Santa
Clara County
Biographies
LEWIS C. CASEY
One by one the old settlers of Santa Clara
county are departing to the “bourne whence no
traveler returns,” leaving behind them records more or less worthy of study and
examples more or less worthy of emulation. One of this number is the late Lewis
C. Casey, who is well remembered by all who knew him as a man of great
industry, good judgment, and a personal character which won a high degree of
respect from those with whom he associated. He was born in Millersburg, Holmes
county, Ohio, April 1, 1816, a son of Peter Casey, a Virginian by birth.
Leaving his native state, Peter Casey settled in Holmes county, Ohio, on the
outskirts of Millersburg, where he carried on farm pursuits. He was a man of
considerable ability, and as judge and treasurer of Holmes county wielded an
influence which had a wide scope.
Upon leaving his native state Lewis
C. Casey went to Lee county Iowa, where he made his home for ten years. In 1849
he helped to swell the vast tide of emigration that swept into California that
year. He in company with Dr. Robinson rode horses and hunted. Chancing to read
a very comprehensive description of the Santa Clara valley, by General Fremont,
Mr. Casey was induced to settle here, and for a short time engaged in mining,
but later gave up this uncertain calling for something more dependable. With
keen foresight he saw the advantages to be derived from the raising of fruit in
his region and invested in a ranch on the Los Gatos road, six miles southwest
of San Jose, the tract comprising eighty acres of the best land in the
vicinity. Here he engaged in raising the various fruits for which Santa Clara
county is noted, and at his death, in 1901, at the age of eighty-five years,
left a well-established ranch property of which twenty acres was inherited by
his niece, Miss Rebecca McCaughey. His older brother, Benjamin Casey, had seed
shipped around the Horn. Mr. Casey was a man of more than ordinary
intelligence, and he possessed an energetic nature and strong will. On the
temperance question Mr. Casey’s opinion was always emphatic, and he believed
the traffic in strong drink to be one of the darkest blots on this country’s
fair name. Neither of the brothers ever married. Benjamin died at the age of
eighty-six years.
Since the death of her uncle, Miss
McCaughey has rented her property, but resides in the old home. She was born in
Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, a daughter of James and Grace (Casey)
McCaughey, also natives of Ohio. James McCaughey was a contractor and carpenter
by trade, and in addition to following his trade also carried on a farm in the
vicinity of Millersburg, where his death occurred, his
wife also dying in Ohio. Of their five children, two sons and three daughters,
Rebecca was the eldest. After an attendance at the public schools of Ohio, she
was privileged to attend Central College at Iberia, Ohio, receiving an
excellent education. Upon the death of her mother, in 1883, she removed to
California, and as a member of her uncle’s household, cheered and comforted him
in his declining years.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1380-1381. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.