Calaveras
County
Biographies
ISAAC N. McCAULEY
The subject of the present writing
is a prominent resident of Angel’s Camp, Calaveras County, California, where he
is engaged in the dairy business. He is
a son of an old pioneer who crossed the plains in 1850, with an ox team, and
met with many and exciting experiences.
Mr. McCauley was born in Carrollton, Greene County, Illinois, January 1,
1831, and was the son of James McCauley, of English and Irish ancestry. Pioneer blood was in his veins, his
grandfather McCauley having been a pioneer of Licking County, Ohio. James McCauley was married to Sarah Janes
Taylor, of Ohio, and removed to Galena, Illinois, in 1818. At that time Galena was unknown to fame and
was but a hamlet. He removed to
Carrollton, Greene County, where Mrs. McCauley died, and the bereaved husband
took his three boys, Edward, Thomas and Isaac, and started in the spring of
1850 on the long journey to the land of gold.
Misfortune met the company on the Platte River in the form of Asiatic
cholera, where Isaac McCauley almost lost his life.
Upon reaching the Humboldt River, he
met with an exciting experience, which he yet remembers. In company with a member of the company he
left the train in order to enjoy a little duck shooting, and crossed the river
where game seemed most abundant. Their
pleasure was of short duration, however, as they soon discovered some Indians
in a clump of willows, some three hundred yards distant. They suddenly lost interests in duck shooting
and debated the best and most expeditious way in which to reach their
companions. Hastily re-crossing the
river, they ran as rapidly as possible in the direction of the companions, but
the Indians were mounted and soon gained upon them. Discarding coats and shoes, the unlucky men
flew onward, the savages in the meantime pausing to pick up the garments, thus
giving Mr. McCauley and his companion a few minutes’ more chance of
escape. When they saw their enemies
gaining upon them they would stop and point their guns at them, thus
frightening them away for a short time, but they were pretty nearly exhausted
before they came up with the train.
Assistance was then procured and the Indians gave up the pursuit. Soon after, however, some forty Indians
surrounded the company, all well armed and ready to fight; but the captain of
the migrants made peace with them by giving presents, and the train was
permitted to pass. It was learned later
than another party of emigrants had met the band and been murdered by
them. The horses now began to show signs
of exhaustion and the journey was necessarily slow, many days passing before
pause was made on Placerville Creek. Mining was engaged in at Placerville with
fair returns, and successful efforts were made on the Mokelumne River. James McCauley’s health began to fail and
when chronic dysentery broke out in the camp on the north fork of Jackson Creek
he succumbed and died, in the fall of 1850.
Our subject, Isaac McCauley, also
had the disease, but recovered and in the spring of 1851 located a camp about
three miles from the town, on Angel’s Creek, where success attended their
mining efforts. Those were lawless times
and a Mexican was killed in some brawl which resulted in a feud and our
subject’s party was the object of attack by a band of Mexicans in the
night. They were made prisoners and told
that they must appear before the authorities in the town. In the march in that direction another tent
full of miners was captured and the whole party was marched onward, being
overcome by the superior numbers of the Mexicans. However, news of the capture had reached the
Americans in the town and some three hundred came to their rescue, capturing
three of the Mexicans, to whom they administered a whipping, driving the rest
of the party so effectually away that there was no later trouble with them.
After trials of many of the mining
districts, Mr. McCauley finally settled on his present farm of one hundred and
sixty acres of land near Angel’s Camp, and has been successfully engaged in
conducting a dairy for a number of years.
He keeps from thirty to forty cows and supplies milk to the greater
number of the residents of Angel’s Camp.
Mr. McCauley was married April 25,
1867, to Miss Sarah J. Selkirk, and they have had four fine sons. The eldest son, James, died in infancy; the
others, Burton H., Edward O. and William A., assist their father in his
business. Mr. and Mrs. McCauley own a
pleasant home, shaded by trees of their own planting, and enjoy the respect and
esteem of the community. They take great
interest in the tales of pioneer life, few having had more thrilling
experiences than the genial subject of this sketch.
Mr. McCauley is a member of the
Masonic fraternity and in politics is a Democrat, although he votes generally
for the man rather than the party. In
religion he and his excellent wife follow the Golden Rule, making that their
line of conduct; hence their influence is felt for good in the neighborhood.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 305-307. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Calaveras County Biographies