Register of the Crocker (Henry R. & May Hall) Collection, 1863-1936
Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by
Don Walker
San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum
11793 North Micke Grove Road
Lodi, CA 95241
Phone: (209) 463-4119
Fax: (209) 369-2178
Email: dwalker@uop.edu
URL: http://www.sanjoaquinhistory.org/
© 1998
San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum. All rights reserved.
Register of the Crocker (Henry R. & May Hall) Collection, 1863-1936
Collection number: Ms4
San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum
Lodi, California
Contact Information
- San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum
- 11793 North Micke Grove Road
- Lodi, CA 95241
- Phone: (209) 463-4119
- Fax: (209) 369-2178
- Email: dwalker@uop.edu
- URL: http://www.sanjoaquinhistory.org/
- Processed by:
- Don Walker
- Date Completed:
- March 1998
- Encoded by:
- Don Walker
© 1998 San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Crocker (Henry R. & May Hall) Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1863-1936
Collection number: Ms4
Creator:
Celia Crocker Thompson
Extent: 0.5 linear ft.
Repository:
San Joaquin County Museum.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research by appointment only.
Publication Rights
The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible
for satisfying any claimants of literary property.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Crocker (Henry R. & May Hall) Collection, Ms4, San Joaquin
County Historical Society and Museum.
Access Points
Personal Names
Clark, Galen (1814-1910) -Correspondence
Bade, William Frederic (1871-1936) -Correspondence
Crocker, Henry R. (d. 1904)
Thompson, Celia Crocker (1874-1965)
Crocker, May Hall (d. 1936)
Corporate Names
Sierra Club. San Francisco Bay Chapter
Crocker's Station (Sequoia, Calif.)
Subjects
Hotelkeepers -California -Sequoia
Women conservationists -California
Photographs -California -Yosemite Valley
Hotels -California -Sequoia
Yosemite Valley (Calif.) -Social life and customs
Europe -Description and travel
California Federation of Women's Clubs. San Joaquin Chapter
Biography
Henry R. Crocker, who came to California from Michigan in 1853, operated a hotel on the
Big Oak Flat route to Yosemite at Sequoia, Tuolumne County (ca 1870-1904). May Hall, a
school teacher from Michigan, married Crocker early in the 1870s. Following Henry
Crocker's death (1904), May Hall Crocker attempted briefly to run Crocker's Station hotel
alone, but, finding the task too difficult, she sold out and moved to Lodi where she
lived with her daughter and son-in-law until her death (1935). Perhaps the major event of
Mrs. Crocker's final thirty years was a lengthy tripto Europe, financed by her daughter
and son-in-law (1922).
The Crockers' daughter, Celia May (1874-1965), was raised at Crocker Station and
subsequently educated at San Joaquin Valley College in Woodbridge (1894-96). There she
met her future husband (1903), Wilson Henry Thompson (1868-1953), subsequently Vice
President of the Citizens National Bank of Lodi and one of the founders of the Pacific
Fruit Exchange. The Thompsons had one son, Henry Allen. Celia Crocker Thompson earned
modest renown as a photographer through pictures she took while still a child of the
Yosemite region (1890-1904). She subsequently gave the bulk of her work to the Lodi
Public Library, where her husband served on the Board of Directors for over fifty years.
In addition, Mrs. Thompson gave personal diaries and scrapbooks on local history to the
Lodi Library. The San Joaquin County Historical Museum also holds approximately 600 of
Thompson's original negatives.
Scope and Content
Mrs. Crocker was friendly with many notables associated with Yosemite, including Galen
Clark, John Muir and William F. Badé. Her devotion to conservationist causes is
represented by a substantial correspondence---most notably with Sierra Club President,
William F. Badé. Mrs. Crocker's European Grand Tour (1922) is represented by much
descriptive correspondence from Mrs. Crocker to her Lodi friends and family. The Crocker
Collection also contains legal documents pertaining to the Crocker Yosemite property,
conservationist publications and ephemera.
BOX 1: CROCKER FAMILY COLLECTION
1.1: Crocker family biographical materials
1.2: May Hall Crocker: Personal corresp., 1870s
1.8: May Hall Crocker: European tour---Corresp., 1922
1.9: May Hall Crocker: Conservation---Corresp., 1920s
1.10: May Hall Crocker: Personal corresp., 1930s
1.11 Henry R. Crocker: Legal & business papers, 1871-1904
1.12: Crocker's Station guest lists, 1883-85
1.13: Henry R. Crocker will, 1885
1.14: Conservation materials collected by May Hall Crocker, 1900-1920
1.15: Religious ephemera [8 items]
1.16: Poetry & other writings
a)-*Ford E. Samuel. "To Mrs. Crocker" (1902) [on Crocker's Station letterhead]
b)-Celia Crocker Thompson [?] "My Grandmother" (n.d.)
c)-Maurice Hill. "Sierra Meadow" (n.d.)
d)-"Mother Shipton's prophecy (1485)" [scrap from newspaper]
e)-"The real discoverer of The Sheepherder" [2 pp.]
1.17: Greeting cards, calling cards, programs, etc. [16 items; incl. Celia Crocker Thompson wedding announcement; Charter
Day Program, U. of California, 1911 at which May Crocker sang]
1.18: Envelopes from personal correspondence, 1870s-1920s; Crocker's Station letterhead & enevelope [after 1904]
1.19: Business correspondence, 1881-1941 [9 items]
1.20: Deeds, indentures, etc.
a)-Water Rights: Cram Creek, 1872
b)-Water Rights: Rush Creek, 1882
c)-Homestead Certificate: portions of sect. 33, T1SR19E to Henry Crocker, 1883
d)-Deed: Henry Crocker's mine, Bronson, Tuolumne Co., 1886
e)-Deed: portions of sect. 33, T1SR19E homesteaded by Henry R. Crocker, 1886
f)-Deed: SE 1/4 sect. 6, T1SR15E to May E. Crocker in exchange for her caring for Mrs. T.P. Woodruff for the rest of her
life, 1891
g)-Stmt. of Property belonging to Great Sierra Stage Co., 1896
h)-Deed: 1/4th interest in Rush Creek Mine to Henry Crocker, 1899
i)-Deed: Santa Maria Mine, Tuolumne Co. to Henry Crocker, 1899
Sales Agmt.: Rush Creek Mine, Tuolumne Co., Henry Crocker to Chas. Bacon, 1903
k)-Tax Assessments: Henry Crocker, 1899-1902
l)-Deed: Santa Maria Mine, Tuolumne Co. To May E. Crocker, 1904
m)-Stmt. Of Ownership: Crocker Ranch & Rush Creek Mine said to be property of May H. Crocker, 1909 [ditto copy]
n)-Copy of sale agmt.: Crocker's Station to John Baker Jr., 1910
1.21: Rainfall charts [Crocker's Station], 1896-1910; mileage tables [from Crocker's]; list of subscribers to Tuolumne Meadows
Fund
1.22: Checks, Receipts, etc., 1863-1910 [7 items]
