Sprague taught elementary school in Potsdam, New York and later opened a school in Zanesville, Ohio.[2] 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.[3] He settled in Reading's Springs, now Shasta, California, and once again became an attorney.
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).[11][12]
References
^Sacramento Daily Union, January 1, 1873, State & County Statistics (For the year 1872)
^"Death of Chief Justice Sprague". Sacramento Daily Union. Vol. 42, no. 7421. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 26 February 1872. p. 1. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
^Old Shasta, Town of Shasta Interpretive Association with Al M. Rocca, 2005, Arcadia Publishing, p. 21
^"Appointment of Supreme Judge". Russian River Flag. No. 17. California Digital Newspaper Collection. 7 March 1872. p. 2. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
