Lodge was the granddaughter of Martina Castro Lodge, holder of the largest Mexican land grant in Santa Cruz County and descendant of Isidro Castro who came to California as a soldier with the de Anza Party in 1776. Lodge related a number of stories about her grandmother handed down in the family; she also described incidents in the life of her father, Michael Lodge II, who lived from 1838-1931. Some of her comments about her own childhood provided details of family life in the 1880s and '90s.