Who was Josiah Royce?
On Nov. 20, 1855, Josiah Royce, only son of Sarah and Josiah Royce, was born in a small frame house that once occupied the site of the present Grass Valley Library at 207 Mill St. It was no great occurrence, just another child born into the bustling Gold Rush mining camp society. By the time Josiah was 32 years old, however, his name was quite familiar to academics and the general public, as well. Royce was an inquisitive, precocious and fast-learning child. His mother, Sarah, operated a small private school in the family home where she also taught the boy and his four older sisters. Not only did she acquaint them with the 3Rs, but also with music, art and literature. In 1871, at the age of 16, Josiah entered the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied under Joseph LeConte, professor of philosophy and geology. LeConte had been a student of the great Harvard naturalist Louis Agassiz. Royce credited his studies with LeConte as one of the greatest philosophical influences o
