Editing Amador County, California (section)

== History ==
[[File:José María Amador (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Amador County is named after [[José María Amador]], a [[Californio]] miner who found gold in the area in 1848.]]
[[File:Dr. Charles Boarman.jpg|thumb|left|Dr. [[Charles Boarman (pioneer)|Charles Boarman]] (1828–1880), son of Rear Admiral [[Charles Boarman]], and his family settled in the area. He served as the first county physician and coroner from 1863 to 1880.|upright]]
[[File:2009-0724-CA-Jackson-AmadorCtyCourt.jpg|thumb|The former Amador County Courthouse consists of two buildings: the second courthouse (built 1864) and the Hall of Records (1893), that were enclosed and combined in 1939 with an [[Art Deco]] exterior.<ref name="CAcourt">[http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/trial/historic/amador.htm], Judicial Council of California. Retrieved August 2, 2009.</ref>]]
[[File:Gold-quartz hydrothermal vein in matrix (Amador County, California, USA) (17161938811).jpg|thumb|High-grade Gold-quartz ore from Amador County]]

Amador County was created by the California Legislature on May 11, 1854, from parts of [[Calaveras County, California|Calaveras]] and [[El Dorado County, California|El Dorado]] counties.<ref name="hmdb">{{cite web |url= http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=11222|title= 1854 · Amador County · 1954|last= Whittle|first=Syd |date= September 8, 2008|work= The Historical Marker Database|publisher= J. J. Prats|access-date=May 14, 2012}} (historical marker placed by Board of Supervisors and Amador County Historical Society, 1954)</ref> It was organized on July 3, 1854.<ref name="hmdb" /> In 1864, part of the county's territory was given to [[Alpine County, California|Alpine County]].

The county is named for [[José María Amador]], a soldier, rancher, and miner, born in [[San Francisco]] in 1794,<ref name="BrightGudde1998">{{cite book|author1=William Bright|author2=Erwin Gustav Gudde|title=1500 California place names: their origin and meaning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CET4QodMZysC|access-date=January 20, 2012|date=November 30, 1998|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-21271-8|page=15}}</ref> the son of Sergeant [[Pedro Amador (soldier)|Pedro Amador]] (a [[Spain|Spanish]] soldier who settled in California in 1771) and younger brother to Sinforosa Amador.

In 1848, Jose Maria Amador, with several [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], established a successful [[gold mining]] camp near the present town of Amador City. In [[Spanish language|Spanish]], the word ''amador'' means "one who loves". Some of the Mother Lode's most successful gold mines were located in Amador County, including the Kennedy, Argonaut, and Keystone.

During the outbreak of [[American Civil War|Civil War]] the county organized Company C, [[1st California Infantry Regiment|1st California Infantry]] and Company D, [[4th California Infantry Regiment|4th California Infantry]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=California. Adjutant General's Office |url=https://archive.org/details/recordscaliforn00ortogoog |title=Records of California men in the war of the rebellion, 1861 to 1867 |date=1890 |publisher=Sacramento, CA : State Office |others=unknown library}}</ref> Not everyone supported the Union; in April 1862 when the stars and stripes flew from a house a local judge cursed at it.<ref name=":0">''Sacramento Daily Union'', 15 April 1862</ref><gallery>
File:Company C, 1st California Infantry flag.jpg|Company C, "Amador Volunteers"<ref>The Army of the Pacific : its operations in California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Plains Region, Mexico, etc., 1860-1866, by Aurora Hunt, p. 33</ref>
</gallery>There are numerous gold mines in Amador County including the [[Argonaut Mine]], the [[Kennedy Mine]], the Central Eureka, and the Lincoln. The Kennedy Mine in Jackson was the deepest gold mine of its time. The federal government closed all of the Mother Lode's mines in 1942 because they were considered non-essential to the war effort.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}