Amador
County
Biographies
MRS. SABRA R. GREENHALGH
Mrs.
Sabra R. Greenhalgh, county superintendent of schools, holds the distinction of
being the first woman to ever hold a county elective office in Amador County,
and that she is filling the position in a satisfactory manner is evidence by
her repeated reelections. She was born
on a farm near Plymouth, Amador County, and is a daughter of James and Charity
(Alspaugh) Rickey.
Her parents came to California across the plains and her grandfather
crossed three times, his last trip being in 1850, at which time he arrived in
Placerville. About that time the Rickey
family located in Ione, of which place they were among the first settlers. They took up land by squatters rights, but
later lost it, and then moved to the Shenandoah Valley, where the father took
up land, which he farmed until seventy years of age, when he retired. His death occurred at Sutter Creek, on
February 2, 1856. Charity Rickey, who
was a school teacher, came from Iowa by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and her
death occurred in 1918. To Mr. and Mrs.
Rickey were born three daughters.
Sabra Rickey received her education in the local public
schools, in summer schools and by intensive private study. She received a teacher’s certificate and
taught in rural schools for six years, her professional career being
interrupted by her marriage to William H. Greenhalgh. Mr. Greenhalgh, who died in 1916, was the
county superintendent of schools, which office he had filled for nine years and
in which he had done much important work in the interest of the schools. Upon his death, Mrs. Greenhalgh was appointed
to fill out his unexpired term and is still the incumbent of that office, for
which she has shown herself in every way well qualified. She is progressive in her ideas and methods
and in 1928 she introduced into the elementary schools a system of individual
learning and progress.
To
Mr. and Mrs. Greenhalgh were born two children, Howard C., who is a graduate of
Stanford University, and since graduation is an engineer with the Pacific
Telephone & Telegraph Company in San Francisco, and Gertrude, who is a
graduate of the Jackson high school, and is now attending the University of
Southern California at Los Angeles. Mrs.
Greenhalgh is a Republican in her political views and is interested in public
affairs. She is a member of the Order of
the Eastern Star; Amapolar Parlor, No. 80, N. D. G. W., of which she is a past
president; the California Teachers’ Association; the California Public School
Superintendents’ Association; the California Academy of Science; the Jackson
Woman’s Club; and a life member of the National Education Association, to which
she has just been elected a delegate to represent northern California at the
annual convention to be held in Columbus, Ohio.
She is a lover of and is proficient in music and was a choir director
for ten years. She is a lover of youth
and their proper education and has been most effective in promoting the general
efficiency of the schools and maintaining the high standard which has marked
the educational record of this county.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 57-58. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Amador County Biographies