Graves, George L.
(born: 1879)In August 1912 George L. Graves was among the six mine employees returning to the United States aboard the ship Seguranca from Veracruz, Mexico [source: List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival, August 2, 1912, p. 14]. The ship docked at New York, NY. The men had been working on one of the oil wells in the Veracruz area and may have returned to the U.S. due to the rebellion against President Francisco I. Madero during the Mexican Revolution.
Graves was 33 years old and single. Born in Harrodsburg, KY, he was one of many Americans who lived in Mexico employed by the American-owned oilfield companies prior to the Tampico Affair in 1914 and the invasion of Veracruz by American troops.
For more about the American presence in Mexico and the oil industry see The Ecology of Oil, by M. I. Santiago; Oil, Banks, and Politics, by L. B. Hall; and A. Kahn, "The dynamics of color : mestizaje, racism, and blackness in Veracruz, Mexico" in Shades of Difference, by E. N. Glenn.