San Francisco County
Biographies
JOSEPH CAMILLUS McAVOY
JOSEPH CAMILLUS McAVOY, Councilman
of the Fourth Ward of Oakland and a member of the firm of McAvoy
& McCarthy, undertakers, He was born in Loretta, Cambria County,
Pennsylvania, July 18, 1855, a son of Bernard and Isabella (Gallagher) McAvoy. His father was born in County Donegal,
Ireland, a farmer by vocation, and
came to America
with his wife and five children about 1840. They had six more children in this
Country, and of the eleven nine are still living, and all of them about the Bay
of San Francisco. The parents came
to the coast in 1858, with their seven children. One daughter Bridget, now Mrs.
John Fay of San Francisco, had come
to this State a few years earlier. Mr. McAvoy’s
mother, also a native of County Donegal, and there they were married, was a
daughter of Henry and Isabella Gallagher, who both lived to an advanced age,
about seventy years. They had seven children who grew to maturity, all of whom
came to the United States.
Among them were two Priests of the Catholic Church, Hugh and Joseph A. the
third and fifth in order of birth–ordained in Pennsylvania,
both of whom died on this coast. The eldest child Mary died in Lake
County; Daniel, the second born, is a farmer by
occupation and now a resident of San Francisco; Isabella
is the fourth; Bridget, the sixth child, is now Mrs. James Kelly of San
Francisco; and Michael, the youngest, died in San
Francisco, at the age of fifty-six years. Mr. McAvoy’s mother died on the homestead in Contra
Costa County,
in 1889, age seventy years. His father died at the same place in 1876, in his eighty-first year. Their children: Bridget, Mrs. John Fay;
Margaret; Annie, now Mrs. Louis N. Beandry, of
Oakland township; Mary, now Mrs. Guillaume Teladeau,
also of that township; Teresa, now Mrs. James Brennan of West Berkeley;
Augusta, now Mrs. Edward Le Barge; Henry Joseph, formerly in the undertaker
business, now in real estate in Oakland; Hugh Bernard, of the firm of McAvoy & Gallagher, undertakers of San Francisco;
Joseph C. the subject of this sketch; and Kate now deceased, the wife of James
L. McCarthy, his partner in business.
Mr.
McAvoy, our Subject, was brought up in this section
from the age of three years, completed his education at St. Mary’s Collage, San
Francisco, and from boyhood also assisted on the farm.
On leaving Collage at the age of nineteen he worked on a farm until 1874. In the mean time being absent only a short period in San Francisco,
learning the business of undertaker. Returning to the ranch on the death
of his father in 1876 he conducted it for the family until 1874. He has always
taken a citizens’ interest in political affairs since he became of age,
believing that the privilege of an elector entails a proper discharge of the
corresponding duty. He was elected to the City Council in March, 1889, and is a
member of the Committee on streets, Finance and Education, and is Chairman of
the Committee on Printing. He was President of a young Men’s Institute for the
year ending in July, 1890; is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and
of the A. O. U. W.
He
was married in Oakland, April 26,
1888, to Mrs. Mary E. Lyons. Who was born in Sacramento
September 23, 1864, a daughter of John and Kate (Milligan) Lyons, both natives
of Ireland. Her father was a dry-goods merchant for several years in Sacramento,
and died there in middle-life. Her mother is still living, aged about
fifty-two. Mr. and Mrs. McAvoy’s children are: Mary
Isabella, born December 17, 1888, and Katie Loretta, born July 29, 1890.
Transcribed by Kim Buck.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 537-538,
Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Kim Buck.
California
Biography Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library