Fresno County, California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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


J. R. CAIN. � Success in business does not entirely depend upon financial 
ability ; in the retail business especially, the courteous treatment of prospec- 
tive customers and the genial smile, coupled with an intelligent and compre- 
hensive knowledge of the merchandise and efficient management of the es- 
tablishment, are very essential factors to success. J. R. Cain, the subject of 
this sketch, possesses these qualifications in a pleasing degree, and to them 
he attributes a large measure of his success in the furniture and undertaking 
business. He is a native of the Hoosier State, having been born in Indiana 
in 1874: but he was reared and educated in Kansas, to which state his par- 
ents removed in 1881, and where they resided up to 1908, when they migrated 
to California. They are now residents of Fresno County. Mr. and Mrs. 
William Cain were the parents of seven children, only three of whom are 
living: C. P., R. L., and J. R. 

J. R. Cain migrated to California in 1900, and for two years lived in 
Sonoma County. In 1902 he removed to Fresno County, where he has since 
resided and carried on a prosperous business. He has been engaged in the 
furniture business for sixteen years. During twelve years of this time he 
conducted business in Selma, and for five years he has been located in San- 
ger. During the last six years he has conducted an undertaking establish- 
ment in connection with his furniture business. His furniture and under- 
taking room in Sanger is fifty by one hundred feet in size, and in addition 
to this he has a workshop forty by forty feet. In 1016 Mr. Cain was appointed 
a deputy coroner of Fresno County. While living in Selma his business 
ability was recognized by the citizens of that enterprising city, by his election 
to the city council. 

In 1889 J. R. Cain was united in marriage with Miss Birdella M. Howard, 
the daughter of F. A. Howard ; and they are parents of one daughter, Alta 
Marie. They also have a foster daughter, Joybelle, who enjoys the full privi- 
leges and domestic relations of a daughter. 

Mr. Cain and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Mr. Cain is the superintendent of the Sunday school, and in 1918 he was made 
the president of the Fresno County Sunday School Association. Fraternally, 
he is a Mason, being affiliated with Sanger Lodge, No. 316, F. & A. M.