In 1869 Francis J. Gracier was a partner in the San Francisco machinery manufacture Gracier, Heald & Bonney. By 1872 the business had split up, with Olpha Bonney operating as O. Bonney, Jr. and Gracier partnered with James B. Johnson as Gracier & Johnson. The latter firm advertised that they were "manufacturers of agricultural, grist mill, and wood working machinery..." They were also making Johnson's patent friction hoist, for which J. B. Johnson had won a First—Diploma at the 1868 State Fair.

In 1873 or '74 Johnson left the partnership and Gracier continued the business under the name Francis J. Gracier. The product line remained the same. In 1880, Gracier retired and his business was taken over by his bookkeeper and son-in-law, Louis P. Bolander. Bolander operated the business under his own name, eventually developing a specialty in making flag poles, a business that continues to this day.

Information Sources

• Ads in 1872 through 1874 San Francisco Directory.
• The San Francisco Directory for the Year 1879 lists Frank J. Gracier as a maker of "agricultural, grist mill, and wood working machinery, 211-213 Mission, r. 730 Shotwell."
• According to the 1880 census, Frank J. Gracier was born in 1830, was widowed, was employed as a wood turner, and had a 15-year-old son, Frank, who was in school.
• Gracier was listed as a maker of woodworking machinery in the San Francisco Directory for the Year 1880: "Gracier Frank J., manuf agricultural, grist mills, and wood working machines, 211 and 213 Mission. r. 1105 Shotwell".
• The book History of the San Francisco Bay region: history and biography, Volume 3, by Bailey Millard, 1924, has a biography of Frank Gracier. A transcription is available on a genealogy site.