Sacramento, California

United States California Sacramento County  Sacramento  The state capital of California is located where the Sacramento and American Rivers join in California’s central valley. It was the western terminus of the California Trail and where the Pony Express completed its journey. The name comes from an early Spanish explorer who drank water from the river and exclaimed in Spanish “It’s like the Holy Sacrament.”

History
John Sutter established the first European settlement in 1839, calling it New Helvetia or New Switzerland, after his native country. He received numerous Mexican land grants, giving him ownership of a huge area. In 1848 gold was discovered at his sawmill in Columa (now in El Dorado County), and the following year brought the ‘49ers, rushing to find gold. As the Gold Rush began in 1848, what was Sutter’s Embarcadero became the City of Sacramento.

Archives and Libraries

 * The California State Archives has county records, such as court records, prison records, wills, deeds, and also military records, state census records, and school records. California State Archives 1020 "O" Street Sacramento, CA, 95814 Reference Desk: (916) 653-2246 website: http://www.ss.ca.gov/archives/archives.htm


 * The California State Library has a history room with excellent resources for genealogy research. This includes: California State Census Records 1852, 1890 Great Register Index, 1880 United States Census, city and county directories, biographical dictionaries, county histories, newspapers, pioneer register and index, vital records indexes, among others. California State Library California History Room 900 N St., Rm. 200, Sacramento, CA Phone: (916) 654-0176 website: http://www.library.ca.gov/index.cfm


 * Sacramento Public Library serves the city and county of Sacramento. It has genealogy resources for local library patrons. With a Sacramento library card to access the collection at home or remotely, patrons can view Digital Sanborn Maps that show city plans and maps dating from 1867 - 1970. In the Central Library, they have New England Historic Genealogical Society's publications, and all of the branches allow free access to Ancestry.com. The Central Library also has the Sacramento Room for researching local history. Sacramento Public Library, Central 828 I St., Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-264-2700 website: http://www.saclibrary.org/

Newspapers
The Sacramento Bee has two options for searching old articles. From 1984 to the present, an online search is available, and may be downloaded for a fee. That is available here.

Older articles are available on microfilm, and those records begin in 1857. Some of the libraries that have these films available are Sacramento Public Library Central Branch, California State Library, University of California, Davis Library, and California State University, Sacramento Library.