My Seventy Years in California

By J. A. Graves

This book is a memoir of the author, an immigrant who came to California from Kentucky in 1857.  The book covers the period from 1857 to 1927, encompassing most of the period which the Homestead Museum interprets (1830 to 1930).  J. A. Graves had a front row seat at the unfolding drama of early California from the end of the rancho period through the Victorian Age to the Roaring Twenties the time periods, which are also the focus of the Homestead Museum.

The Graves family settled in northern California, but, after attending St. Mary’s College and later passing the Bar, J. A. Graves moved to Los Angeles in 1875.  When he arrived, California was feeling the effects of the Panic of 1873 and the banking crisis hit Los Angeles hard in the fall of 1875.  As a lawyer and banker, J. A. Graves had a good insight into the troubles of the Workman and Temple Bank and its inability to collect on its debts.  The author had kind words for F. P. F. Temple and William Workman as ranchers but not as bankers.

Graves’ law practice had him involved in the litigation of disputes related to the Spanish and Mexican land grants, which were contested after California was admitted into the Union.  He also did a great deal of legal works for banks, especially Hellman’s Famers & Merchants Bank.

The author was actively involved in leisure and recreational activities.  He was an avid hunter and fished both salt water and fresh water, traveling into the Sierra Nevada mountains and sailing around the islands off California.  He mentions seeing players participating in the newly invented game of “base ball”.

The book also covers the years after the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the resulting land boom.  The railroad sent out farm goods and brought in new settlers.  The author, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, also opines about politics, especially the rise of labor unions and socialism.

This book is an excellent source of material for the Homestead Museum Docent.