San Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES SKIFF DUNHAM
JAMES SKIFF DUNHAM, a rancher
of this county, residing in Stockton, was born on Martha’s Vineyard,
Massachusetts, October 24, 1852, a son of Shubael and Elizabeth (Dexter)
Dunham. (See next sketch). He was brought to California by his mother in 1856,
and was educated in the district schools of this county, closing with a few
years’ course in the higher institution in Collegeville and in the Stockton
high school. In 1872 he engaged in farming, being placed in charge of some of
his father’s lands in Merced and San Joaquin counties, and has followed that
avocation to the present time. Since the age of twenty-one he has been the
owner of 320 acres, and since the fall of 1886 has been a permanent resident of
this city, where he owns a very pretty and comfortable home. He has been a
member of the Stockton Board of Trade, and takes a deep interest in whatever
promotes the advancement of this city and county. He is a life member of the
San Joaquin Agricultural Society.
J. S. Dunham was married in Douglass
Township, July 20, 1881, to Miss Berenice Bishop, born in this county April 7,
1861, a daughter of Henry Bostwick and Caroline Elizabeth (Gilliland) Bishop,
both natives of New York State, married in California, and living in this
county in 1890, born about 1824, came to California in 1849. The mother, born
in West Fayette, New York, about 1840, came across the plains from Illinois in
1851, with her parents William and Emma (Young) Gilliland. Grandfather
Gilliland died in middle life, aged about fifty, and grandmother lived to be
sixty-six. Grandfather Bishop married a Miss Reed, both being probably natives
of the State of New York.
Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Dunham have three
children, all born in this city: Edna Lucille, June 27, 1883; Charles Bishop,
January 28, 1886; Leland L., April 7, 1889. Mrs. Dunham is a member of Lebanon
Rebekah Lodge, No. 41. Mr. Dunham is a member of Stockton Lodge, No. 11; of
Parker Encampment, No. 3, and of Canton Ridgeley, I. O. O. F., being ensign of
the last named in 1890. He is a member of Centennial Lodge, No. 38, Knights of
Pythias, and of several social and athletic organizations; the Yo Semite Social
Club, the San Joaquin Rowing Association, and the Pacific Coast Field Trial
Club.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 619. Lewis Pub. Co.
Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Genealogy Databases