Butte County
Biographies
DANIEL McRAE,
DUNCAN McRAE
DANIEL McRAE, DUNCAN McRAE.--A resident
of Butte County since 1909, Duncan McRae has entered heartily into the life of
the county and is doing his very best to maintain the high standard of farming
inaugurated by his brother, the late Daniel McRae. Daniel McRae was born in the
Province of Ontario, Canada, August 27, 1850, the fourth child in order of
birth in a family of ten children. He received his education in the district
schools and remained at home until he was eighteen. He came to the states in
1869, and for five years followed lumbering and railroading in Michigan and
Minnesota. In 1874 he came to the Pacific Coast and spent the first summer in
Coos County, Ore., coming to Chico, Butte County, Cal., in the fall. He was
soon able to rent some land which he farmed for two years, then he was made
ranch foreman for D. B. Harris, remaining in that responsible position for twelve
years. With his savings, in 1890, he was enabled to purchase a half interest in
the stock and equipment and farmed seven thousand acres of land, and for
several years he was successfully engaged in raising grain. He then sold his
interest and invested in another place of three hundred fifty acres, in 1899,
and here he carried on a prosperous and paying business until his death, in
1909, aged fifty-nine years. Mr. McRae also owned six hundred acres south of
his home place, and in addition he leased considerable land, all of which he
devoted to raising wheat and barley. He was a stanch Republican, and a member
of the Durham Lodge of Odd Fellows.
Duncan
McRae was born near Glencoe, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, May 1, 1860, a
son of Alexander and Ellen (McRae) McRae, born in the provinces of Ontario and
Quebec, respectively; they were of the same name but no relation. Alexander
McRae died in 1873, and his wife died in 1865. The ancestry of the family is
traced to Scotch progenitors. The living children of this worthy couple are:
Annabel, who lives in St. Paul, Minn.; Alexander, a lumberman in Missouri; and
Duncan, of this review.
Duncan
McRae received a good education in the common schools and was reared in the
Protestant faith. He worked in the woods
and became an expert with the axe and saw, and he also farmed. In 1885 he
enlisted in the volunteer corps and took a prominent part in the Reel
Rebellion. He made his home in Canada
until coming to California in 1909. He
was called to Butte County by the serious illness of his brother, Daniel, and
he remained here and cared for him until he passed away. Prior to his death, Daniel deeded his
property, land and stock, to Duncan, who, since that time, with the aid of his
sons, has been operating the large acreage with a very satisfactory degree of
success. In 1917 they gathered six
thousand sacks of barley and four thousand sacks of wheat, a banner crop with
brought high prices.
Duncan McRae was united in marriage, in 1886, in Canada, with Miss Maggie Gillis, born and reared in Ontario. Their union has been blessed by the birth of four children: Ellen, who is a graduate from the Glencoe high school and the New London Normal; Dugald W.; Lorne, a soldier in the United States Army; and Archie. The sons are assisting their father with the work on the ranch and they are rapidly making places for themselves in the business world. Mr. McRae is a firm believer in education, he is a hard worker, and, with his family, is satisfied with life as he finds it in the land of sunshine and flowers. The family dispense a delightful hospitality and radiate good cheer to all with whom they come in contact.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 623-624, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Sande Beach.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies