Newspaper Research

Posted by Carrie at Saturday, March 13, 2010

I found a fantastic website yesterday, California Digital Newspaper Collection that allows a search of many Californian newspapers, some going back at least to the 1850s.

I found the article about Jared Sheldon's murder: Horrible Riot upon the Cosumnes. It's on page 2

And this is Cotton Sr's suicide: Sacramento Items. It says his middle name is "H." and up to this point I've always seen it as "S" and Sheldon. It's bothered me that he had the same name has his father-in-law. I think attributing "S" to the senior Cotton was a mix up between the two. EDIT: even more confusing is in the Pioneer book I have, he is Joel S. Cotton. Maybe I'll just leave his middle name out of the genealogy chart?

I also found numerous articles discussing Joel Cotton (Jr.) guardianship as an orphan: Probate Court Feb 22 1877 and Probate Court April 11 1878

 

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4 Comments:

  1. Museum Anthropologist said...
    March 13, 2010 at 7:13 PM  
    Excellent! (I just love the 19th century and melodramatic prose in some of those articles.) I am going to check Ancestry.com under Joseph H. and see who I pull up.
    Carrie said...
    March 13, 2010 at 7:18 PM  
    I know! I loved the "blew his brains out" line. It was a bit shocking to see that in a newspaper.

    Thanks for checking that for me. Try Joel H. as well. We went to the cemetery today and it says "Joel S." on his gravestone. I'm beginning to think it was a name change at some point. That article has to be our guy though...how many other people committed suicide in that area on that date and are named Joel!?
    Museum Anthropologist said...
    March 13, 2010 at 10:24 PM  
    I found a few other census records for Sr. and Jr. that I'll email. But otherwise, no Joel H. Cotton. I think the H. in that article must be a mistake (it would be fairly easy to either misread an "S" in script, and translate it into print as an "H". Maybe the S didn't stand for Sheldon, but something else(?). Hmm. Here is the only Joseph H. Cotton in a CA context that I found (and it's too late in time):
    California Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1957
    about Jos H Cotton
    Name: Jos H Cotton
    Arrival Date: 14 Jun 1913
    Age: 27
    Birth Date: abt 1886
    Gender: Male
    Ship Name: Queen
    Port of Arrival: San Francisco, California
    Port of Departure: Victoria, British Columbia
    Laura said...
    March 14, 2010 at 5:59 PM  
    Right in front of his wife!!!
    Now that we've been searching through their lives, I can't help but feel personally affected by their experiences. Kind of silly, I guess.

    Your pictures look great!!! I vote we default to whichever photo presents itself as the clearest to read.

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