Joseph and Rebecca Graham's Children

Joseph and Rebecca Graham had born to them four sons and five daugh­ters, whose names and date of birth are as fol­lows: Florence, born January 31, 1805; Lanty, born December 8, 1806; John, born February 23, 1809; Jane, born April 6, 1811; James, born March 31, 1813; Elizabeth, born July 19, 1815; Ann, born October 16, 1818; David, born January 1, 1821; Rebecca, born December 13, 1823.

Florence, the old­est daugh­ter, mar­ried John Nowlan, who was a native of Carrick on Suir Kilkenny county, Ireland, about 1835. After his mar­riage Nowlan set­tled about two miles south­ward from his father-in-law’s, where he lived until his death in 1876. To them were born four chil­dren, one daugh­ter and three sons. The old­est, Rebecca, mar­ried George W. Hedrick, [75] brother of Moses Hedrick, pre­vi­ously men­tioned. Rebecca Hedrick died in June 1863, leav­ing her hus­band and two chil­dren, Mary F. and Patrick, the lat­ter dying unmar­ried in the win­ter of 1884 at about the age of twenty-three years. Mary Florence, the only remain­ing child of G. W. and Rebecca Hedrick, mar­ried Wm. Sherwood and is liv­ing about two miles from Talcott this county.

Joseph, the old­est son of John and Florence Nowlan, mar­ried Mary Keeney, of Kanawha county, in the spring of 1865, and now lives on the farm near Stock Yard, owned eighty years ago by his grea­tun­cle, Samuel Graham. To them were born a large fam­ily, among whom are John C., who is now a jus­tice of the Peace of this county; S. J., who lives at Stock Yard; Rebecca Florence, who is now the wife of Rev. C. T. Kirtner, an able Baptist min­is­ter; Kellus P., who is a tele­graph oper­a­tor and agent for the C. & 0. R’y. Co.; Wm. C., is a prac­tic­ing physi­cian at Talcott, W. Va.; Elmer is a lawyer with [76] his office at Hinton, W. Va.; Mac is engaged in the lum­ber busi­ness, and those still at home are Lawrence, George, Anna and Homer. John Nowlan, Jr., sec­ond son of John and Florence Nowlan, died in 1862 unmar­ried at the age of 22 years. He died in Fayette county from the result of expo­sure inci­dent to the Civil War which was then in progress.

Patrick, the third son, was drowned January 8, 1877, while cross­ing Greenbrier river at Haynes’ Ford, at the exact point where his great uncle, Samuel Graham, met the same fate nearly sixty years before. The river, being much swollen in each instance, washed their horses into deep water below the ford.

Florence Nowlan died January 21, 1869, aged 64 years. John Nowlan, Sr., died November 4, 1876, hav­ing been born June 24, 1793, and was there­fore in his eighty-fourth year.

Lanty Graham, the old­est son of Joseph and Rebecca Graham, mar­ried Sarah Ellis, daugh­ter of James Ellis, in the year 1833, and first set­tled [77] on Greenbrier river, on a por­tion of what is now known as the Riffe farm. In the year 1836, he set­tled at the foot of Keeney’s Knob, a short dis­tance west of his father’s, where he lived until his death in 1880. He had a large fam­ily sev­eral of whom died in their youth. Among those liv­ing and who have descen­dants now liv­ing, are James N., the old­est, who now lives at Huntington, W. Va., and is about sixty-four years old, he being the old­est grand­son of Joseph Graham now liv­ing. He is engaged in keep­ing a dairy and doing a suc­cess­ful busi­ness. The names of his chil­dren are: Laura, a teacher in the pub­lic schools of the city of Huntington; Thomas C., who lives near Huntington; James Lewis, a sol­dier in the U. S. Army, who has recently seen ser­vice in the Spanish American War; and one or two oth­ers not grown.

Joseph Allen, the sec­ond son of Lanty Graham, lives near his father’s home­stead. He mar­ried Susan Dubois in the year 1859, and has five chil­dren, all of whom are still liv­ing. Their [78] names are: Susan, a wife of J. L. Meadows of Alderson, W. Va.; Martha J., wife of M. V. Wheeler; David U. and Allen B. C., who live in this county; and George W. of Fayette county.

