The Bush family had been in Massachusets almost 200 years when Chauncey Carroll Bush was born to Daniel Brown Bush, lawyer and former member of the Massachusets Legislature, and Marla Merrick. His mother died when he was five months old and his father remarried. When Carroll was three years old, the family moved from Pittsfield, Massachusets to Pittsfield, Illinois, which had been settled by former neighbors.

As his own siblings moved away, Carrol felt uncomfortable with two stepbrothers and a new stepsister so he left home at age fourteen to work for Henry T. and John J. Mudd, general merchandise business; then he worked seueral years in the Office of Pike County Recorder and Postmaster.

In 1853, three Mudd brothers, Michael P. Mace and D. A. January formed a company to transport men to the gold fields of California; they furnished provisions and transportation. The "passenger" furnished his own clothing and performed such duties as driving team, herding loose stock, camp duty, guard duty, etc. Carrol had money saved, so he could pay in advance, but the other men were expected to pay half their first year's earnings in the gold fields (most never did).

Covering 2000 miles in four months, they arrived in Hangtown, August 4, 1850 to be told that the area was "mined out", so Carroll headed north to Shasta County. Apparently Carroll's mining efforts were not too successful, though he was among the first miners in French Gulch and Trinity Center; by 1853, he was back in Shasta working for Bull, Baker & Co. He tried ranching in Yolo County, running pack trains to Yreka and in 1857 he went with Baker and others to the Mississippi Ualley to bring horses west. But he always returned to Shasta and Bull, Baker & Co.

In 1861, C.C. was elected Justice of the Peace in Shasta; In '62 he was elected Associate Judge of the Court of Sessions, reelected until '72. While serving as judge he was admitted to practice of law. In 1965 Carroll started his own business and married Ida Matilda Schroeder.

Ida was born in New York March 7, 1847. Her father came to California in the gold rush; she, her mother and sister came around the Horn later. The family settled in Snelling near Merced until the death of her father in 1855. Then Mrs. Schroeder moved her four girls to Sacramento. Ferdinand Baehr, a former suitor heard of the family's problems, so he went to Sacramento, married Mrs. Schroeder and brought the family to Shasta.

C. C. and Ida had seven children; the first four were born in Shasta; the others in Redding.

Maria	b. 1866	d. 1869 of measles
A Boy	b. 1867	d. within the year
Eda Ellen	b. 1869	d. 1958
Chauncey Carroll	b. 1871	d. 1933 In Santa Rosa
George William	b. 1874	d. 1950
Jennie Brown	b. 1876	d. 1877
Harry Edward	b. 1880	d. 1967

C. C. worked to bring the railroad into Shasta but when those efforts failed, he bought the first busness site in Redding. July 22, 1872 C. B. slept on a soft pine board with one blanket on his property in Redding and August 13th, the first bill of goods was sold. For about 11 years Redding was the northern terminus of the Central Pacific Railroad, so a large part of the business was freight forwarding. In 1876 Henry F. Johnson became a partner in the business, and in the early 1880s they sold out to McCormick Saeltzer.

In 1894 after 12 years in merchandising Judge Bush organized the Bank of Shasta County and became its president. Other officers were James McCormick, vice-president; E. R. Read, H. F. Johnson and R. G. Dunn, the other directors. C. C. was active in the bank until his death, and if he had any fault as a banker, it was being too sympathetic.

Judge Bush was involved in moving the county seat to Redding; served on the School Board; housed the U.S. post office in the northwest corner of his store and served as Redding's first Post Master; was on the committee to locate the State Normal School (Teacher's College) in Redding, instead of Chico; and supported the local churches and any other program he considered good for Redding. When Redding was incorporated C. C. was elected President of the Board of Trustees, similar to the office of Mayor today. He served as a delegate to the Republican Conventlon in Chicago in where Blaine was nominated for President. The Judge was appointed to the committee to formally notify Blaine at his home in Maine. Sidetrips from politics took C. C. and Ida to visit relatives in Illinois and Massachusets.

Mrs. Bush was active in the Presbyterian Church starting the first Sunday School with five children and helped organize the Women's Improvement Club. Both the Judge and Ida were active in the Masonic and Eastern Star lodges.

Judge Bush died in 1907. Mrs. Bush lived with her daughter, Eda, in the family home until her death in 1920.

Source: Shasta Historical Society May-1988