Royal Tyler Sprague (January 23, 1814 – February 24, 1872) was the 11th

Chief Justice of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

Biography

Sprague taught elementary school in

Potsdam, New York Potsdam ( moh, Tsi tewate’nehtararénies) is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 14,901 at the 2020 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the popul ...

and later opened a school in

Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capita ...

. In 1838 he began to study law and was admitted to the bar in Ohio. The finding of gold in the Sierra Nevada prompted Sprague to become a " Forty-Niner". After arriving in California in September 1849, Sprague worked a claim on Clear Creek on the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento� ...

. He settled in Reading's Springs, now

Shasta, California Shasta is a census-designated place (CDP) in Shasta County, California, United States. Shasta sits at an elevation of . Its population is 1,043 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,771 from the 2010 census. Shasta State Historic Park located at Sh ...

, and once again became an attorney. In 1852, he was elected to the California State Senate representing the 18th District, and in 1855 served as its President pro tempore. In 1867, Sprague was elected to the Supreme Court of California as a Democrat; he was chosen to be Chief Justice in January 1872 and died the next month. He is interred in

Sacramento Historic City Cemetery The Sacramento Historic City Cemetery (or Old City Cemetery), located at 1000 Broadway, at 10th Street, is the oldest existing cemetery in Sacramento, California, Sacramento, California. It was designed to resemble a Victorian garden and sect ...

. A collection of his journals is in the Bancroft Library at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Personal life

On, May 30, 1844, he married Francis Blocksom at Muskingum, Ohio. In 1852, Sprague returned to Ohio briefly to retrieve his wife and their family; they returned to California with him. The couple had four children: Anna Maria Sprague (1845–1879); Arthur Hale Sprague (1848–1922); Ella Sprague (1853-1855); and Frances Royal Sprague (1864–1957).Royal Sprague genealogy
Retrieved July 10, 2017.

References

External links

In Memoriam Royal T. Sprague
43 Cal. Rpts. 3 (1872). California Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved July 18, 2017.

California State Courts. Retrieved July 19, 2017.

Biography

Personal life

References

External links

See also