There are two possible namesakes for Paxton Street, laid out in 1885 on the gigantic Maclay Rancho tract. The more relevant – but less likely – is Catherine Paxton Maclay (1824-1898), whose husband Charles founded the city of San Fernando and co-owned this very tract. Born Catherine Paxton Lloyd in Williamsport, PA, she married Maclay, a Methodist pastor, in 1851. Weeks later, the missionary board sent the couple to Santa Clara, CA to build a church. There Catherine raised six children (one died at 14) while Charles got into state politics. The Maclays came to Southern California in 1874. That said, I think Paxton Street is actually named after John Alexander Paxton (1819-1888), who was a director at the Los Angeles County Bank along with Maclay Rancho co-owners Hugh L. Macneil and Robert M. Widney. Tellingly, the tract had streets named for other officers of the bank: Jonathan Sayre Slauson and John E. Plater. (Sayre Street lives on; Plater Avenue became Tuxford Street.) Paxton was a Virginian who came to Northern California for the Gold Rush and eventually made it big in mining and lumber. He had no ties to L.A. besides financial ones: he was based in Sonoma County.
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