BIOGRAPHY: James M. GRAHAM, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 518-519.

  JAMES M. GRAHAM, general blacksmith, Newton Hamilton, Mifflin county, Pa., was 
born April 6, 1845, at Waterloo, Juniata county.  He is a son of James and Mary 
(Montgomery) Graham.  His great-grandfather, Hamilton Graham, was born in County 
Tyrone, Ireland, came to this country during the Revolutionary war and settled, 
together with Robert Hogue, in Juniata county.  Here he married Miss Sarah 
Hogue, a sister of Robert, after which removing to Canada, he settled two and a 
half miles above the town of Chippewa, where he spent his later days.  While in 
Juniata county,  from 1790 to 1800, he operated a distillery, and was engaged in 
teaching school.  He left two sons in Juniata county, George and Robert, of whom 
the former was the grandfather of James M. Graham.  He was born at Graham's 
Ferry, Juniata county, and was a millwright and surveyor in Juniata and Mifflin 
counties, working at the same time a small farm.  He died in Paxton, Ill., where 
he was at the time living with one of his sons.  He married Miss Margaret McCoy, 
born in Dauphin county.  They had two children:  James M., born at McCoytown, 
Juniata county;  and Nancy, who died in youth.  Mrs. Margaret (McCoy) Graham 
died in Juniata county, after which Mr. Graham married Miss McMullen, a native 
of Mifflin county, and a daughter of the well-known William or "Billy" McMullen, 
a veteran of the Revolutionary war.  To this second union six children were 
born, as follows:  William;  Stewart, now residing in Arkansas;  Sarah;  Jane;  
Fleming;  and Robert;  all except Stewart are deceased.  Mr. Graham's second 
wife died at McCoytown, Juniata county.  George Graham was a Democrat.  He was a 
member of the old school Presbyterian church.
  His son, James M. Graham, received a good education in the common schools of 
Juniata county.  He was a shoemaker and also taught school at Waterloo, Juniata 
county, where he passed his entire life.  He died November, 1844, before his 
son, James M., Jr., was born.  He married Miss Mary Montgomery, a native of 
Fannettsburg, Franklin county, Pa., and the daughter of a cabinet-maker, named 
John Montgomery, who had emigrated from England.  They had four children, as 
follows:  Margaret;  John, a railroad conductor, at Galesburg, Ill.;  Annie, 
wife of Edward Bell, a farmer of Blair county;  and James M.   Mrs. Mary Graham 
was married again to Jacob Norton, a blacksmith, of Newton Hamilton, and had 
three children, as follows:  Alice, who taught school for nineteen years in 
Newton Hamilton;  Julia, who died aged three;  and Isabel (Mrs. Samuel 
McCullough), of Grand Rapids, Mich.  The mother died in 1890.  James M. Graham, 
Sr., was a Whig.  He was an active member of the old school Presbyterian church.
  James M. Graham, Jr., after attending public school in Newton Hamilton, took a 
course in Duff's Commercial College, at Pittsburg, graduating in 1864.  He then 
learned the blacksmith trade with his step-father, also working for a time in a 
store at Tipton, Blair county.  He afterwards worked at his trade for some years 
at Kankakee, Ill, and at Monmouth, Ill.  Returning to Newton Hamilton in 1868 he 
entered into partnership in the blacksmith business with Felix Norton, under the 
firm name of Norton & Graham.  This firm was the first in central Pennsylvania 
to manufacture two-horse wheel corn plows.  After the firm had conducted a 
general blacksmith business for twenty-five years, Mr. Graham bought out Mr. 
Norton, and has since carried on that business himself.
  Mr. Graham married in 1872, Ellen Coulter, a native of Wayne township, 
daughter of Samuel Coulter, a farmer.  To this union were born four children, as 
follows:  Isabel M., a school teacher and musician;  Mary N.;  Nellie C.;  and 
James M.
  Mr. Graham enlisted June 29, 1863, at Newton Hamilton, in Company F, Forty-
sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, Captain Dysart, in which he served for two 
months and was then honorably discharged at Harrisburg.  He again enlisted at 
Newton Hamilton, July 6, 1864, in Company F, Capt. W. R. Jones, One Hundred and 
Ninety-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. J. I Nagle commanding.  The company 
did guard duty at Harper's Ferry and other points in Maryland and Virginia.  He 
was honorably discharged November 6, 1864.  Mr. Graham has been entrusted by his 
fellow-citizens with many responsible positions, including four years in the 
borough council;  eleven years in the school board, during eight of which he was 
president of the board;  borough assessor and borough auditor.  All of the 
duties of these offices have been ably and impartially performed by him.  Mr. 
Graham is a gold Democrat, but is not an active politician.  He is a prominent 
member of the Presbyterian church.  He is not only an active member, but also a 
past commander of Surgeon Charles Bower Post, No. 457, G. A. R., and at one time 
belonged to the I. O. R. M.   Mr. Graham has been all his life a hard-working 
man, noted in the community for his industry and integrity, his genial 
disposition and fondness for home life.  He is a kind husband and a good father, 
and is universally respected in the community.  He has done much to improve and 
develop Newton Hamilton.