Information from Idaho Place Names A Geographical Dictionary by Lalia Boone and a recently published historical book, Sadie Bell Carey by Doug Huffman of Cavendish.

Cavendish was established in the early 1860s on the old trail to a settlement in the Pierce area known as Snell's Mill.

Alonzo Snell was born in Cavendish, Vermont, Jan 23, 1843. He married Ella M. Thompson on June 3, 1867. They moved to Lewiston in 1879 where he established a saw mill. They soon homesteaded at present day Cavendish on the north side of Middle Rd. where it intersects with Cavendish Highway. The Snell homestead included 160 acres between present day LeBaron Park and the Cavendish Cemetery. They build a home and proved up on their land June 21, 1890.

In 1886, Alonzo. Snell established a post office and named it Cavendish after the town in Vermont, where he was born and lived previously.

William (Will) LeBaron was born Aug. 20, 1838 in Michigan. He came to Idaho in 1861 with the gold rush at Pierce City. Later, he moved to Lewiston where he was in the sawmill business. It is claimed that he was one of the first to travel to the North Fork of the Clearwater River to bring lumber and firewood to Lewiston via the river. LeBaron and Snell likely met in Lewiston. They joined forces and built a sawmill on the Snell homestead at Cavendish. With the supply of lumber, people started building homes, barns and other buildings near the mill.

In 1895, LeBaron homesteaded 200 acres on the south side of Middle Rd. directly across from the Snell homestead. When Alonzo and Ella divorced in 1898, LeBaron purchased they homestead and share in the sawmill.

Huffman's book continues that probably the only doctor to live in Cavendish was Dr. David Jesse Fugate who was born in Virginia in March of 1833. In the 1900 census, he was listed as a boarder with LeBaron in the Snell house. He set broken bones and did what he could for the sick and injured. He died in Peck in 1908 at the age of 75. His obituary said he had been in the area for 17 years, but had not practiced medicine in the last few years of his life.

LeBaron never married and when he was getting rather old to make the required improvements on his homestead, he convinced a brother, Marshall, who was living in Kansas and having difficult time farming to come to Idaho. He came with his family which included his wife, Lizzie, along with two daughters and two sons. The sons provided much of the energy and manpower required to make the improvements on the property to prove up on the homestead and take possession.

They immediately set began working on their own home across the road from the previous Snell residence. Though the original home burned down in 1970, Marshall's descendants lived on the LeBaron homestead until 2013. They still owned the property in 2022 when Huffman wrote his book.

William LeBaron died in August 1917 and his obituary described him as the founder of Cavendish.

At its peak, the town had several businesses, a livery stable, saloon, mercantile and blacksmith shop. A fire in 1923 destroyed several structures including the blacksmith shopt, Odd Fellows Hall, a mercantile and machine shed.

A log church was built in Cavendish in the 1930s. The mercantile became known as the 'Cavendish Store' and had groceries and gasoline in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. It was scaled back to just a few groceries in the 1970s and closed in 1989. Today all there remain are the church and a few homes. Cavendish Teakean Elementary School continues to operate on a hill not far from the Cavendish Cemetery on the east side of town.

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