Steve Cottrell: Rector brothers were lifelong hoteliers
There have been several owners of Nevada City’s most famous hostelry — now rebranded with its original National Exchange Hotel name — and the longest-serving were members of the Rector family.
Although John and Bayliss Rector are identified in local history as its primary owners, two second-generation Rector brothers also operated the National, as did Bayliss’ widow.
If ever the phrase “family-run business” applied, it was the Rectors’ 44-year association with the Gold Rush-era building. But considering that John and Bayliss’ parents had been resort owners in Missouri, the brothers’ lives in Nevada City seemed preordained.
Elijah John Rector, known