Colusa County Biographies

E. McDANIEL

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

            This hardy pioneer and successful farmer was born in Roane County, 
Tennessee, July 4, 1820.  In 1834 he moved, with his family, to Illinois.  He 
remained there, working on his father�s farm, for eight years, when he married 
Miss Sarah Ann Goree, and settled in Wayne County, Illinois.  He removed in 1848 
to Schuyler County, where he rented land until 1852, when he was seized with a 
longing to come to California.  On March 25, 1853, he, with his family, 
consisting at this time of his wife and five children, put all their effects in 
an ox wagon and set out for the Golden State.  The party met with many 
adventures and endured some privations on their toilsome march across the 
wilderness.  One incident is worth preserving.  One night, while in the Goose 
Creek Mountains, they came across a fine dog, which, having become foot-sore, 
had been abandoned by a preceding train.  Mr. McDaniel bound up his foot, placed 
him in the wagon and permitted him to ride till he had fully recovered.  He 
afterward proved an invaluable help, as he was better than a man on guard.  
Arriving at Lassen Meadows, they came to the Pine Trading Post and found 
themselves without provisions and money.  The trader at this post took a fancy 
to the dog and bought him for seventeen dollars, so that the poor dog they had 
befriended was the means of supplying them with provisions for continuing their 
journey.  In this circumstance Mr. McDaniel thought he saw the hand of 
Providence.
            On the 8th of August they entered American Valley and here fell in 
with Mayberry Davis, Alexander Cooley, and a man named Painter.  The latter 
owned the land where McDaniel�s warehouse now stands, then known as Painter�s 
Landing, and offered McDaniel inducements to come to his place.  The party 
arrived there on September 1, and McDaniel went to work on a threshing-machine 
but was soon laid up with the chills.  He built a log house above the landing, 
and there, on October 1, 1853, a daughter was born to them, being the first 
white child born on the east side of the river.  After renting land and farming 
it with varying success, McDaniel took up a farm of his own just above Butte 
City, which was afterwards owned by John Parker.  The land on which he had been 
living was claimed as a Spanish grant and so he purchased a place south of 
Painter�s Landing and now known as McDaniel�s old place.
            Mr. McDaniel was elected justice of the peace in September, 1856, 
which office he held for six consecutive years.  In 1863 he was elected county 
assessor and served two years. 
            On July 4, 1890, Mr. McDaniel celebrated his seventieth birthday, 
surrounded by his children and grandchildren, which latter numbered twenty-two.
 
�Colusa County� � by Justus H. Rogers � Orland, CA � 1891 � pp 367-368