San Joaquin County
Biographies
OLA LARSEN & MARTINUS LARSEN
GRAVEM BROTHERS
GRAVEM BROTHERS, proprietors
of the Stockton Home Bakery, corner of Aurora and Lindsay streets, have built
up one of the leading bakery trades of this city in a very short space of time.
The Stockton Home Bakery was started by Charles Pexler in 1883, who did not
succeed and sold out. The bakery was afterward carried on by different parties
of which none seemed to have any success, and O. L. and M. L. Gravem have
carried on the business since May 12, 1887, under the firm name of Gravem
Brothers. When they took charge of the establishment, one barrel of flour per
day was found amply sufficient to supply the custom, but so vast has been the
increase in their trade that now they average three barrels every day. They
find their principal demand coming from private families, though they also
supply restaurants, hotels and stores to some extent. When they commenced their
combined capital was only $900, and they only leased the premises. A year later
they bought the lot, improvements and fixtures for $3,036. They have put in
about sixteen hours per day apiece, and as the result of their industry have
cleared about $7,000 in two years. Neither one understood the baker’s trade
when they took the concern, but O. L Gravem, by constant application, mastered
it in five months, so that now their home-made bread and other articles of
manufacture have a popularity second to none. As these two young men, coming
here entire strangers, have made such commendable progress in such a brief
space of time, a short sketch of their early career will be of general interest
in this connection.
O. L. Gravem was born November 12, 1863,
and M. L. Gravem, June 29, 1865. They are natives of central Norway, their
parents being L. G. and A. O. Gravem. The father had $80 when he was married;
has raised nine children and has yet a nice farm and a little money. Both were
reared at their native place, and attended school there, and when O. L. was
sixteen years of age he went to Vardo, northern Norway, a distance of about 900
miles from home. This being his first experience in life, and he, being young
and a stranger and having no friends to consult, he had some difficulty in
obtaining work. One day, after having looked around for a month for work, a
policeman overtook him on the street, and, tapping him on the shoulder, said,
“Young man, who are you? I have seen you several times on the street: do you
want a job?” Mr. Gravem replied, “Yes, sir.” “Well,” said the policeman, “Mr.
Brodtkorb wants a bar-tender; good pay; but he wants a man who does not drink
or become intoxicated.” At that moment Mr. Gravem thought of what his father
had said to him with tears in his eyes when he left home, namely, “Whatever you
do, my son, do not drink to excess.” Mr. Gravem said, “I do not know how to mix
drinks, but think I could soon learn, and I will let you or Mr. Bodtkorb know
to-morrow.” As his money was almost gone, and as he could see nothing else to
do, Mr. Gravem accepted the position as barkeeper. He was always fearing that
he might become a drunkard, as he was only sixteen years of age and his
self-confidence was not very strong. He attended the bar nine months; and the
first six months he can swear that he did not drink a drop of intoxicating
liquors. Nine months later he began to clerk in a dry-goods and grocery store,
where he worked twelve months, and then went to Christiansand, where his
brother, G. Gravem, lived, and attended college for two years, his studies
being English, German, French, history, mathematics, geography and religion;
but he had at length to quit on account of over-study.
Two or three months, after leaving college
he said to his brother, M. L. Gravem, one day,” “Let us go to America.” The
proposition was favorably received, and three weeks later they were on their
way to the New World. Taking steamer at Christiansand for Hull, England, they
went by rail to Liverpool, and after waiting five days there they took a
steamer for Philadelphia. It was a poor vessel, and loaded with 1,400 or 1,500
passengers, and it required fourteen days to reach Philadelphia. One night,
during a terrible storm, the main-mast was broken by a wave, and one of the
deck hands was washed overboard. A great many on board gave up all hope of ever
seeing land; but they all arrived in Philadelphia, and Mr. Gravem and his party
were soon on their way by rail to Dallas, Texas. Arrived there, they went to
work on the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, and soon began boarding with a
Swedish family, the head of the house being the section foreman. The weather
was intolerably hot, especially for railroad work. They could scarcely speak
English, and it was therefore with difficulty that they could get along. Soon,
however, they picked up the names of tools, and that knowledge helped them to
obtain work. They were soon out of a job two weeks later, and they started out
on a “tramp” to hunt another. Becoming hungry at noon, they stopped at a
farm-house and asked the landlady if they could have something to eat, showing
money to pay for it; but she snappishly replied, “I am not going to get any
dinner to-day.” Mr. Gravem, notwithstanding he did wish any one harm,
especially a woman, thought to himself, “If there is such a place as hell, I
think that such a one deserves a small portion of it.” Mr. Gravem and his
friend walked away without saying a word, and about four o’clock in the
afternoon they reached Wills Point, where they stopped two or three days.
A party came in from the country and
desired them to go to work hoeing cotton. They accepted the offer and worked
about two weeks, but found the place a repulsive one. The head of the family
was drunk all of the time, they had nothing to eat, the beds were full of
vermin, there were flies enough to start a manufactory, and mosquitoes and
other flying insects were in clouds, etc. The men left there, intending to go
to a Norwegian settlement called Norway, about twenty-five miles southeast of
Wills Point. Finding their baggage too heavy to carry, they concluded to take
it to Wills Point, leave it there and send for it afterward; but on arriving at
that place they concluded to remain there until they could get the money that
was coming to them, including their pay from the railroad, which they would get
when the pay-car came along. They obtained their pay from the railroad in three
weeks, which time they improved by splitting wood for a fellow-countryman. The
paymaster asked O. L. Gravem whether he desired to work on the road, and he
replied that he did, notwithstanding the terrible heat then prevailing. About
two days later he sent for his brother, M. L., and they together worked on the
road there for three or four months. His brother was small, young and
boyish-looking, and the section-boss did not think that he was able to do a
man’s work; nevertheless he gave him a trial and he was found to be
satisfactory.
The brothers then came to California,
coming direct to Stockton, with about $6.50 apiece. A few days afterward M. L.
was employed by Charles Mosier, and O. L. entered the employ of Frank Davis at
his ranch on the Cherokee road six miles from Stockton. Shortly afterward he
worked five or six months at the Pacific Rolling Mills in San Francisco; and
then on various ranches until he entered the bakery business. Meanwhile M. L.
Gravem was also in various situations, and he came to Stockton and became
driver for C. Sprague, proprietor of the Stockton Home Bakery, and soon
afterward he bought him out; and this is the origin of the present enterprise
described in the first portion of this sketch. The Gravem brothers are model
young business men, and are deserving of much credit for their energy and
pluck.
Both of the brothers are members of
Charity Lodge, No. 6, I. O. O. F., and also of the Covenant Mutual Benefit
Association, with an insurance policy of $5,000 apiece. G. L. Gravem is a
commission merchant at Christiansand, Norway, and has a wife and three
children. Still another brother, Knute Gravem, is traveling extensively for
knowledge and pleasure throughout the continent of Europe and Great Britain,
and is now in Germany. The youngest brother, K. L., graduated in 1889 at the
high school in his home village.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 531-533. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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