It started with a near-murder. . .
The Slough House Pioneer cemetery is a tiny gem in Cosumnes Valley, just over an acre and a half in size. Dating back to 1850, it’s one of the oldest pioneer cemeteries in Northern California.
So how did this little cemetery come to be? Well, it all began with a near-drowning. . . a near-murder, if you want to know the truth of it.
Exactly what British sailor William Daylor did that upset his captain is lost to history. But Daylor, a cook aboard a sailing vessel docked in Monterey Bay, did something in 1840 that got the ship’s captain steaming mad. He ordered Daylor to “walk the plank” – promising only that Daylor would be allowed to live if he managed to make it to land.
Meanwhile, on shore, carpenter Jared Dixon Sheldon was watching the drama unfold. Seeing Daylor struggling in the waves, Sheldon jumped in to save him. It was the beginning of a life-long friendship. Neither could have known just how short their future lives would be.
A native of Vermont, Sheldon had married in 1834, but lost his young wife six months later. In the spring of 1838, he began making his way west. By the time he rescued Daylor, Sheldon had been hired by the Mexican government to help enlarge the Customs House at Monterey. In lieu of a salary he had been promised a Mexican land grant when he finished, though that came with a few strings attached. Among other things, Sheldon would have to join the Catholic Church, change his name to a Spanish variation – and find an unclaimed tract of land he wanted.
After recovering from his watery ordeal, Daylor didn’t remain long in Monterey. Moving inland, he secured work as a cook at Sutter’s Fort. And once his work at the Customs House was finished, Sheldon decided to follow, hiring on with Sutter as a carpenter.
As luck would have it, Daylor was dispatched in the summer of 1841 to locate some horses that had strayed from the Fort. He tracked them roughly 18 miles to the south bank of the Cosumnes River – only to find the animals tethered at an Indian camp. Daylor returned for Sheldon, who spoke several native dialects, and the pair managed to successfully negotiate return of the horses to the fort.
But the beautiful Cosumnes Valley had seized their imagination. What better place to use Sheldon’s land grant?!
Completing his work for Sutter that same year (1841), Sheldon returned to Monterey to perfect his land claim. A survey was required, so he hired none other than William Tecumseh Sherman to survey the land for him – yes, the same Sherman who would later become a famous Union general.
With the claim under way, the partners went to work. Daylor constructed a small adobe home and corral on the property, enclosed 100 acres, and began planting wheat. Sheldon indentured himself as a carpenter at nearby Marsh’s Landing in exchange for a promise of 300 head of cattle for their new ranch.
On January 8, 1844, Governor Micheltorena signed the official land grant, naming Sheldon owner of the 22,130 acres of Omochumney Rancho. Stretching 17 miles along the north bank of the Cosumnes River, this huge property was flanked on the west by a survey boundary called “Sheldon’s Grant Line” (today’s “Grant Line Road”). Sheldon, in turn, gave part of his acreage to Daylor.
In 1845, Sheldon built a small wooden house for himself two miles downstream from Daylor’s adobe, by a local slough. Having already built several mills for others, Sheldon also made up his mind to construct a flour mill near his new home. Grist stones were ordered from a Mexican quarry and shipped to Sacramento by sea, then ferried inland by ox cart. Soon, wheat was being sent by wagon from Sutter’s Fort to be ground at the new Cosumnes mill.
All the enterprising pair lacked now were wives. And once again, Lady Luck provided the answer.
Mormon Thomas Rhoads and his wife had come west to Dry Creek (today’s Galt) in the fall of 1846 to escape religious persecution back east, bringing with them a trio of beautiful daughters. The oldest, Elizabeth Rhoads, married Sebastian Keyser soon after the family’s arrival. But two younger daughters were still unwed — and naturally caught the eyes of the Cosumnes Valley bachelors living just 20 miles away.
Daylor, now 37 years old, began courting pretty Sarah Rhoads, who was 18. They were married on March 4, 1847, spending their honeymoon at Daylor’s homestead adobe. Sheldon swiftly followed his partner down the aisle, wedding young Catherine Rhoads (just 15) less than two weeks later (March 14, 1847), and bringing her back to his new house by the mill.
For a short time, at least, domestic harmony prevailed. The two partners cleared more land, planted wheat, corn, vegetables, and fruit trees, and tended cattle. Sheldon, it’s said, ordered a beautiful yellow rose bush from England as a gift for his new bride, shipped all the way around the Horn from England.
But tragedy struck just a few months after the weddings; the girls’ mother passed away in August, 1847. Their heart-stricken father would eventually move to Utah, taking two remaining children with him.
In January, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill at Coloma. This probably came as little surprise to Sheldon, Daylor, and their wives. Long before official news surfaced, the woman were finding gold in the Cosumnes River when they did their laundry. Sarah Daylor even found gold flakes clinging to the roots when she pulled up a handful of bunchgrass. Neighbors at Michigan Bar, just to the east, had also found gold.
Once official news of the gold discovery was out, a flood of miners began descending on the region. Sheldon and Daylor, too, tried their hand (with hired help) at surface mining at the rich Dry Diggings (later Placerville), each amassing $17,000 from a single week’s work. Soon, however, they returned to run their mill, store, and ranch, selling beef, mining supplies, and dry goods to the miners. About 1850, Sheldon also opened a roadhouse near his cabin. A combination restaurant and tavern with a dance hall upstairs, it was known as the “Slough House.”
It wasn’t long, however, before tragedy struck again. Older sister Elizabeth and her husband, Sebastian Keyser, had been persuaded to join the sisters in Cosumnes Valley. Sebastian drowned in January 1850, while trying to ferry a wagonload of grain across the swollen river, and his widow Elizabeth lost an infant daughter a short time later.
Keyser and his baby daughter were both buried on the rolling hill between Catherine’s and Sarah’s homes — the first settler burials at what would eventually become the Slough House cemetery. The site was a logical choice; it was said to have been used by the native Miwok for generations as a resting place for their dead.
The coming years would see even more burials. In October, 1850, former sailor William Daylor was stricken by cholera, and within a few days was dead. He, too, would be buried on the hillside beneath the oaks.
Just nine months after Daylor’s demise, his partner Sheldon was shot and killed at Rancho Murietta in a dispute with local miners over water and a dam. Sheldon, too, was buried at the little cemetery, laid to rest in a mahogany casket. A wreath of roses carved on his headstone was reminiscent of the rose he’d once bought for his wife, and one of his mill wheels was later added to his grave. Not surprisingly, when little Owen Ingersoll, son of a neighboring family, died shortly before his 11th birthday, his grave, too, was added to the hillside. And through the years the little cemetery expanded.
Sisters (and now widows) Elizabeth Keyser, Sarah Daylor, and Catherine Sheldon all remarried, though only one of those marriages would prove a happy one. Catherine married and divorced twice; Elizabeth married three additional times.
But Sarah married Slough House storekeeper William Grimshaw in 1851, and it would prove a successful match. They continued to live at Daylor Ranch, and their marriage lasted another thirty years, until his death in 1881. They would have a total of 12 children. Sarah, her husband William, and eight of their children are buried here at the Slough House Cemetery.
Catherine, too, was buried here upon her death in 1905. Beloved as a local midwife, she was also known for tending the sick. Her gigantic headstone, brought all the way from Sacramento, is said to weigh five tons.
The Slough House Cemetery has been cared for since 1972 by the Sacramento County Camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and is enclosed by a locked fence to protect it from vandals. It is open for tours on the second Saturday of the month from June through September, as well as by appointment with the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
