Author: Selene Bendeck

1850 - James Watson Hall (1803-1872) was born in Lancaster County England in 1803, married Sarah Wild in 1824 in Rotherham, Yorkshire, England. They had five children John, Henry, Anne, and twins Thomas and William. They decided to leave England and arrived in New York City in 1840, James was 36 years old. For ten years they lived in many states, slowly working their way westward, probably hearing about the gold rush, and landing in Placerville in 1850. They built the “* Hotel” in Elk Grove that same year. It was a stage stop for a short time and later became an Elk Grove post office in May 1854, but there were evidence of problems and it closed December 1854. (James moved to Sacramento in 1856, later moved to Tehama…

Two Schools - Pioneer Jared Dixon Sheldon built the first Rhoads School in the 1850’s. It was close to the Cosumnes River, which was subject to flooding. Children became sick one year from mosquito bites, which we now assume was malaria, so the school was closed in 1867. In 1872 the second Rhoads School was built on Sloughhouse Road as a community effort. Its financing was by public subscriptions, cake and pickle sales, and a benefit ball with tickets at $3.50 each. Total expenditures were $1,312.60, which included the schoolhouse, insurance and some simple furnishings; desks for students, a desk and chair for the teacher, a stove, a broom, bucket, and dipper. John P. Rhoads – Both schools were named for John P. Rhoads, who had arrived in California from…

The Ancient Greeks considered fire to be a divine element, and they maintained perpetual fires in front of their principal temples. This was the case in the sanctuary of Olympia, where the Ancient Olympic Games took place. The flame was lit using the rays of the sun, to ensure purity, and a Skaphia, the ancestor of the parabolic mirror used today for lighting the Olympic flame. The 1960 Winter Olympics were held in Squaw Valley (now Olympic Valley), California, in the United States, from January 31 to February 18, 1960. It was the first torch relay in the Americas, although a flame had previously been lit at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. For the final time, the Olympic flame was not lit in the Greek city of Olympia.…

Jared Dixon Sheldon (1813-1851) Jared Dixon Sheldon (1813-1851) owned all the land from Grantline Road to the Cosumnes River as part of the Omuchumnes Land Grant that he was awarded from the Mexican government. Sheldon built the first house on the slough. It was later called “the slough house.” Sheldon gave half of his grant to his friend and partner, William Daylor (1810-1851). Later the two friends married the Rhoads sisters, Catherine (1832-1905) and Sarah (1830-1898) both in 1847. Jared was 34 and Catherine was 15 and William was 37 and Sarah 17, and so it was in those days. The two families were the first settlers on the Cosumnes River, other than the migrating Miwoks of course, living in the present day Sloughhouse area. Most of the history of…