Five folders of handwritten letters and documents between the Grover family members, dating over time, from 1836-1946. The family came from Bethel, Maine and the letters are often correspondence between there and various locations in early California.

Elijah Grover, born April 7, 1795 in Bethel, Maine, had thirteen children with wife Hadassah Bean Grover. From 1846 through 1848, Hadassah and four of her six daughters died from Typhoid Fever (there are no letters written between those dates). Elijah's sons - James Lyman, Elijah Whitney, Stephen Frealon and Jarvis Hilliard - all traveled West in 1849. Elijah by sailing around the Horn, and the other three brothers by ship to the Eastern shore of Panama and then on foot scross the Isthmus of Panama and then by ship up the coast to California. Originally, the latter three brothers settled in Stockton, Califoria as farmers, and Stephen rode for Wells Fargo. James and Stephen eventually moved to Santa Cruz, where they began their own lumber business. Stephen went on to build the historic Brookdale Lodge in Ben Lomond, California - which still stands today.

5 folders Folders contain handwritten letters.

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