Joshua Hernandez Berkey (March 11, 1852 – June 16, 1911) was an American newspaper publisher, Christian minister, and anti-alcohol political activist in the states of Kansas and Wisconsin.

Joshua Hernandez Berkey was born March 11, 1852, in the rural hamlet of Post Oak Springs, Roane County, Tennessee.

[1] His father, of ethnic Dutch descent, was a showman toured extensively throughout the United States during his life, frequently taking Joshua on the road with him until his death in 1871 at the age of 47.

In 1880, Berkey sold his drug store and moved west with his family to the booming city of Denver, Colorado, where he took a position as a secretary for a mining company.

Berkey's anti-alcohol newspaper drew attention across the state of Kansas and he began traveling the region as a lecturer on temperance and other related political themes.

[6] June 1911 found Berkey in Crystal Lake, Illinois, a small town in McHenry County where he owned several acres of farmland.

[6] Berkey's body was discovered at 4 pm on June 17 near an old picnic grounds at Crystal Lake, submerged beneath six feet of water a short distance from shore.