Siskiyou
County
Biographies
E. B. CAVANAUGH
E.
B. Cavanaugh, who is the owner of an up-to-date mercantile business in
Edgewood, is a descendent of old pioneer stock, his
family having been associated with the Shasta valley continuously since 1852, a
period of nearly eighty years, and he has in his own life maintained the family
reputation for industry, and loyal public spirit. He was born at Edgewood, on the 20TH
of February,
1862, and is a son of Joseph and Ann (Keeton) Cavanaugh, the former a native of
County Galway, Ireland, and the mother of Alabama. The father who was born May 28, 1828, came to
the United States at the age of fourteen years, landing at New York city, whence he drifted to the state of Illinois. For a time he was a boat carpenter on the
Missouri river and in 1852 he came to California, by way of the isthmus of Panama, landing in Yreka. He mined there for some time, and then went
to the Frazier river, British Columbia, where he “went
broke.” On his return to California he
entered the employ of King & White, at Yreka,
though just prior to that he had spent the winter in the Shasta valley, to
which locality flour had to be packed from Scottsburg, Oregon, and Crescent
City, California at a cost of twenty-five dollars a sack. Later he erected a building and started a
store at Butteville, the name of which was later
(1870) changed to Edgewood. He also
acquired four hundred acres of land, which he cultivated in connection with his
general store. He was for many years the
postmaster at Edgewood. In those days
practically every merchant ran a saloon in connection with his store, and Mr.
Cavanaugh was no exception to the rule.
He followed merchandising and ranching until his death in 1894. He was survived by a number of years by his
widow, who passed away in 1914. Mr.
Cavanaugh gave his political support to the republican party. To him and his wife were born four children,
namely: E. B., of this review; Mary L.,
now deceased, who was the wife of H. H. Patterson, of San Francisco, who was a
son of one of the old pioneers of Oregon, who settled there in 1846; R. E., who
is a farmer on the old home place at Edgewood, where he has a fine home and runs
a dairy; and Frank J., who is a solicitor for an advertising concern of San
Francisco, but lives in Berkeley.
E.
B. Cavanaugh received his education in the grade schools of Siskiyou county,
and was with his father in the latter’s store and on the ranch until the
father’s death. He was then made
administrator of the estate, which consisted of a hotel, a ranch and the
store. In the final settlement E. B.
took the store, his brother Richard took the ranch and a sister took the
hotel. Mr. Cavanaugh has carried the
mercantile business on to the present time and keeps a large stock of such
goods as are demanded by the local trade, his uniform courtesy and
accommodation gaining for him the good will of all who deal with him. He has in various ways shown an unselfish
interest in the welfare of his community, among other things having assisted in
establishing the present creamery at Edgewood.
On
September 25, 1889, Mr. Cavanaugh was united in marriage to Miss Daisy Woods, a
daughter of J. D. and Addie Woods. Her
father was one of the early settlers of this locality, having come to
California in the early ‘50s. He was a
stage driver out of Marysville, and later drove in Oregon, in which state he
spent most of his life. Mr. and Mrs.
Cavanaugh are the parents of two children, Ethel, the wife of John L. Dennis,
who is in the freight office of the Southern Pacific Railroad at San Jose, and
Mildred, who is a teacher in the high school at Lakeport, California.
Politically
Mr. Cavanaugh is a republican and is interested in local public affairs, though
he has never sought election to office.
He is a member of Ashland Lodge, No. 944, B. P. O. E., at Ashland, and
the Woodmen of the World, at Weed. He
possesses a pleasing personality, is candid and straightforward in all of his
personal relations and commands the respect of all who have come in contact
with him.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 164-166. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Siskiyou County Biographies