My guess is that it referred to the County. In the 1800s you lived in a county and sometimes mentioned a township. My mother said she was born in "Mendocino City" to differentiate from the county. In many places, people would say what township they lived in as everyone lived in a township but that seems rarely to have been the case in California. We did have a discussion a while back about the location Fremont in Santa Clara County; turns out that what we call "North County" was originally the township of Fremont but I don't recall any San Joaquin township in the county. cheers, Gard > We found an old letter where the lady said they were living > "at San > Joaquin"......I know San Joaquin County but was there a > settlement along the > > San Joaquin River that actually went by that name in the > late 1800s? > > Thanx > Barbara > >