Alameda
County
Biographies
JAMES GRAHAM
James Graham, founder of the Graham
Manufacturing Company of Newark, the oldest established stove making concern in
the state of California, was born near Bellville, Hastings county, Ontario,
Canada, June 3, 1842, and died in Newark October 2, 1896. Mr. Graham proved an
inspiring example of self-advancement, for his youth was not blessed with
material advantages, nor were his prospects on his father’s farm in accord with
his ambitions and tendencies. Stepping from the hard and monotonous grind of
the Ontario farm he sought the more congenial occupation of a foundry hand, which
work he eventually mastered, and to which he applied the balance of his life.
At the time of his death his life was still rich in promise and fertile in
opportunity, yet he had in reality accomplished his ambition, and had
established one of the most substantial and paying enterprises of which his
adopted town can boast. Mr. Graham inherited many strong traits from his Scotch
ancestry, early represented in the north of Ireland, where his parents were
born and married. February 19, 1866, he married Sarah Smith, a native of
Caledonia, Ontario, near Hamilton, who was of English-Irish extraction. Mrs.
Graham early removed to the town of Kincardine,
Ontario, and there was educated in the public schools, and trained in all
manner of housework.
In 1869 Mr. Graham removed to
Leavenworth, Kans., and entered the employ of the Great Western Stove Company,
with which he remained for about five years. He then came west and settled in
Alvarado, Cal., where he became foreman of the pioneer foundry of the Pacific
coast, long since passed out of existence. Seven years of experience with this
concern justified him in starting a business of his own, which he did on a
small scale in Newark, having as his only assistant a strong and ambitious
young boy, who so far realized his promise as to be at present one of the most
trusted employes of the establishment. Mr. Graham at
first turned his attention to manufacturing railroad material, but gradually
increased both the capacity and output of his foundry, in time attempting the
manufacture of the Underwood stove, and castings for the Air Tight Stove
Company, of Portland, Ore. He became one of the most extensive employers of
labor in the town, during the busy season requiring the services of at least a
hundred men.
Mr. Graham not only built up one of
the most important enterprises in Newark, but he trained his sons to be his
equals if not superiors in the same line of work. His eldest son, George E., is
one of the prominent and enterprising business men of the town, and able
successor to the man who started out in life under far different circumstances.
As James William, the fourth of the children, and Clarence, the sixth in order
of birth, have approached maturity, they also have learned the business, and
are at present their eldest brother’s valued assistants. The family circle is
further augmented by four daughters, Etta Bell, Stella May, Florence and
Jessie. Mr. Graham was a Democrat in politics, and with his wife was a member
of the Episcopal Church. He was a quiet, unassuming man, methodical in his
habits, and conservative in his views, but his sturdy strength of mind and body
accomplished his dream of success, placing him in all honor upon a pinnacle of
popular opinion.
Transcribed
by: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical
Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 968.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.
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