San Joaquin County
Biographies
JOSEPH HARRIS TAM
JOSEPH HARRIS TAM, born in
Delaware, November 19, 1812, died September 8, 1865. He was a son or James
Hamilton Tam, and his ancestors were early Dutch settlers of Manhattan Island
and the adjoining coasts. He lost his mother when he was only thirteen years
old, and soon after his father’s second marriage, left home because of a
disagreement with his stepmother. He labored industriously to acquire an
education, and taught school at intervals to enable him to perfect his
education. He spent some time in college at Palmyra, Missouri, and was graduated
at McKendree College, in Belleville, Illinois. He
lived in Texas for some time, and took part in its war of independence. He was
principal of an academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, about ten years. He was
married in Lafayette, Indiana, September 12, 1846, to Miss Sarah Glassford, born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, November
27, 1824, a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Hamilton) Glassford.
The father came to America at the age of fourteen years with his Scotch
parents, about 1795. The family settled on a farm in Mifflin County,
Pennsylvania, where the elder Glassford lived to an
advanced age. Henry Glassford, a farmer by
occupation, served for a time in the war of 1812, and after his marriage moved
to Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1825, and afterward settled on a farm in Butler
County, Ohio. Some years after he again moved on a farm near
Lafayette, Indiana, and finally to White County, in that State, where he died
in 1868 at the age of eighty-seven years.
After his marriage Mr. J. H. Tam taught school in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, about two years, and with his wife set out for California in 1849. Arriving on this coast Mr. Tam went to mining for about a year near Marysville, and in 1851 bought forty acres of fruit land near Sonora City, which he kept eighteen months, when he sold out and came to this city in 1852. He bought land in this county and went to farming, owning 400 acres in one body and 260 in another. Selling his ranches he settled permanently in this city in 1860. He afterward became interested in copper-mining and lost nearly all his accumulations in that venture. He died September 8, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Tam have had seven children, of whom four are living: Amanda Josephine, born October 30, 1847, now the wife of David J. Martin, an assistant in the State Insane Asylum, of this city, has three sons and two daughters; Amelia Montana, born July 10, 1849, became the wife of B. F. Rodgers, of this city, and died December 20, 1887, leaving four sons and three daughters; Almira Julia, born April 16, 1851, now the wife of Russell A. Meyers, a steamboat engineer of this city; James Henry Glassford Tam, born July 22, 1853, died August 15, 1860; Augusta Emma, born July 24, 1856, became the wife of John Charlson, who died in 1887, leaving one son and two daughters; Joseph Hamilton, the subject of this sketch, and John Thomas, born March 31, 1869, who, after receiving a good public-school education, developed some talent for the stage, and now follows it for a profession.
Joseph Hamilton Tam, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools and business college of this city, taking a full course, closing in 1877. He was book-keeper for Rogers & Norman from 1881 to 1884. He was elected city assessor in 1884, and held the office six months, when he was re-elected under the new charter for one year. Meanwhile he read law in the office of J. C. Campbell, and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of this State. He was elected Police Judge in November, 1887, and held the position until he was legislated out of office by the new charter of 1889, and is now practicing law in Stockton. Mr. Tam is a member of the Stockton Lodge, No. 11, I. O. O. F.; of Nemo Lodge, K. of P., and by right of birth a member of the San Joaquin Valley Society of California Pioneers.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 400-401. 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
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