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Title: Sargent-Gragg Collection
Dates: 1861-1962
Collection Number: ARC 638
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 2 document cases: 13 x 39 cm. and 7 x 39 cm.; 2 flat boxes: 7 x 29 x cm. and 9 x 43 x 54 cm.
Repository:
Monterey Public Library
Monterey, California 93940
Abstract: Contains materials created or collected by three generations of family members: rancher and businessman Bradley Varnum Sargent;
his daughter Harriet Sargent Gragg; and some materials of her daughter, Julia Gragg Breinig.
Language of Material: English
By appointment only; contact Local History Librarian or designated staff.
Reproduction by Local History Librarian or other designated staff; may be restricted due to condition of the materials.
[Identification of item]. Sargent-Gragg Collection. Collection Number: ARC 638. Monterey Public Library
Gift from the estate of Julia Gragg Breinig in 2012.
Biography/Administrative History
Bradley Varnum Sargent, born in Graton, New Hampshire in 1828, sailed to California in 1849. In the same year he moved to
Mokelumne Hill in Caleveras County where he farmed and operated a hotel, later engaging in the butcher business with his three
brothers, Jacob, Roswell, and James. Business partners, the brothers started buying and developing ranches in San Joaquin
County. In 1856, they bought the Mexican land grant Rancho Juristac (4,540 acres) in southern Santa Clara County and, in 1857-1858,
ranchos Potrero de San Carlos and San Francisquito in Carmel Valley, Monterey County (23,000 acres), six miles south of Monterey.
Bradley Sargent occupied and managed the combined Rancho Potrero de San Carlos y San Francisquito, while his brothers supervised
other properties. He also maintained a house in Monterey. In 1856, Bradley V. Sargent married Julia A. Flynn of Mokelumne
Hill. The couple had four children: Martha Harriet "Hattie" (1857-1948), James Pattee "Dick" (1861-1907), Bradley Varnum,
Jr. (1863-1940), and Roswell "Ross" Chapman (1866-). In 1858, the Sargent family moved to Monterey. Bradley Sr. served as
state senator and state assemblyman. In later years Sargent turned over ranch operations to his sons and son-in-law M. M.
Gragg. He died on February 28, 1893 in his Monterey home from pneumonia after driving cattle across the Carmel River to his
ranch.
Martha Harriet “Hattie” Sargent (1857-1948) was born in the mining town of Mokelumne Hill. She grew up at the Carmel Valley
ranch and the Sargent’s Monterey home. On February 18, 1886, she married Mortimer M. Gragg at Monterey. The Graggs moved
into the Stokes Adobe (built about 1835). She was a founder of the Monterey Civic Club, an active member of the Monterey History
and Art Association in its efforts to preserve the historic Mexican-period adobes and celebrate Spanish and Californio customs,
including la Merienda. She was known for her parties at the Stokes-Gragg adobe, and told stories of old Monterey. |bMortimer
Gragg arrived in California in 1880. He was a prominent Southern Pacific Railroad official and oversaw the Southern Pacific
Milling Company in California. The Graggs had two children: Julia Ann and Mortimer Ross Gragg.
Julia Alice Gragg (1887-1970), a schoolteacher, married Frank Costello from Boston, Mass. They had one son, James “Jimmy”
Costello (1914-1982), who became a well-known Monterey Peninsula Herald journalist. She then married J. Herbert Breinig,
and they had a son, Peter Breinig (1923-2004), who became a famous photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Some photographs
by Peter Breinig form a part of the original collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection includes ranch account ledgers, published and unpublished articles (including articles on the Sargent family),
research notes, ephemera, family and related photographs (ca. 1880-1962), drawings, and an heirloom family atlas (1867) and
puzzle box (1918). Organized in four series: I. (Box 1) Sargent ranch account ledgers, 1861-1885; II. (Box 2) Collected Documents/Ephemera;
III. (Box 3) Photographs: IV. (Box 4) Oversized Materials
Ranches
Sargent, Bradley Varnum
Gragg, Harriet
Breinig, Julia
Sargent, Bradley V.
Sargent
Rancho Potrero de San Carlos y San Fransquito
Monterey County
Monterey, california
Atleses
Card photographs
Galley proofs
Ledgers
Ephemera
Photographs
Programs