One of the earliest newspapers in Marin County, California, was the Sausalito News, started by James H. Wilkins in February 1885. Previous efforts to start a newspaper met with little success. The Sausalito News was started as a weekly newspaper to be published on Thursday of each week. Advertisements were free, which helped attract an audience for the newspaper. In addition to giving births, deaths, marriages, and business happenings, the paper contained articles about customs, lifestyles, and priorities of the times. Several correspondents from the local townships sent in weekly news. In May 1888, Col. J. E. Slinkey of the El Monte Hotel in Sausalito bought the newspaper. However, he had his hands so full with his rapidly increasing hotel business, that a joint stock company conducted the newspaper business. The newspaper recorded real estate transfers and related items as land opened up, and large parcels of land were sold. Local newspapers are a gold mine to the genealogist. They contain information that you cannot find anywhere else. The San Francisco information was lost in the 1906 earthquake, and you will find several items about San Francisco people in the Sausalito News as people traveled back and forth. A full name index adds to the value of this work.
Marin County Genealogical Society
2007, 8½x11, paper, index, 364 pp.
ISBN: 9780788438486
101-M3848
