Sacramento County
Biographies
JAMES H.
COSTELO
JAMES H. COSTELO was born in Philadelphia, October 9, 1837, son of John and Mary (Costelo) Costelo. He worked at the blacksmith trade in his native State until 1855, when he went to Linn County, Iowa, where he remained five years. In 1860 he moved to Denver, Colorado, where he remained two years and eight months employed at his trade. In 1862 he started for California with mule teams. He was accompanied by his family, father and mother, and two hired men. The trip occupied only sixty-two days. They arrived in Sacramento September 21, 1862, just before the State fair of that year. James Costelo remained in Sacramento three months working at his trade, then leased a ranch in Napa County and lost $4,000 during the year he stayed there. In 1865 he moved to Sacramento and purchased a ranch located fourteen miles from Sacramento at old Elk Grove. He also runs a blacksmith shop. He was married in January, 1862, to Miss Sarah L. Shockley, a native of Ohio, whose parents came to California in 1862 with Mr. Costelo. Mrs. Costelo’s mother resides with them, aged seventy-four years. In their family are eight children: Hattie B., George L., Levy S., Raymond V., deceased, Clarence, Nellie, Edna and Walter. Mr. Costelo is now paying his attention to the raising of fine horses, and he has some splendid specimens of the noble animal on his ranch. The ranch is in a fine state of cultivation. He belongs to the Elk Grove I. O. O. F., No. 274, Grange, and Occidental Encampment, of Sacramento.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Pages 718-719. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.