Contra Costa-El Dorado County CA Archives Biographies.....Durham, Joshua E. 1829 - 
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Author: W. A. Slocum & Co., Publishers (1882)

JOSHUA E. DURHAM.—This well-known and prosperous farmer of Contra Costa county,
whose portrait will be found in this work, was born in Sumner county, Tennessee,
December 6, 1829. Losing his mother at an early age, his father transferred his
residence to Arkansas; from there, at the expiration of a year, he proceeded to
Berry county, Missouri, where our subject attended school six years. He then
returned to Arkansas with his father for six more years, and finally came back
to his former home in Missouri, where he maintained a continuous residence until
March, 1850. At this date he proceeded to Independence, and joined a Government
train, proceeding to Fort Laramie as a teamster. Here he associated himself with
a train of Mormons en route for Salt Lake City, where he passed the Winter, and
in the following Spring continued his journey towards California, arriving in
Georgetown, El Dorado county, in June, 1851. In the vicinity of that place, Mr.
Durham prosecuted mining until the year 1853, when he moved to the San Joaquin
valley and found employment on different ranches until 1870—farming, running a
stage, and, at one time, owning the ferry at the mouth of the Stanislaus river.
In the last mentioned year, Mr. Durham came to Contra Costa county and purchased
his present valuable property of three hundred and five acres, four and a half
miles from Pacheco, situated in the Ygnacio valley, where he is now engaged in
farming and stock-raising, a large portion of his attention being devoted to the
breeding of thoroughbred horses, of which he has some remarkably fine specimens.
Mr. Durham is also possessed of four hundred and thirty-four acres at Bay
Point—all valuable, fertile land. He married, firstly, in San Francisco, October
2, 1862, Miss June E. Sherman, a native of Ohio, by whom he had seven children,
viz: Burnett S., Melvina L, Fannie, Cora E., Levi B., Amelia, and John
(deceased); secondly, in Pacheco, October 10, 1877, Miss Melvina E. Strickland,
a native of Illinois, by whom there is no issue.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/contracosta/bios/durham57bs.txt

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