Rawson, Mrs. Eva H.

Mrs. Eva H. Rawson, born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, became a highly successful viticulturist in California after a life spent in the eastern and midwestern United States. She was the daughter of Captain William E. Hubbard, a prominent Rhode Island architect and Civil War veteran, and Ruth Scott, who traced her lineage back to the Mayflower. After graduating from Woonsocket High School in 1884, Eva married Malcolm Augustus Rawson, a dedicated pharmacist who served as vice-president of the Iowa Drug Company and later worked as a traveling salesman in Portland, Oregon, until his sudden death on September 16, 1917. Her early life and family background connected her to a rich history of professional craftsmanship and military service.

The Rawsons first invested in California in 1912 by purchasing twenty-one acres in the Vinland Colony, which Mrs. Rawson actively improved by erecting buildings, sinking wells, and installing an irrigation system. Her property, named White Crest Ranch, was located on rich bottom-land along the San Joaquin River and became a highly productive commercial tract dedicated to Thompson seedless grapes. With the assistance of her son, Malcolm Hubbard Rawson, a World War I veteran, she personally managed the ranch and eventually expanded her holdings by purchasing an additional eighteen acres in 1919. A resident of her beautiful vineyard home alongside her son and her adopted child, Donald Dudley Rawson, she remained a loyal Republican, a member of the Episcopal Church, and a supporter of the California Associated Raisin Company.