Rebecca J., eldest daugh­ter of Lanty Graham, mar­ried Andrew Honaker May 18, 1865, and died in January, 1882, leav­ing four sons, viz: Calvin L., lum­ber man­u­fac­turer; Oscar T., mer­chant; Marion and Charles W., all of whom are liv­ing near New Richmond, W. Va. There were two daugh­ters, Rebecca and Lelia, both of whom are dead.

Jehu Shannon Graham, third of the liv­ing sons of Lanty, mar­ried Frances Alderson and now lives near Clayton, this county; they have sev­eral chil­dren most of whom are yet small. Their names are: Minnie; Clark L.; Floyd; Homer; Bertha; Hattie and Elmer. Jehu S. is a blacksmith.

Lanty Graham also had a son, Lanty Jackson, who lived to man­hood and was a sol­dier in the Confederate army and died at Jackson, Mississippi in 1863.

[79] There were two grown daugh­ters, Mary and Eliza, who are dead.

Thomas Clay Graham, youngest son of Lanty, mar­ried Melsena Bryant in 1871 and now lives at his father’s home place and has two daugh­ters by his first wife: Laura A., wife of James H. Harris, and Jennie, wife of Hugh P. Miller.

For his sec­ond wife he mar­ried Rosa Taylor in 1895 and by this union has one child whose name is Golda. He was for sev­eral years in the lum­ber busi­ness, but now fol­lows the avo­ca­tion of farming.

John, the sec­ond son of Joseph Graham, lived unmar­ried until he was nearly sixty years of age; he then mar­ried Mary J. Crews, daugh­ter of Sedly Crews. They had no chil­dren. He lived oh his farm about one mile east of his father’s place. John Graham held many posi­tions of trust and honor dur­ing his life. He was a sur­veyor by pro­fes­sion and was long a deputy sur­veyor of Greenbrier county, and after­wards held the office of sur­veyor of Monroe county. [80] In trac­ing old lines, locat­ing old land­marks or in mak­ing true and accu­rate sur­veys and maps he had few equals. In his long expe­ri­ence as a sur­veyor he was often called upon to decide the lines of lands in lit­i­ga­tion, which, together with his expe­ri­ence in other legal trans­ac­tions, as well as his incli­na­tion to acquire knowl­edge of this char­ac­ter, led him to be well posted in law, and his legal coun­sel was often sought by many with as much con­fi­dence as if he had been a prac­tic­ing lawyer at the bar. He died October 25, 1893, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, leav­ing his lands and prop­erty amount­ing to sev­eral thou­sand dol­lars to his widow, who still holds and occu­pies it. His widow mar­ried for her sec­ond hus­band Elijah Meadows in March, 1897.

Jane, the sec­ond daugh­ter of Joseph Graham, died unmarried.

James Graham, the third son of Joseph, also lived to an old age unmar­ried. In the year of 1877, in his sixty-fourth year, he mar­ried Rebecca A. Vass, a daugh­ter of Curtis Vass. To this [81] union was born one daugh­ter, Mary Jane, who is now liv­ing. James Graham spent sev­eral years of his life in the west, in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky. He and his brother, John, vis­ited their many rela­tions in those states who had pre­vi­ously moved from this coun­try. James returned from his last visit at the close of the Civil War and remained in this coun­try until his death, which occurred in 1889. He lived about one mile to the south­east of.his father’s home.

Elizabeth, the third daugh­ter of Joseph Graham, mar­ried Archibald Ballengee and set­tled on a por­tion of her father’s land. She died January 12th, in the year 1857, leav­ing her hus­band and four chil­dren. Archibald Ballengee was born November 13th, 1819, and died March 14th, 1894. The names of their chil­dren are as fol­lows: Cynthia Jane, who mar­ried J. H. Bowden; Martha Florence, the wife of J. H. Harrah; Mary Hicks, wife of Marion Hicks; and one son, Herndon Ballengee. All of these live in this county, ex– [82] cept Martha Harrah, who lives in Rockbridge county, Virginia. All have chil­dren whose names are not all known.

Ann Graham, the fourth daugh­ter of Joseph Graham, died in 1837, at the age of nine­teen years, unmarried.

