Family papers collected by a native San Franciscan of Welsh descent

Robert T. Durden's grandfather Richard Jones was born in Eglwysfach, Denbighshire, Wales in 1842. He married Mary Williams; they had one daughter, Ellen (Nellie), born 1867. Mary died in 1869. Richard came to America (Chicago) in 1871 and married Margaret (Maggie) Williams there in 1874, and they settled in Oakland in 1877; Margaret had four children. Richard Jones operated Jones' Bazaar in Oakland for two decades, and was one of five original directors of the Welsh Presbyterian Church of Oakland (1890). Nellie married Irish-born David C. Talbot, and they had three children: Maggie May, Amy, and William A. Talbot. Richard Jones died January 10, 1919 in Berkeley. William A. Talbot was born in 1892 and enlisted in the US Army Nov. 3, 1917. He served as a corporal in the Infantry in France in World War I, and was discharged April 28, 1919. He died in San Francisco in 1982. Henry S. Durden was born in England and married Ida C. Kellogg of Wisconsin. He worked as a druggist in San Francisco. Their three sons were Frank (1886), John (1890) and Leon (1888), all born in San Francisco. Frank served in the US Naval Reserve Force during World War I. Leon, an insurance clerk, married Maggie May Talbot, and their son Robert Talbot Durden was born in 1918. Robert T. Durden lived in San Francisco for most of his life. Durden grew up in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and attended Polytechnic High School. He worked as a clerk for utility companies and retired in the early 1980s. He was proud of his Welsh roots, and an avid theatergoer and collector of theatre ephemera, as well as a photographer of San Francisco scenes. He died in 2001.

1 carton, 3 document cases, 1 oversize volume, 1 oversize folder

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