San Joaquin Genealogical Society
Interesting Facts
 
Do you know of any interesting genealogical or historical facts related to San Joaquin County, its residents, and its many communities? Please email them to the webmaster for consideration.
 
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1.  
San Joaquin County shares a border with 7 other counties: Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus.
2.  
There are 11 townships in San Joaquin County: Castoria, Dent, Douglass, Elkhorn, Elliott, Liberty, O'Neal, Ripon, Stockton, Tulare, and Union.
3.  
There are 18 islands in San Joaquin County: Bacon Island, Bouldin Island, Empire Tract, Fabian Tract, Jones Tract, King Island, Mandeville Island, McDonald Island, Mildred Island, Rindge Tract, Roberts Island, Rough & Ready Island, Staten Island, Stewart Tract, Union Island, Venice Island, Victoria Island and Woodward Island.
4.  
Between 1843 and 1846, during the era when California was a province of independent Mexico, five Mexican land grants were made in what is now San Joaquin County. They are: Campo de los Franceses, Pescadero (Grimes), Pescadero (Pico), Sanjon de los Moquelumnes, and Thompson.
5.  
The last link of the Transcontinental Railroad was completed on 08 September 1869 with the construction of the San Joaquin River bridge in San Joaquin County, California.
6.  
The City of Stockton was founded by Captain Charles Maria Weber in 1849. The city was named for Robert Field Stockton — a commodore in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican-American War — and it's the first community in California to have a name that was not Mexican or Native American in origin.
7.  
The Port of Stockton is the largest inland seaport on the west coast of the U.S. It is more than seventy nautical miles from the Pacific Ocean!
8.  
Shortly after the City of Manteca was founded, its residents chose the name "Monteca," but the official name was accidentally misspelled with an "a." This spelling became the accepted name for the city, and the source of long-standing amusement, since the word "manteca" means lard in Spanish.
9.  
The cities of Lathrop and Tracy are both named for Lathrop Josiah Tracy, an Ohio grain merchant and railroad director who never visited California. Both communities had their origins in the late mid- to late-19th century, when Central Pacific Railroad lines were constructed from Sacramento through Stockton and over the Altamont Pass to the San Francisco Bay Area.
10.  
The oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use west of the Rocky Mountains is located in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. Captain Charles Weber donated the land to Temple Israel in 1851.
11.  
The Stockton Sikh Temple (Gurdwara Sahib Stockton), founded in 1912, is the oldest existing Sikh temple in the United States. It received Presidential recognition during its centennial celebration in 2012.
12.  
The neighborhood in Stockton called "El Barrio del Chivo" or "Goat Valley" was named for a home at the corner of Filbert and Sonora Streets. A goat lived at this home, which became a local landmark and a point from which directions were given.
13.  
The city of Stockton was nicknamed “Castoria” by its founder Charles Weber because the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) was once so common in the area.