Thomas Jefferson McCabe, a citizen of Cottonwood, who has done much for the growth of the county by his example in the field of horticulture, having planted a fine tract of his ranch to fruit, and thereby demonstrating the wonderful capability of the county to produce fruit without irrigation. He was born in Shelby County, Indiana, October 17, 1856, the son of Thomas E. McCabe, who was also a native of the same State; the family originated in Ireland. He married Mary Robertson, a native of his own State, and the daughter of James Robertson, a native of Kentucky. They had sixteen children, eleven of whom still survive, eight boys and three girls.

Mr. McCabe, the eighth child and one of twins, was reared in his native State, and when twenty-one years of age came to California, but afterward returned and remained three months. He then came again to this State and settled in Cloverdale, Sonoma County, where he was married to Miss Marcella Saling, a native of California, and a daughter of Peter Saling, an early settler of this State. They have four children, three born in Colusa County, and the youngest born at Cottonwood, namely: Lena, Clara M., Orrin L. and Ethel L. They removed to Cottonwood in May, 1886, and purchased eighty acres of choice fruit land near the town. He has improved the place by building a home and the necessary farm buildings, and in 1888 planted twenty acres of peaches and pears, which have made a good growth, many of them having commenced to bear.

In politics Mr. McCabe is a Republican, and in 1888 was elected a Justice of the Peace in his township. He and his wife are influential members of the Congregational Church, and Mr. McCabe is a Deacon and Superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is one of those reliable men that can be depended upon in everything in which they engage.

Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891