San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES WALTER GRAVES
Decidedly among the most popular of
public officials in San Joaquin County is James Walter Graves, the wide awake
and efficient constable of Castoria Township, a pioneer citizen, and one of the
honored residents of Manteca. He was
born at Lancaster, Wisconsin, in 1857, and accompanied his parents, Henry B.
and Lorena R. (Howell) Graves to California, crossing the plains with an
ox-team train, and reaching the Cutler Salmon ranch at Dutch Point, Castoria
Township, on October 2, 1864. His father
was a native of Kentucky and a farmer, although he also served as a circuit
judge in Missouri, where his home was maintained from 1857 to 1864. Mrs. Graves, on the other hand, was a native
of Virginia, and well represented the fine old Dominion. Out of their family of twelve children, only
two now survive, J. C. Graves of Stockton and our subject.
James Walter Graves grew up in this
county and profited by a good common schooling; after which, in 1877, he was
duly graduated by Heald’s Business College of San Francisco. Then he entered the employ of Bancroft and
Co., the publishers, in San Francisco, but at the end of sixteen months he left
the city on account of ill-health, returning to the ranch in this county. In partnership with his father and older
brother, N. H., he next took up sheep raising and for
several years was active in Corral Hollow, where he regained his health; and
with the exception of eighteen months spent in the Santa Clara Valley in
orcharding, he has made this county his home since 1879. He now owns a fine ranch one and one-half
miles north of Manteca, where he maintains his home.
In 1880, on the French Camp Road,
Mr. Graves was married to Miss Emma Liesy, a native
of this county, who passed away in 1883; and two years later he married a
second time, when he chose for his wife Miss Carrie Smith, who was born in
Wisconsin and came west in 1880. Two
children were born to the first union:
D. F. Graves is married and resides as a rancher near Lathrop; and Dr.
C. E. Graves is a veterinary surgeon and resides at Santa Cruz with his wife
and one son, Harold. One son, Cleve, was
born to the second union; he was a partner with his father, but passed away on
December 6, 1921, survived by his widow and a son, Kenneth.
Mr. Graves served as deputy sheriff
under Thomas Cunningham, as early as 1890, and as deputy constable until April,
1918, being elected to the office of constable of Castoria Township, in the
administration of which he has shown signal ability. He was elected again in 1922, receiving the
highest vote of any county officer in his township. He is a stand-pat Democrat and is a charter
member of Lathrop Camp No. 92, M. W. A., in which he is a past officer. He is also a member of Charity lodge, No. 6,
I. O. O. F., Stockton, and of the Manteca Lions Club.
Mr. Graves opened the second real
estate office of Manteca, known as the Irrigation District Land Co., and he
maintains a careful vigilance as to all details regarding information given out
to his patrons, and is well known for his ability in appraising lands of this
valley. He has served as the secretary
of the Manteca Creamery from its day of operation in 1896 for one year, when he
resigned to become manager of the Co-operative Butcher Shop. He has always been a strong advocate of
irrigation, and one of the prime factors in the move which culminated in the
incorporation of Manteca in 1918. From 1907
to 1910, he was chairman of the commonwealth committee of this county; from its
organization, for five years he was chairman of the Manteca Board of Trade; he
wrote the maintenance bill of the State highway, and was active in getting it
into the legislation of the state. He
was also the author of the shooting ordinance as to State Highways, the
incentive having been an accident on his own ranch in 1909. Through the untiring efforts, also, of our
subject the standard of quality of the rock and construction material has been
greatly elevated, his good work in this direction having been accomplished in
connection with others, notably Dr. Goodale and Orrin
Henderson of Stockton. Always
public-spirited and progressive Mr. Graves has taken the lead in several
important movements, all of which have borne good fruit.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
433-434. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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