Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 3 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 12

Among the successful and public-spirited dairymen of Solano and Fresno Counties was Joseph Martin Graham, who was liked by all who knew him and who attained his prosperity, partly, as he himself used to say, because of the wise counsel and unfailing sympathy of his excellent wife, who has survived him. She both understood and attended to his wants and comfort, and since his death she has shown much natural ability in her management of the interests left to her care.

Mr. Graham was born in the north of Ireland, of Scotch descent, in 1861, and as an infant came with his parents to New York City, after which he was reared at Port Byron in New York state. His father, William Graham, had married Mary J. Martin: and about 1875 they came west to Solano .County and located at Benicia, when they engaged in the dairy business, continuing in that field of activity until they died. There were five children, four girls and a boy; and Joseph was the second oldest. While working in San Francisco, he attended the night school, thus paying for his education; and being quick in learning, he soon obtained a good schooling. He was naturally a good mathematician, was a wide reader, and had the blessing of a good memory.

On September 26, 1888, he was married in San Francisco to Miss Nellie Agnes Drum, who was born at Mokelumne Hill, in Calaveras County, the daughter of Patrick Drum, a native of Ireland who came to New Jersey, with his parents, where he was reared to manhood. When the gold excitement in California drew thousands west he came with the tide across the plains and mined at Mokelumne Hill; and later in California he married Bridget Brady, a pioneer. He followed mining for many years and then settled at Antioch, where he was a farmer and dairyman until he died. Mrs. Drum died in Dixon, Cal, the mother of two boys and two girls. A brother, Henry, who died when he was nineteen, and Mrs. Graham were twins. She received her education in San Francisco in old St. Mary's Academy, which was conducted by the Sisters of Mercy on Rincon Hill, and there completed the course with honors.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Graham engaged in dairying, and soon they bought a ranch one and a half miles south of Cordelia in Solano County. It was known as the old Page ranch, but after they bought it, it was always and is to this day called the Graham ranch. He became an extensive dairyman, and at one time he had four different dairies in operation and milked no less than four hundred cows. In those early days they panned all the milk and skimmed it by hand. They used horse-power in making butter and cheese, and their brand of "G. Butter" became famous. Mr. Graham ran four dairies and shipped the milk to San Francisco, sending as many as forty-two ten-gallon cans a day. They had a ranch of 640 acres, finely adapted for dairy purposes, and it attracted attention as a model farm.

The oldest son, Joe, of this worthy couple died of appendicitis, and on a trip to Fresno to dispel his sorrow, Mr. Graham bought an eighty-acre vineyard west of Fresno. Three years later they rented their ranch at Cordelia and in October, 1909, he moved their dairy herd to Fresno County. He always rented his eighty-acre vineyard on California Avenue to others. Bringing his dairy-herd, he leased his present ranch from D. C. Sample and continued dairying. The vineyard still belongs to the estate. In 1912, Mr. Graham bought the place they had been renting, comprising 160 acres on Belmont Avenue, ten miles west of Fresno; and there he continued successfully in business until he died, on August 11, 1916.

Mr. Graham was a trustee of the Houghton school district, and was much interested in the cause of education. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias, and in national politics was a Republican. He supported generously all movements for local uplift. Since Mr. Graham's death, Mrs. Graham has continued the business and is meeting with deserved success. She has a herd of sixty milk cows and uses the Empire Milking Machine. They have an electric pumping-plant for irrigating their broad fields of alfalfa and use a gas engine for power-milking and another for their domestic water plant. Mrs. Graham is a member of the San Joaquin Valley Milk Producers' Association, and is a stockholder in the Danish Creamery Association. She also belongs to the California Associated Raisin Company.

Ten children were given Mr. and Mrs. Graham, and seven were privileged to grow up: Eunice was the wife of Maurice Burns who died at Benicia on October 12, 1918, and Mrs. Burns and her one child, Raymond Lee, now reside with Mrs. Graham; Joseph William's death has already been referred to; Eloise C. manages the Graham Dairy; Edna is a graduate of the Kerman Union High School; Nellie is also a graduate of Kerman Union High as well as Heald's Business College, Fresno; Cyrus and Howard are operating the ranch for their mother. The children are all very helpful and thoughtful for their mother, being ambitious to succeed and always busy and dependable, assisting her in their respective ways in the management of her large affairs. Mrs. Graham, like her esteemed husband, is a friend of popular education, and serves as trustee of the Houghton school district.