Tuolumne County Biographies

WILLIAM A. DUCHOW

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Mr. Duchow, who may be regarded as a typical journal�ist of the State, after 
many years passed in the active life incident to his craft, came to reside in 
Sonora in 1872.  The impelling cause of his residence in the county seat was the 
establishment of that deserving and ably directed sheet, the Tuolumne 
Independent, in 1872.  Previous to this his journalistic career had been varied. 
 Coming from Salem, Massachusetts, his birthplace, some thirty years ago, he 
settled at Columbia and engaged in newspaper work, type�setting and editing, his 
first venture being upon the Co�lumbia Gazette.  During the years in which the 
brothers Duchow (John C. and William A) conducted the Gazette and Southern Mines 
Advertiser, and afterwards the equally able and well conducted Tuolumne Courier, 
the flush times of Columbia were passed, and many incidents are narrated by Mr. 
Duchow which show his intimate knowledge and participation in the stirring 
affairs of that epoch.  Leaving Columbia in 1859, Mr. Duchow became foreman of 
the Daily Argus and Weekly Democrat, papers published in Stockton.  Later he 
lived for a while in San Francisco, working as printer, and then taking a 
contract to issue a paper for Aleck Montgomery in Napa.  In San Francisco he 
became one of the proprietors of the San Francisco Times, a newspaper which was 
run by an association of printers.  Frank M. Pixley, the present brilliant 
editor of the Argonaut, was editor of their sheet.  Later on Mr. Du�chow went to 
Santa Cruz, interesting himself in the Senti�nel, of that place.  Later still, 
the Pajaro Times, a paper published at Watsonville, engrossed his care.  This, 
the largest country sheet published in California, was run by the firm of 
McQuillan, Kearney and Duchow, and did a thriving business, succeeding even 
beyond the anticipations of the proprietors.
After five years spent in Alameda, Mr. Duchow returned to Tuolumne, engaging in 
the publication of the Indepen�dent with his brother, John Duchow, previously 
oftentimes mentioned as connected with the newspapers of Columbia, and 
respecting whom it may be said that no living journal�ist has ever maintained a 
more upright and consistent course, struggling always to the utmost of his 
powers to uphold the purity of his newspaper and to elevate the con�dition of 
his fellow citizens.
Mr. W. A. Duchow married in Monterey county Miss Mettie Whitlock, daughter of 
Dr. Whitlock, now of Inyo County.  The pair have five children�Earl M., Daisy, 
William A., Harvey G. and Raphael.

�A History of Tuolumne County, CA� B.F. Alley, 1882.  Appendix Pg. 12-13.