John McAninch was born in Antrim County, Northern Ireland in 1860. Not much is known about his family, other than that he had a younger brother named James that lived in the same general area as John while in California.
John came to the USA in 1875, and was first found in the 1880 US Census while living in Sacramento, California as a laborer. However shortly after that he had moved to the area around Auburn, California to a community called Butcher Ranch. It was there that he went into a partnership with a man to run a stage line that ran between Auburn and ran up to Michigan Bluff.
There is a picture of his home, which was also used as a rest stop for passengers traveling between Forest Hill, Michigan Bluff, and Auburn California.
In September 1886, he married Christina Patterson, and in October 1987, his first son was born, although he died at one day of age.
He and Christina had 3 more children, Isabel (born in 1888), Jennie (1891), and then Archibald (1893). Unfortunately, Christina died in August 1900.
It must have been hard on John and his family to lose their mother and wife. However, Isabel continued to do well in her school activities and it's noted in a 1902 San Francisco Chronicle that she had been placed on the Honor Roll.
Another unfortunate event came into John's life, when in 1907, Isabel suddenly died at only 19 years of age, cause of death unknown.
John did find another sweet lady, Anna Theresa Howard of Oakland, California to marry on July 14, 1907. The following newspaper clip came out of a 1937 Oakland Tribune newspaper.
In 1914, he left Londonderry, Ireland on the Ship Columbia headed back to New York, and then would have travelled back across the States to California. Was he visiting family members there?
They lived in Butcher Ranch for probably another 10 years or so (mid 1920s?) before moving to the Oakland Bay Area and retiring there. John and Annie spent the rest of their lives together, John passing away in 1946 and Annie in 1957.