Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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

W. W. CHENEY.
 
        A biographical history of Los Angeles County would not be complete 
without an appropriate mention of the pioneer whose name is at the head of this 
sketch. He is now one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of the 
city of Downey. Every one in this part of the county knows Mr. Cheney and his 
excellent wife, who, with him, has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, for over fifty years. They have walked, and worked, and prayed 
together for more than half a century. He was born in Tennessee, February 22, 
1816, and is a son of William and Sarah (Scott) Cheney. His father was born in 
North Carolina, and his mother in Pennsylvania. They were married in Kentucky, 
moved to Tennessee, and lived there till 1833, when they moved to Carroll 
County, Arkansas, and there he died in 1835. Our subject grew to manhood there 
and was married to Miss Martha Meek. This lady is a native of the Hoosier State, 
born in 1821, and daughter of Jeremiah Meek, of Jennings County, Indiana. Her 
mother was from Kentucky, and they had twelve children. He moved to Tennessee 
and lived there ten years, and then to Carroll County, Arkansas, where the 
mother died some years later. He then went to Texas and there died. Twenty years 
ago Mr. Cheney crossed the plains and has since been a citizen of Los Angeles 
County. His recollections of the six months' journey are very vivid, and his 
recitations of events which took place then and also those which took place in 
the early days of this county are interesting, amusing and instructive. His 
first purchase of real estate in this county was eighty acres near Downey. On 
this he made a home, and he has added other and valuable property, including 
lots in Rivera and in the city of Los Angeles. He has been eminently successful, 
and is now retired from active business life. Socially he is a Freemason, and 
politically a strong and conscientious supporter of the principles of the 
Democratic party.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 429
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler