San
Joaquin County
Biographies
EUGENE DOUGLAS GRAHAM
One of the most popular officials on
San Joaquin County who holds a most enviable and honorable record, is Eugene
Douglas Graham, who was born on his father’s ranch just north of the metropolis
of San Joaquin County, January 22, 1866, a son of Robert L. and Caroline R.
(Stokes) Graham, natives of Logan County, Kentucky, who lived to see their son
so greatly honored by his fellow citizens.
The Graham family is of Scotch-Irish lineage, the ancestors being early
settlers of Virginia, members of the family serving in the Revolutionary
War. Grandfather Graham removed from
Virginia, making his way over the mountains to Logan County, Kentucky, in 1808,
where he reared his family. The Stokes
family is traced back to Germany.
Great-grandfather Stokes was born in Stuttgart, Wurttemberg, Germany,
and came to Richmond, Virginia, when a very young man. Here he entered the Continental Army, serving
under Washington as a fifer in the Revolutionary War, being wounded in battle,
and he carried the bullet until his death; he left a widow and three children,
among them Grandfather Stephen Stokes, who migrated to Logan County, Kentucky,
and there he married and was a pioneer in the development of the Blue Grass
State.
Robert L. Graham left his native
state with his family for California, crossing the plains in 1852 in an
emigrant train of wagons drawn by oxen commanded by Captain Wood, men driving
their loose cattle and stock with them.
As one of the pioneers Robert Graham preferred farming to mining and
located on a ranch near Lodi, where he followed agriculture all his life. The mother passed away on the home place
September 15, 1915, and then the father lived with our subject but did not long
survive his life companion, for he passed away November 17, of the same year.
This worthy couple had four children: Eugene D., the subject of this review; Robert
L., a successful druggist in Lodi, died suddenly of heart failure while on a
trip in the Yosemite Valley, June 2, 1922; Surelda,
Mrs. S. H. Hale of Amador County; Della B., the wife of Otto Seegers, died in
Stockton in 1908. Eugene D. grew up on
is father’s farm and from a boy assisted in the work on the ranch learning to
drive the big teams in the vast grain fields of that day. However, his education was not neglected for
he attended the public school in Lodi and after completing the course he
supplemented it with a course at the old Stockton Business College, now
“Heald’s,” where he was duly graduated in 1885.
At the early age of thirteen he
started to make his own living, his first employment being assistant postmaster
at Lodi, a very responsible task for a youth of his age, but he early showed
that thoroughness to make the details of anything he undertook and soon
developed into a painstaking and efficient assistant, so much so that he was
continued in the position until he was twenty with the exception of the time he
finished school and also the time required for his business course. In 1886 he again took up farming, first on
his father’s ranch and then grain farming on his own account and for the
purpose leased a ranch north of Stockton.
Soon after this he chose his life
companion, the marriage ceremony being performed at Modesto September 5, 1888,
uniting him with Miss Frances E. Mann, who was born in Iowa, a daughter of D.
L. and Elizabeth J. (Sutherland) Mann, also natives of the Hawkeye State. Her father served in the Civil War and
afterwards was a locomotive engineer.
Bringing his family to California in 1869, when the daughter Frances was
a babe in arms, Mr. Mann engaged in farming near Dixon, Solano County, for some
years and then came to Modesto, Stanislaus County, where he farmed until he
retired and moved to Stockton, and there he and his wife died in January, 1919,
their deaths occurring two weeks apart.
After his marriage Eugene Graham
continued farming until January, 1895, when he was appointed deputy county
clerk under Otto Grunsky, serving for five years,
when he resigned to again engage in grain farming on a ranch near Lodi. In 1902 he was nominated on the Republican
ticket as a candidate for county clerk and was elected in the fall of that year
by a majority of 1,000 out of 8,000 votes cast, taking the oath of office in
January, 1903. He has since then served
uninterrupted, being re-elected every four years without opposition, an
unprecedented record in the state of California and undoubtedly the longest
continuous service in the state as county clerk. When he took office in 1903 the office was
conducted in one room with the aid of four deputies. The gradual increase of the business of the
office now requires four rooms and ten deputies, and the county’s registration
increased from 8,000 to over 30,000.
However, it has been Mr. Graham’s policy to always keep the expenses of
the office down to a minimum in the matter of assistants as well as in the
securing of supplies. He has been a
close student of the election laws and his many years’ experience makes him an
authority on ballots and balloting, his advice being frequently sought by
professional as well as laymen. Mr.
Graham’s watchword is economy and efficiency, and taxpayers are unanimous in
their praise of the conduct of the office and of the universal courtesy
accorded all who have business in his department. During the World War Mr. Graham served as
secretary of the county exemption board and for a time was a member of the
County Council of Defense. He has always
manifested a keen interest in farming, and owns a forty-acre ranch near Lodi
which he is planning to develop to orchard and vineyard.
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene D. Graham have
been blessed with three sons: R.
Ellsworth is deputy county clerk of Department No. 2, San Joaquin County; Lloyd
L. is engaged in the grocery business in his home city, and Dr. E. Myrle Graham, a graduate of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of San Francisco, is practicing his profession in Stockton. He was in the medical division of the U. S.
Navy, serving overseas on the Hospital Ship “Mercy.” Mr. Graham is prominent in fraternal circles,
being a member of Truth Lodge No. 55, I. O. O. F., Stockton Lodge No. 218, B.
P. O. E., Stockton Parlor No. 7, N. S. G. W., the Woodmen of the World and the
Loyal Order of Moose. He is deeply
zealous for the future greatness of his county and never allows an opportunity
to pass to boost for and extol the great natural resources of this wonderfully
rich and productive region, and he is ever ready to
give of his time and means to aid in movements that have for their aim its
development.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
567-568. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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