Just ahead and to the right is the small white cook’s house. » Map
California’s Gold Rush brought people from all around the world, including George Patterson from Indiana in 1849, and around 25,000 immigrants from China by 1852. The Pattersons hired Chinese farm laborers, tenant farmers, and domestic workers – including a Chinese cook, Tom, who lived in this two-room house with his family.
Several laws restricting immigration - most notably the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – reduced the number of Chinese field hands in California from around 75% to about 10% by 1900. By 1905, only four Chinese workers remained on this farm – Chong Wo, Sut Kee, Gee Hee, and Ah Lay.
In 1902, Clara Patterson used an employment agency to hire a new cook, Mr. Tokunaga. Young Japanese workers and Portuguese immigrants took over the plowing, planting, and harvesting of Ardenwood’s crops in the first half of the 20th century.
Japanese workers packing broccoli near Guadalupe, CA
Braceros with Tomatoes - Leonard Nadel, 1956 National Museum of American History Collection
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