Carrie's Anthropology 196m Blog

I found a draft registration card for Joel Sheldon Cotton last week and I thought it was really cool. I assumed that he must have served in the war for a time, even if it's not mentioned in the articles about him.

But now, upon closer inspection, I'm beginning to doubt my original assumption. The Registration card is dated September 12, 1918 - he would have been 43, a little old for the draft. Plus the Obituary mentions that he moved to Ft. Bragg because of his poor health, which is also not really something the Army is looking for in a soldier.

So, boo. I thought I had a great little addition to his story, but I think all I have is a registration card and no actually drafting to accompany it. (well, boo for me...I'm sure he was pretty happy about it)

What do y'all think? Is it possible that this is a sign of him entering the military? or is it just piece of government paperwork that was never used to send him anywhere?

Here are some pictures from the cemetery. I think Laura has better ones, but I wanted to give everyone a a quick glimpse. All relationships are from the perspective of our collector, Joel S. Cotton. I have some more pictures of the surrounding area, but this is a big enough post, so I'll put those up later. Enjoy!

EDIT: I tried for an hour to make captions for this post, but Blogger has decided to be annoying so here is a key instead of captions:

Photo 1:Entrance to the cemetery
2: Plaque at the entrance
3: Grandfather, originally owner of sloughhouse
4:grandmother: Catherine Rhodes Sheldon Mahone Dalton (she was married 3 times, one (Mahone) ended in a divorce in 1870). Was a mid-wife and delivered our collector and his sister.
5: maternal uncle. I believe he inherited the land after Jared Sheldon died.
6: Wife of William C. Sheldon (aunt, by marriage)
7: Maternal aunt, died at age two of drowning
8: Father, committed suicide
9: Mother, died from an infection shortly after his birth
10: Sister. I don't know much about her, except she was raised by her grandmother.

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

given to me today by Laura, who did awesome research at the Library...

I used to think that history was a thing you saw in books;

It always seemed to be there,
You never had to look.

One day I heard there used to be some History of this town
But when I went to look for it
No one had wrote it down

How do you find your History when you don't know where to look?
How do you know what happened
When there's nothing in the Book?

You start to do some asking and you really look around,
and bit by bit you dig it out
until you've got some found.

You listen to the old folks and you study the artifacts,
and you put the bits together
'til you see just how the stack.

And, finally you get a story even though it's not that much;
as long as you can reach it, then
It's History you can touch.

You find the gentle Miwoks with their acorn grinding stones,
and the people who dug their graves up
Just to rearrange their bones.

Michigan Bar and Sloughhouse, where the stagecoach made its stops
where they carried all the gold out
through the valley of the hops

You find out who lived in Wilton and in Franklin and Elk Grove.
And you get to know a lot about the Sheldons, Kerrs, and Rhoades.

It is written on the tombstones and it's buried in the ground;
It's in the memories of the old ones
that's how your History is found.

-Elizabeth Pinkerton, (from the book: Historic Cosumnes and the Sloughhouse Pioneer Cemetery by Norma Baldwin Ricketts)

I'm not sure who Elizabeth Pinkerton is, but I seem to remember that surname in my research somewhere. Anyways, I thought it was cool, especially since it mentions our collectors grandparents (Sheldon and Rhoades).

Here's my first draft of the Cotton kinship diagram. Sorry it's so small, it's as big as blogger will let me make it. Hopefully you can still get the idea, you can see a somewhat larger image if you click on it.

I'm thinking on the wall, we can put the kinship chart up and have important documents around it (like the Diseno, newspaper clippings, census info, etc.). I color-coded the people that are important to our story, and I'm thinking we can post each of the side panels in corresponding colors so visitors can follow which info belongs to which person.

Another, different, idea I had was putting the documents directly under each name, though I think it would make the kinship chart really big and maybe harder to follow...I guess we can work those kinks out later!

Lab: 2.5 hours

EDIT: I put the wrong date of death for Jared Sheldon. it's 1851 not 1857. It's fixed in my original.

finally, I have proof enough that Jared Sheldon and Joaquin Sheldon are one in the same (woo hoo!). check out these links:

Placer County archives and office of historic preservation I've also found this great bio of his, note: there is an error in the date of his death, it's suppose to be 1851 not 1857.

Wow, the state archives are so cool! I went today to try to get the Slough house land grant. I did some research prior and found that it was likely first bought by a Jared Dixon Sheldon. He wasn't listed in their records, but a Joaquin Sheldon was for the correct year and in Sacramento County. I'm not sure if it is the correct land grant, but if it's not I'll do some more digging and see if I can find what we need. It's difficult to read, but I will bring it to class tomorrow so we can all check it out.

P.S. I found this great article from the Sac Bee in my Research: Sloughhouse wasn't always quiet, Enjoy!

I've been a bit confused on the genealogy of the Cottons and so wrote out some notes in an attempt to get all the scattered information into one area. I thought it might help others as well. I can't guarantee this is all correct, but I'll update as I find out more.

Father, Joel S. Cotton (Sr.): Killed himself April 1878 when Joel Jr. was 3. Buried in Pioneer Cemetery (as is his wife Catherine).

Mother, Catherine Dixon Sheldon: Born June 28, 1854. Died April 16 1875 (note: there is an error on the genealogy chart in the accession file, says 1975). Died shortly after our collectors birth.

Our collector, Joel S. Cotton (Jr.): Born March 23, 1875. Died October 28, 1952. Born near Slough House, Sacramento County (Saunder's Hall, Ca is noted in the genealogy page of the accession file). Buried in the MacKerricher family plot in Rose Memoral Park, Ft. Bragg, CA.

Wife, Evelyn Annie MacKerricher: Died at 92 yrs (still need to find dates). Parents were Duncan and Jessie MacKerricher. Married June 10, 1899. Family donated land for MacKerricher State Park. Buried in the MacKerricher family plot in Rose Memoral Park, Ft. Bragg, CA.

Children, John Sterling Cotton, Ruth Charmian Cotton, Dr. Norman Winfield Cotton.

Our Donor, Dr. Norman Winfield Cotton: (born? died?). Married to Dorothy K. Cotton.

Dorothy K. Cotton: (born? died? maiden name-maybe MacArthur?). Wrote a family history.

P.S. Thanks to those of you who found many of the links I integrated into this post!