John Steinbeck's Roots (Draft)

Donald G. Kohrs

Copyright © 2021

 

 

This is a story of two Northern European immigrant families who arrived in America in the 1840’s and 1850's and chose to travel West in the mid-nineteenth century, to settle in California. The father of each of these families was the first to arrive. One father, Sam Hamilton, traveled from New York around Cape Horn arriving in California in 1851. The second father, Johann Adolph Grosssteinbeck, who arrived in the United States in 1858, shortening the family name to Steinbeck, later traveled overland from Massachusetts arriving to the state in 1872. Each of these men were born of an agrarian heritage that dated back hundreds of years in their respected country of origin: Sam Hamilton was raised on a family farm in Ireland and Johann Grosssteinbeck having been raised on the family farm in Heiligenhaus Germany. 

 

 
In California, both men initially chose farming as the means to support their families. Hamilton appears to have farmed grain in the area near San Jose, and Steinbeck established a dairy farm and fruit orchard near Hollister. Members of these families were the first generation of Nobel prize winning novelist John Steinbeck maternal and paternal ancestors to grow up in California. The descendants of these two men, Hamilton and Steinbeck, would not find farming the land a viable way to support a family, though several of them tried. The oldest son of Sam Hamilton, Tom, chose ranching and farming, and though apparently successful in the effort, supposedly became haunted by depression resulting in his committing suicide. At least that has been the prevailing story as to the death of Tom Hamilton.  If you venture further and read the section about Sam Hamilton's eldest son, you may find yourself asking if it was actually suicide that was the cause of his death. Hamilton second son, Will, became a partner in a mercantile business and then the automobile sales and service business. His third son, George, found employment managing grain mills located in South Monterey County. Again if you venture further and read the sections Will and George Hamilton, you will find out they too ventured into farming in the Salinas Valley.  Hamilton’s fourth and youngest son, Joseph, graduated from Stanford University, then chose the advertising business as a career, moving to the city of Chicago and rising to the top of the ranks. 

 

As for the five daughters of Samuel Hamilton, three - Lizzie, Euna and Olive - became schoolteachers in the earliest of the California’s rural school system, another - Mary - married a wealthy husband, William J. Martin, who was born in Carmel Valley, and with her sister - Dessie - established a women’s clothing store in Salinas.  If you venture further and read the section about Mary and Dessie, you will learn the two were partners in the clothing store. And if continue on and read the section about Euna and Olive, you will learn where, in the Monterey County, the sisters spent their years teaching in one-room board and batten school houses. A day researching at the Monterey County Office of Education finds that Olive appears not to have taught school in Big Sur.

As for Johann Steinbeck’s boys, the oldest son - Charles, went from farming fruit orchards and managing a grain warehouse in Templeton, California to owning a horse stable, and working in a mercantile store in Hollister.. His second son - Herbert, went from working the grain mills, to working as a drayman - a person who delivers beer for a brewery in Hollister. His third son – John Ernst, went from managing a grain mill and farming fruit orchards in the Salinas Valley, to owning a grain store, and finally to serve as Treasurer of Monterey County. The two youngest sons – Will and Henry, also found a career managing the grain mills that were established along railroad routes that followed the extension of grain farms, from Santa Clara Valley to Ventura, and much of the San Joaquin Valley. 

Shortly after Olive Hamilton married John Ernst Steinbeck Sr., she retired from teaching. Olive appears to have inherited several pieces of property in Salinas from her father, Samuel Hamilton, which she then leased for many years. Olive Steinbeck was also hired as Deputy Treasurer of Monterey County during the period her husband served as Treasurer. As such, the Steinbeck family appear to be financial secure with properties owned in both Salinas and Pacific Grove and dual income earners in the household.

Why the children of these two families did not all become farmers may largely have been the related to the adopted practices of land ownership and farming in California. Mexican land grants allowed the transfer of ownership of large tracts of prime agriculture to a minority of farmers. As a result, California’s farming practice evolved into one that contrasted sharply with the eastern and midwestern portion of the nation where smaller family farms dominated the agribusiness, and where the farm was traditionally passed from generation to generation. 

The history of agriculture in California, weaved through John Steinbeck's family roots  tells of the concentration of large tracts of prime farming land placed in the hands of a few, the advancement in farm technology which aided large scale farming, the excessive need for migrant farm labor, and state policies that supported the monopolization of farmland. This history also tells of the struggle of the individual farmer, not only combating floods and droughts, but with large industrial conglomerates, such as the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad. 

 

During the mid-twentieth century, California’s large scale farming methods were adopted throughout the U. S. This adoption of large-scale farming of monoculture crops has resulted in the devastation of small family farmers and rural communities throughout America. Today, those farmers who have adopted the large-scale farming practice are forced to struggle with limited profit margin per acre and the expense of seed and equipment required by such operations.

Steinbeck saw the unconscionable injustice of a monopolized large scale farm growing industry toward migrant laborers, but he also witnessed the ordinary unfairness of life on a family farm. The author never lost sight of rural California, and he exposed the frustration and disappointment of his characters within his writings.  If you venture further and read the chapters below you will find that much of what he saw was within his family roots.

 

 

A NEW EYE OPENING IN THE WEST

PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES SENT TO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

RE - VISIONING OF THE PROTESTANT AMERICAN MYTH

CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE

THE EARLY SALINAS VALLEY

LAYING DOWN THE RAILROAD TRACKS

ARRIVAL OF IMMIGRANTS

POPULATION GROWTH IN SALINAS CITY

POPULATION GROWTH IN MONTERY COUNTY

ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTESTANT CHURCHES

ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTESTANT MORALS

Chapter 2

HOUSE OF HAMILTON

SAMUEL & ELIZA HAMILTON

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

SALINAS, CALIFORNIA

MARY HAMILTON & RICHARD E. RICHARDS

JUDGE JOHN E. RICHARDS

THE HAMILTON RANCH,  SAN ARDO, CALIFORNIA

A COLLECTION OF HOMESTEAD PROPERTIES

A DRY ARTESIAN WELL

A FIFTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

SAMUEL HAMILTON’S PRESBYTERIAN FAITH

 

 

 

SAMUEL HAMILTON’S BLUESTOCKING DAUGHTERS

LIZETTE CARTER “LIZZIE” HAMILTON

ADELIA “DESSIE” HAMILTON 

MARY LOUISE “MOLLIE” HAMILTON

EUNICE B. “EUNA” HAMILTON

OLIVE BLANCHE “OLLIE” HAMILTON