I am looking for a Thomas Manley (or Manly) Ramsdell who was born in Vermont in 1801.

From a memoir by his son, Thomas Manly Ramsdell, Jr. (b. 1821 Vermont), while living in Circleville, OH: "There came across my father who had been a Colonel in the patriotic army of Canada in 1838 and 1839, but who had escaped into middle of Ohio after a reward of 200 pounds had been made for him by the Canadian government." That is the last reference made to Thomas Manley Ramsdell, Sr. in the memoir.

I found a T.M Ramsdell in Downieville California on the 1860 Census born in Vermont about 1801 and listed as a “Public Administrator”. There is no on listed with him.

I found that T.M. Ramsdell was elected County Treasurer in 1852 and remained Treasurer in 1853 (http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sierra/history/1882/illustr...).

I also have found him in the Downieville cemetery with a death date of 09-20-1863 at 65 years (http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sierra/cemeteries/sier-m-r....).

Does anyone in the area know anything about T.M. Ramsdell? It would even help if his full name was recorded somewhere in the County records.

Page 19 in the book "DOWNIEVILLE Gold Town on the Yuba" (volume 1 of the James J. Sinnott's History of Sierra County series of books) states that "T.M. Ramsdell" was elected county treasurer in the June 1852 election. He and the others elected were the first Sierra County office holders. His political party was Democrat. It is an out-of-print book. But you can find it in some libraries and for sale as used.

I am slowly creating a complete surname index for that book and posting it a few pages at a time at the below URL. I am willing to do look-ups in the book. So you may want to check that page from time to time. I probably won't finish it until the end of this year.
http://cagenweb.com/sierra/Ref_books/SinnottV1.html

Hope that is helpful,
Rick Hanson
CAGenWeb County Coordinator for Sierra County (http://cagenweb.com/sierra/)
RichardLHanson@gmail.com (checked daily)
or sierra@cagenweb.com (checked weekly)