Tuolumne
County
Biographies
JOHN SHERMAN CADY
One of the prominent old settlers of
Sonora, Tuolumne County, California, who enjoys the esteem and respect of the
community, is John Sherman Cady, the subject of this sketch. He was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts,
February 19, 1826, of old English ancestry who settled in New England, at
Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1832. Eleazar Cady, the grandfather of our subject, was an
officer in the Revolutionary War, in one of the battles being the general in
command. He died in Hinsdale, at the age
of eighty-four years, having been a devoted member of the Baptist
denomination. His son, Daniel Cady, was
the father of our subject and was born in Dalton, Massachusetts, October 10,
1796. He married Miss Elizabeth Raymond,
also a native of the Bay state, and a daughter of Daniel Raymond, a
Revolutionary soldier who fought in the battle of Bunker Hill.
In 1860 Daniel Cady removed with his
family to Wisconsin, where he became a well known and respected citizen, living
an industrious life and dying at the age of eighty, having long been a member
of the Baptist Church. He had been a
soldier in the war of 1812-15. Mrs. Cady
lived until she was seventy-six years old.
They had six children, only two of whom survive, Mr. Cady’s oldest
brother being a resident of Wisconsin, where he is now living (1900), at the
advanced age of seventy-nine years.
Our subject was educated in his
native town, where he received a good common school education. When prepared to make a visit to California
he chose the Nicaragua route, and was in the wreck of the steamer North
America, which went on the coast of Mexico in the night of February 12, 1852,
with eleven hundred souls on board. All
of these were landed safely and taken to Acapulco, thence to San Francisco by a
clipper ship, arriving in that city May 15, 1852. Mr. Cady proceeded to Sonora, which he
reached May 20, 1852, immediately engaging in mining. This business he followed for two years and
with much success. One of his claims was
in the city of Sonora, and he took from a street one piece of gold, weighing
ten ounces, and at another time one weighing nineteen ounces.
In 1855 Mr. Cady made a trip to the
east and was married September 5, that year, to Miss Mary M. Curtis, a lady
whom he had known from childhood. She
was born October 5, 1831, and was a daughter of Epaphras
and Orpha Curtis, a most lovely character whose death
on November 23, 1897, Mr. Cady deeply mourns.
After his marriage Mr. Cady returned alone to his western enterprises,
but in the spring of 1858 he went east again and brought Mrs. Cady to the
west. In 1860 he engaged in mining at
Table Mountain, realizing five dollars a day, and soon after opened a store at
Sonora, dealing in paints, oils, glass, paper and upholstery goods, and this
business he conducted for a period of thirty-nine years. Since that time Mr. Cady has lived retired
from business. He was successful in his
enterprises and possesses more than a competency.
Our subject has taken a prominent
part in political life, has been a Republican ever since the organization of
the party and was the efficient postmaster of Sonora during the administration
of President Harrison. Fraternally he is
a member of the Chosen Friends, from which organization he will soon be
entitled to three thousand dollars, according to the rules of the order.
Mr. Cady mourns the death of his
wife most sincerely, as their life had been most congenial. He is the only one left of his friends who
belonged to the old pioneers of Sonora, and enjoys the esteem and regard of all
who have so long known his probity of character and his interest in the
prosperity of his section.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 536-537. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.