Amador County Ancestry

04/26/2026

Join the Amador County Historical Society for their Annual Barbecue!

📅 Sunday, June 14
⏰ 4:00 pm
📍 Amador County Museum, in Jackson
🎟️ Tickets are on sale now, click here - https://www.amadorcountyhistoricalsociety.org/

04/24/2026

Looking forward to this, this Sunday!

Step inside history ⚙️📜 Join us this Sunday, April 26 for the Knight Foundry Archives Open House at the Kennedy Mine Archive Building! Explore rare historical drawings, get an up-close look at the archives and learn how these incredible pieces of history are being preserved and digitized for future generations.

Whether you’re a history buff, engineering enthusiast or just curious, there’s something here for you.

🕛 12–4 PM
📍 Kennedy Mine Archive Building, in Jackson, CA
🎟️ FREE & open to all

Stop by, bring a friend and experience the stories behind the Foundry!

04/24/2026

04/23/2026

🐴 In Sutter Creek tomorrow, and in Jackson on Saturday!

04/23/2026

We love the Kit Carson Mountain Men Wagon Train! They are rolling through the county right now ~ tomorrow they’ll be going through Sutter Creek, and Jackson on Saturday! 🐴

The Days of 49 Celebration and Kit Carson Mountain Men Wagon Train brings Gold Rush history alive in charming, historic Amador County.

04/06/2026

Established in 1849 in an area rich with placer gold, the business section of Volcano, California included seventeen hotels, eleven shops, three bakeries, a couple of saloons, a theater, and even a community library. Tens of millions of dollars in gold were eventually mined here.

03/12/2026

🌳 After emigrating from Cornwall, my 3rd great-grandparents were married in Rough & Ready before eventually settling in Amador County. They weren’t Shealors (my mom’s paternal side), but Keverns from her maternal side - a branch of the family I haven’t touched on here, yet. 💕

02/14/2026

Love this 💕

02/14/2026

🌳 For last year's 4th of July weekend, 3 generations of Shealor-Watt cousins traveled from Oregon, Montana, and throughout northern California to gather together in Amador County for 4 days. We squeezed in a bunch of family history, too! Just in case you're new here... the Shealor Family were Amador County pioneer settlers… crossing the plains in covered wagons, and came down the Carson Pass to settle in Amador County with a US Land Grant, sometime between 1848-1853… 8 generations ago! And no one living, in our branch of the Shealor’s knew about this family history until about a year before this. Can you believe that? It's true.

All descendants of Samuel and Sarah Ann Shealor, the oldest generation to settle here. Since this family history was a recent discovery for all of us, it served as the perfect excuse to get together. It was a fantastic long weekend spent together. Updated captions are under each photo!

01/26/2026

🌳 One year ago, I did a little genealogy as a surprise for one of my brother-in-law’s birthday (married to my youngest sister). This research took me out to the Shenendoah Valley and the historic pioneer cemetery there. WOW, that cemetery. I never knew it existed until I started this project, and I fell in love with it. Tucked up into the hills off of Steiner Road, under peaceful, shady oak trees. You would never know unless you walked up the hill to the headstones at the top, that there is a glorious view off the back of the cemetery. Looking out onto gently rolling vineyard-dotted hills, quiet and lazy in the sunshine. My favorite pioneer cemetery in AC so far, and I’m sad to say I can’t find the rest of the photos I took there. Good reason to go back there soon.

If you’ve been in Amador County for awhile, you’ve likely heard comments that everyone here is related. I’ve been learning that there was a reason for those comments, and they are rooted in truth. It simply means that in a small county that was even smaller 170+ years ago, most neighboring families married each other... and many of their descendants still live here. Discovering that my brother-in-law’s family (UHLINGER) *and* our family were both pioneer settlers in Amador County, was truly extraordinary!

I took a hiatus from research during the holidays, but plan to be back at it now. See captions under photos…

01/11/2026

🎄 Grabbed a quick picture before I finished taking down my tree, today. One of my favorite ornaments. (I’m working on a new family history post, to be posted soon!)

01/03/2026

🎊 As we welcome in 2026, we extend our warmest wishes to you for a Happy New Year. With this beginning of a new year, today marks the debut of our brand-new Flashback Friday feature... a weekly series capturing Jackson’s rich and vibrant past in photographs. Zoom in so you don’t miss any details!