Merced County Biographies
Ref: Pages 820-821
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 8/9/2009
CHARLES A. DONAHUE
One of the painting contractors of Los Banos whose reputation for good work is well known is Charles A. Donahue. He was born in Hamilton County, Nebr., on August 31, 1885, the son of Charles L. and Elizabeth (Brown) Donahue, and was the third in a family of four children, the others being Mildred, Frank and Emma, the wife of Mr. Carlson of Tranquillity, Cal. The father was a carpenter by trade. The son was taken by an uncle, his mother's brother, A. Brown, when only seven years old, in 1892, who brought him to Dos Palos, Merced County, where he attended school, grew to young manhood and worked on ranches in the neighborhood until 1905, when he was twenty, at which time he began learning the painter's trade in Watsonville. This trade he has followed ever since. His first three years were spent in Watsonville. Then he came to Los Banos, and here he has since lived and been employed at his trade, working on many of the important buildings in the town and surrounding country. For some time he was a foreman for Miller and Lux and looked after the painting of the buildings on their many holdings. Mr. Donahue bought an acre and a half on the western limits of Los Banos and this he has been cutting up into building lots and selling; and he now owns four houses himself. Among the buildings that show his handiwork are the Birch, Central Creamery, Commercial Club Home and Hotel, Catholic Church, Methodist Church, and the Toscano home; also the enamel work on the new grammar school building.
On June 9, 1911, Charles A. Donahue was united in marriage with Miss Kate Jones, the marriage taking place in Stockton. She was born in the same town in Nebraska as was Mr. Donahue and they attended the same public school. She is the daughter of William and Alice Jones, farmers, who settled in Dos Palos in 1894, and was the ninth in a family of eleven children born to her parents. She has been prominently identified with the educational advancement of Merced County and was a teacher in the Volta grammar school. Mr. Donahue belongs to the Odd Fellows of Los Banos, and to the Encampment. He is a member of the American Legion Band of twenty-five pieces, he playing the tuba horn.
History of
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
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
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925
Merced County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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