Joseph Mansfield

Joseph Mansfield (ca. 1828 – 23 June 1854) was an American newspaper reporter, editor, and publisher. Mansfield was born about 1828 to Caroline Matilda Smith Mansfield and Joseph Mansfield. He had an older brother, Charles, a younger brother, Stanley, and a younger sister, Caroline. Mansfield met his future wife, Sarah H. Gannett, when they were both employed at the Boston Transcript, he as an apprentice and she as a "feeder," working the presses. When their daughter Josie was born, the Mansfields lived on Kingston street. Three months later, the family moved to a boarding house at 13 Lincoln St. They later moved to 15 Crescent Place, where they lived for six months. In 1849 or 1850, Mansfield joined the California gold rush and left his wife and daughter in Boston. Shortly after his arrival in California, he went to work as a compositor on the Stockton Journal. On June 26, 1852, the California Census showed him living in San Joaquin County. By 1853, he had become editor of the San Joaquin Republican. On January 23, 1854, Mansfield became part owner of the newspaper and began to edit it as a voice of the Democratic Party. Mansfield became a close friend of John Bigler during his 1854 gubernatorial race, and promoted Bigler's candidacy in his newspaper.