, Wayne County, Ill., July 9,
1859, and attended the public school in the vicinity of his home until he was
ten years old, at which time he was brought to California by his parents,
arriving in 1869. Since that time he has worked his way up, and now holds the
respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends.
His father, Peter McDaniel, was born in
Roane County, Tenn., in 1825, a son of Daniel McDaniel, who was captain of a
company in the United States Army, serving under General Jackson during the war
with the Creek Indians. Daniel married Mary Ann Buchanan and settled in East
Tennessee, where he lived until 1834, at which time he moved to Wayne County,
Ill. Peter had a brother named Elijah, born in Roane County, who came to
California with his wife and five children, crossing the plains in the spring
of 1853. His party crossed the summit of the Sierras and entered the Golden
State on August 4th of that year. Elijah had a son named Levi Jefferson Mc
Daniel, born in Colusa County, Cal., in 1858; he became a prominent man of
affairs and died in 1905, leaving a son, Joseph E., now a prosperous rancher of
Glenn County.
Peter McDaniel married Mary Ann Senter, born July 27, 1833, in Tennessee. They crossed the
plains from Illinois as far as Odgen, Utah, and were
present at the driving of the “Golden Spike” on May 8, 1869, that cemented the
East with the West with bands of steel. Upon arriving in this state the family
settled in what is now a part of Glenn County, on the Sacramento River, where
Mr. McDaniel had purchased a ranch from Sylvester Crouch. Here they lived and
prospered for many years, aiding in every movement to promote the best
interests of their adopted state. Mr. McDaniel died at the age of sixty-six
years, in 1891, while his widow reached the allotted three score and ten years
before she answered the final call.
It was on this ranch that Marion Allen
McDaniel grew to manhood and completed his education in the district school.
After he was seventeen he began working for wages for ranchers in the
neighborhood, continuing so occupied until he was twenty-seven, when he leased
the Mason ranch and farmed to grain; later he put in a crop on the Moulton
ranch and was in a fair way to success when the overflow from the Sacramento
River drowned out the crop and he lost everything. He left that section with
but fifteen cents in his pocket, but with an excess of energy and pluck, and
began working at the trade of carpenter and followed it for five years until he
had saved up enough to enable him to buy the Dayton Hotel and livery business.
For sixteen years he carried on these two lines of business, laying by some
money each year, until in 1901, he was able to buy his present place of
thirty-nine acres, paying down eleven hundred dollars. Here he has developed a
fine property with twenty-six acres set to almonds, the trees being five years
old and in a very prosperous condition; on the rest of the place he raises
alfalfa and conducts a dairy. He erected suitable barns and outbuildings and in
many ways has made improvements to facilitate the operation of his ranch.
On November 4, 1891, Mr. McDaniel married Dorinda Tennant, born in Gilroy,
February 4, 1869, a daughter of Robert James and Hannah (Waring) Tennant, who came to Colusa County in 1875 and
settled on the east side of the Sacramento River. Richard Waring,
grandfather of Mrs. McDaniel, was also an early pioneer of California, as was
her uncle, William (“Billy”) Tennant, millionaire and financial genius for whom
Tennant station in Santa Clara County was named. Mr. and Mrs. McDaniel have two
children: Tennant C., a graduate of the Chico State Normal and now principal of
the Vacaville grammar school; and Clydia, a graduate
of the Chico High School. She took an elective course in the Chico State Normal
and is now engaged in commercial work at Vacaville. Mr. and Mrs. McDaniel have
struggled through trying conditions that would have discouraged many with less
resolution. They have won success and have given their children every advantage
for a higher education. Mr. McDaniel is prominent in the councils of the
Democratic party and served for years as a member of
the county central committee. For fourteen years he served as road overseer of
Road District No. 8, during which time he graded and graveled many miles of
road. He was one of the first men in the county to advocate the use of concrete
and steel for bridges, and has stood in the foreground when it has been a
question of making improvements that will be of a lasting nature. The family have a large circle of friends and are highly
esteemed throughout Butte and vicinity.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
06 April 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 865-866, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies