California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


JOSEPH D. MCGRATH.  A son of the late Dominick McGrath, one of the pioneer ranchmen and land 
owners of Ventura County, Joseph D. McGrath possesses many of the vigorous qualities that 
distinguished his honored father, but industrially is thoroughly in sympathy with the modern age of 
progress and improvement, and is an active figure in those branches of agriculture which are now 
distinctive in the region around Oxnard. 
  
He was born in Ventura County July 18, 1878, attended district schools until fourteen, and was then a 
student in St. Vincent’s College of Los Angeles up to the age of seventeen. 
  
Returning home, he found work on his fathers ranch and was made proficient in every detail of ranch 
management during succeeding years.  After his fathers death in 1908 an estate of several thousand 
acres were left to him and his brothers and sisters.  The family have since kept this estate intact and 
have incorporated it under the name D. McGrath Estate Company.  Joseph D. McGrath is secretary-
treasurer and one of the managers of this company, and is actively directing the cultivation of a large 
acreage to beans, beets, citrus fruits and general farming.  He owns a beautiful home on a part of the 
McGrath estate. 
  
Joseph McGrath is a member of the Catholic Church and of the Knights of Columbus and the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Santa Barbara.