Joseph Elijah Fordham

21 November 1847–3 August 1929 (Age 81)
Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, United States

The Life Summary of Joseph Elijah

When Joseph Elijah Fordham was born on 21 November 1847, in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, United States, his father, Elijah Fordham, was 49 and his mother, Anna Bibbins Chaffee, was 36. He married Mary Moore Bleak on 10 July 1870, in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Utah, United States in 1870 and Sevier, Utah, United States in 1920. He died on 3 August 1929, in Salina, Sevier, Utah, United States, at the age of 81, and was buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Salina, Sevier, Utah, United States.

Photos and Memories (25)

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Family Time Line

Joseph Elijah Fordham
1847–1929
Mary Moore Bleak
1855–1886
Marriage: 10 July 1870
Mary Bleak Fordham
1872–1957
Grace Fordham
1873–1950
Emily Adelia Fordham
1875–1934
Nellie Fordham
1877–1904
Lillie Fordham
1880–1880
Joseph Elijah Fordham Jr.
1881–1941
Amos Pierre Fordham
1886–1936

Spouse and Children

  • Marriage
    10 July 1870Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
    • Children

    (7)

    +2 More Children

    Parents and Siblings

    Siblings

    (6)

    +1 More Child

    World Events (8)

    1857 · The State Capital moves to Des Moines
    Age 10
    The Capitol was located in Iowa City until the 1st General Assembly of Iowa recognized that the Capitol should be moved farther west than Iowa City. Land was found two miles from the Des Moines River to start construction of the new building. Today the Capitol building still stands on its original plot.
    1863
    Age 16
    Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.
    1870 · The Fifteenth Amendment
    Age 23
    Prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was the last of the Reconstruction Amendments.

    Name Meaning

    English: habitational name from any of the places in Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Norfolk named Fordham, from Old English ford ‘ford’ + hām ‘homestead’.

    Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

    Story Highlight

    AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH ELIJAH FORDHAM OF SALINA, SEVIER COUNTY, UTAH

    This biography was written by my father's own hand. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I, Joseph Elijah Fordham, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, son of Elijah and Anna Bibbin Chaffee Fordham. When I was three yea …

    Sources (59)

    • Joseph Elijah Fordham in entry for Grace Fordham Allen Olsen, "Utah, County Birth and Death Records,1892-1951"
    • 1870 US Census for Joseph Elijah Fordham (Lodger) in household of Mary Maughan
    • Joseph E Fordham, "Utah, County Marriages, 1871-1941"

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