Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

William C. Badeau

Transcribed by Pat Houser, April 8, 2006

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


William C. Badeau.�Among the men who have been identified with the building up 
of Monrovia is the subject of this sketch.  He came to California in April 1882, 
and located in Los Angeles, where he remained until the next year.  He then 
moved to Duarte and purchased twenty acres of wild and uncultivated land, about 
one mile west of the post office, and engaged in horticultural pursuits, 
planting citrus and deciduous fruits and building up one of the representative 
places of that section.  In April 1887, Mr. Badeau sold that place and took up 
his residence in Monrovia.  There he purchased five acres of land on the north 
side of Banana avenue, and also several business and residence lots in the city. 
 The well-known Badeau Block, on the corner of Myrtle and Orange avenues, was 
erected by him in that year, and was among the first business blocks built in 
the city.  He was also the original stockholder of the Rapid Transit Railroad, 
and the two city horse railroads.  The subject of this sketch was born in Troy, 
New York, in 1827, and is a descendant of an old French family.  His 
great-grandfather was a Huguenot emigrant from France in the Colonial days.  His 
grandfather was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and his father, Daniel 
Badeau, a native of Troy, was a veteran of the war of 1812.  His mother, 
Gloranah H. Young, was also a native of New York and from one of the old 
families of that State.  Mr. Badeau was reared and educated in his native city 
until about fifteen years old.  He then entered life as a clerk, and at the age 
of nineteen years established a drug store in Troy.  He was engaged in the drug 
business in that city for many years, ranking high in business circles, and also 
taking a somewhat active part in the city government, holding the office of 
alderman for several years.  In 1863, desirous of enlarging his business, he 
located at Chicago, Illinois, where he conducted a wholesale drug store until 
1882.  In that year he came to California.  Since locating at Monrovia, Mr. 
Badeau has taken a prominent part in advancing the development and interests of 
that place.  He is a Republican in politics, but a supporter of the principles 
of the Prohibition party.  He is interested in churches and educational matters; 
is a trustee of the Monrovia School District, and a deacon in the Baptist 
Church.  He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of King Solomon�s Primative 
Lodge, No. 91, F. & A. M., of Troy, New York, and also a member of Monrovia 
Lodge, No. 330, I. O. O. F.  In 1853 Mr. Badeau married Miss Catherine M. 
Goodman.  She died at Los Angeles, September 23, 1882, leaving one child, Stella 
S.  In 1887 he married Miss Rachael O. Matthewson. 

An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California � Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889 � Pages 381 & 382