Joseph Durgin was born around 1819 in Northwood, New Hampshire, to Daniel Durgin and Abigail Keniston. His father was a farmer. Durgin probably grew up and attended school in Northwood, and he married a woman named Sarah sometime before 1850. Durgin worked as a shoemaker, and by 1850, he owned $325 of real estate. He enlisted in the Union army on September 16, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company A of the 5th New Hampshire Infantry on October 12. According to his enlistment records, he was 5 feet, 11ΒΌ inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was killed in the Battle of White Oak Swamp on June 30, 1862.