Cheryl Anne Stapp writes non-fiction California history. Her most recent book, Before The Gold Rush – The Sinclairs of Rancho del Paso 1840-1849, is a biography of a pioneer couple who lived in the Sacramento Valley during a turbulent decade. A native Californian, Cheryl is a voracious reader who has scribbled stories since childhood. While living in Los Angeles—where she graduated from California State University, Northridge— she was a contributing editor to Working World, a regional magazine, publishing 52 articles over a five year period. Then…she chanced upon Joseph Henry Jackson’s Anybody’s Gold, a witty, vibrant tale of the California Gold Rush…and became hooked on California’s pioneer past. In 2000 she moved back home to Sacramento, a city that once swarmed with tens of thousands of gold-fevered fortune-seekers.

Today, Cheryl is a regular speaker at historical societies, teacher’s groups, book clubs, and fraternal organizations. She is active in the California Writers Club, and is a volunteer docent at Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park. Her blog “California’s Olden Golden Days” is devoted to personalities and events in the Golden State’s rich history.  

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