The Cadys were Pleasant Street residents
A relative of the county's namesake, Alexander Hamilton, enjoyed a pleasant view from his home on Pleasant Street near the top of Cameron Hill. James Hamilton Cady came to Chattanooga in 1873.
The Cadys had been in America since the 1600s and were proud of their ties with Hamilton, one of the nation's founding fathers. The great-grandfather of James H. Cady was Alexander Hamilton Cady. Cady's father was Hamilton Patrick Cady.
James H. Cady was born on Jan. 24, 1837 at Hudson, N.Y. The father, a farmer and capitalist, moved the family to Michigan about 1838 - the time of the Indian Removal in Chattanooga. The father lived to be 81, while the mother (Mary Perkins Cady) died when James H. was 18. After attending public schools at St. Clair, Mich., and the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, James H. Cady entered the general store business at St. Clair. He was operating a store in 1863 when he joined the 11th Michigan Cavalry.
After the war he was involved in salt wells at St. Clair, then he went to Bloomington, Ill., where he farmed before going south to Chattanooga in time for a cholera epidemic. The Cadys were here five years later when the plague was yellow fever. His business partner, Charles H. Gledhill, was one of its victims. They had operated the Gledhill and Cady news shop on the east side of Market Street.
James H. Cady afterward operated J.H. Cady & Co. booksellers with D.D. Jones. This was at 196 Market St., which was also the residence of the Cadys. The family afterward moved to 523 W. Fifth Street where they lived a number of years. Around 1895 Cady built a home at 418 Pleasant St. in the short section between Fourth and Fifth streets. Pleasant Street was just below the heights at Prospect Street (later Boynton Terrace). Pleasant Street later became a part of Cypress Street since it ran not far from it and generally in the same direction.
James H. Cady had J.H. Cady & Co. Grocers with James McKhann at 201-203 W. 8th. Later he was associated with the Chattanooga Times for some 10 years. He was also a clerk at A.J. Hulse & Son, then he was a clerk at the Read House cigar stand. In 1908 he had a book and stationary store at 18 W. 9th.
Cady also had some real estate investments. It was said that "in all his dealings he proved himself to be a capable man of affairs, a public-spirited citizen and a loyal friend to those who knew him." He was an active Republican in his early years, but in later life "he took only a good citizen's interest in matters of a public nature." The Cadys attended the Congregational Church.
James H. Cady in 1866 had married Emma Wilcox at Dexter, Mich. They had a son, Hamilton, who died young. Cady was married for the second time to Elizabeth McKhann, daughter of his one-time business partner James McKhann and Elnora Moore McKhann. Their children were Georgia, who married W.K. Thompson, James Hamilton, who moved to Newport, Ore., Elnora and Frank St. Clair Cady.
J.T. McDaniel later lived at 523 W. 5th, and Shelley Farr resided there many years while renting out an apartment.
Elizabeth McKhann Cady lived for many years at 418 (Pleasant) Cypress after the death of her husband.