In 2017, several cardboard boxes containing loose and disorganized Sonoma County documents were discovered in the Sonoma County Archives including boxes which contained various documents including oaths of office, certificates of election, appointments, and resignations of Sonoma County public officials dated from 1850 through 1899. The data from these documents was extracted for publication, but gaps were noted. Some years had numerous documents, while others had none. To address these gaps and provide a more comprehensive list of elected and appointed Sonoma County public officials during the time period 1849-1899 additional sources were consulted. These included the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Minute Books and Road Books, local newspapers, and the California Governor's and Secretary of State's Appointment Books.
Over 6,800 entries arranged alphabetically by the surname of the Sonoma County public official are included in this index, which comprises a table of six columns arranged alphabetically by the surname of the Sonoma County public official. Column headings include: 1). Name; 2). Office (the office to which the public official was elected, appointed, or commissioned or from which he or she resigned); 3). Elected/Appointed/Commissioned (the date of election, appointment, commission, or resignation of the public official and by whom he or she was appointed or commissioned); 4). Document Type and 5). Document Date (refer to those loose documents found in the Sonoma County Archives - public official oaths of office, certificates of election, appointments, and resignations dated from 1850 through 1899); and 6). Notes (gives the source or sources of the information recorded in the prior columns for those public officials whose oaths of office, certificates of election, appointments, or resignations were not found in the Sonoma County Archives). This column also gives additional information and its source, such as the date of death of public officials who died while in office.