Grover family

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Several members of the Grover family, natives of Maine, came to Santa Cruz County in the 1850s, establishing a sawmill on a tributary of Soquel Creek that became known as "Grovers Gulch". According to Powell, they also worked timber land in the "Soquel Augmentation" mountain valleys above Aptos. James Lyman (1820-1888) and his wife Hannah, along with brothers Stephen Frealon (1830-1907) and Whitney, arrived in California in 1851.

James' son Dwight William (1853-1924) was born in Stockton, so the brothers may have tried their luck at gold mining before turning to lumbering. James, Frealon and Dwight built three houses in a row on Walnut Avenue, across from today's Santa Cruz HS (Sidewalk Companion ch.9, item 7). Another brother, Elijah W., who was a Soc. of Pioneers member, stayed near "Grover's Mills".