M. Fay

M. Fay, the genial proprietor of the Eldred House, was born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1830. Son of Michael Fay, a farmer and stone-mason.  The family consisted of eleven children, three of whom are sons. When a mere boy, our subject’s older brother Patrick had gone to Lincolnshire, England, and when Michael grew up he joined him there, and after a year or two they came to America together, in the ship Alice Wilson. After a voyage of nine weeks and three days they landed in New York, July, 1847. He went to Montgomery County, New York, for a year, where he was engaged in driving a team; then went to Wayne County, in the same State, for a time. In the spring of 1852 he left New York for California. He sailed to the Isthmus on the steamer Independence. His brother, who had come to the coast in 1851, was mining at Cook’s Bar, on the Cosumnes River, and our subject joined him there. He was quite successful in mining; working with a common “rocker,” he made $16 a day. In 1858 he purchased a ranch in this county, where he engaged in farming until 1873, when he moved his family to Sacramento. He purchased the Eldred House of Sid Eldred, of which he has been proprietor for five years. Always taking an active interest in politics and affiliating with the Democratic party, he was brought forward by them as their candidate for county treasurer in 1881. For thirteen years he has been a member of the order of Odd Fellows. For several years he has traveled extensively over the State, and after a careful investigation of the advantages of the different cities, gives it as his opinion that Sacramento is not excelled by any portion of the Golden State. He was married in October, 1863, to Mrs.  Minerva (Tatman) Perry, widow of M. Perry, a native of Illinois. They have two daughters.