George H. Crafts, a rancher near Redlands, was born in New York City in 1844, and came to California with his father in 1861. His father, Myron H. Crafts, was born in Whately, Massachusetts, in 1816, and established the first temperance grocery in New York City. He also had a large meat-curing house there, but was burnt out in 1844, and then went to Jackson, Michigan, where he started a soap and candle factory. He next went to Windsor, where he farmed for a while, and then went to Detroit and accepted a position as cashier in C. & A. Ives’ bank. From there he came to California and purchased 480 acres of land in what is known now as Grafton, a most beautiful and productive country, four miles east of Redlands. Here, for a number of years, he engaged extensively in raising grain and hogs, and later gave considerable attention to fruit culture. At his death he owned 1,840 acres of land in a tract, which was named Grafton, for him.
He was one of the true pioneers, and was widely and favorably known. At one time he was elected County Judge by the Republican Party, but the opposite party, having things somewhat in their own hands, never made him out a certificate. He never contested the matter, and so never served.
He died September 1886, aged seventy years. The subject of this sketch entered the army, enlisting in Company D, Eighth California Volunteers, and served nine months. He then went to Arizona and worked for the Government two years in the quartermaster’s department and then went to Cornell University, taking the course through the sophomore year, when he came back to California and married Miss Joanna Craig, daughter of Dr. William Craig, and has been a horticulturist ever since. He owns a fine ranch of 700 acres, three miles east of Redlands, on which he has recently erected a neat and commodious brick residence. Mr. and Mrs. Crafts have two children, Herbert and Mary. Mr. Crafts is identified with the I. O. O. F., the G. A. R., and the K. of P.