David, the youngest son, mar­ried Sarah Alderson, daugh­ter of James Alderson, and has six liv­ing chil­dren, namely: Joseph Ulysses, who mar­ried Sarah S. Flint, daugh­ter of Jeremiah Flint, and who now lives in Charleston, West Virginia. He is engaged in the lum­ber busi­ness there and but recently moved from New Richmond, West Virginia, where he oper­ated a saw and plan­ing mill for many years. He has six liv­ing children.

Zora E., the old­est, who mar­ried Lonnie E. Burdette, and who is doing an exten­sive lum­ber busi­ness on Elk River.

Hettie A., mar­ried Washington Burdette and lives at New Richmond. The names of the four remain­ing at home are Julia, Mabel, Elbert and Myrtle. They also have four chil­dren dead: Emma and Luella both died at about the age of 16 years; the oth­ers [83] died in infancy.

Charles H. Graham, sec­ond son of David, lives at Clayton, this county, on the farm for­merly owned by his father. He mar­ried Minerva S. Ballengee, daugh­ter of John R. Ballengee, and to them were born three chil­dren, namely; Other, Clara and Frank; the first two named being stu­dents at the Concord Normal School at Athens, West Virginia. He is engaged in the lum­ber busi­ness, farm­ing and other pur­suits and has served his county as Justice of the Peace. His wife died in August, 1897.

James A. Graham, third son of David, mar­ried Sabina S., only daugh­ter of Ezekial Flint, and now lives in Hinton. Their liv­ing chil­dren are Hunter, the old­est, who is now a clerk in the Interior Department of the Government, at Washington; those at home are Roscoe, engaged in plumb­ing busi­ness; Cora; Herbert; Mattie; Seymour and Anna. James A. is engaged in the [84] flour­ing mill busi­ness and also has mer­can­tile and other com­mer­cial inter­ests. He has served his county as Justice of the Peace and is now a mem­ber of the County Court of Summers County.

Luther P. Graham, fourth son of David, also lives in Hinton and mar­ried Madora M. Miller for his first wife, his sec­ond wife being Jannie Hamer, daugh­ter of the late A. W. Hamer, of Hinton. The names of his liv­ing chil­dren are as fol­lows: Cecil, the old­est; Emmons; Carrie and Ernest; the last three named being of his sec­ond wife. He is engaged in mer­can­tile and other com­mer­cial busi­ness of Hinton.

Sydney Ann, only daugh­ter of David Graham, mar­ried, first George G. Staton, and after his death, mar­ried for her sec­ond hus­band M. L. Duncan. She now lives in Central City, West Virginia, and has sev­eral chil­dren, whose names are as fol­lows: Georgia G., by the first hus­band, and Porter, Freddie and Homer, by the sec­ond hus­band. Her hus­band is engaged in oper­at­ing a box fac­tory at Central City.

[85] John W., the youngest son of David Graham, mar­ried Frankie Lowry, daugh­ter of Lawson Lowry, of Fayette county. They have one liv­ing child, whose name is Lowry. He is now liv­ing in Hinton and is edi­tor of the Hinton Leader.

David Graham is the only mem­ber of Joseph Graham’s fam­ily now liv­ing. He, like his brother, John, is also a prac­ti­cal sur­veyor and held the office of deputy sur­veyor of Monroe county many years ago and other posi­tions of trust and honor.

His wife died February 27, 1878. For sev­eral years he has not kept house, but enjoyed him­self in his declin­ing days in the homes of his children.

Rebecca, the youngest daugh­ter of Joseph and Rebecca Graham, mar­ried in 1842 John R. Ballengee, son of George Ballengee, and set­tled first at the
mouth of Greenbrier river. It may here be remarked that George Ballengee was one of the old­est set­tlers at the mouth of Greenbrier, his father, Isaac Ballengee, hav­ing located there about the year 1780, when George was about one year old. They came there from North Carolina and are of French descent.

[86] After liv­ing a few years at the mouth of Greenbrier, Rebecca and her hus­band located on a por­tion of her father’s land, near the foot of Keeney’s Knob and died there in the year 1852, leav­ing three chil­dren, who are now liv­ing, namely: Anna G., the old­est, who mar­ried first, John Nowlan, who was a native of Ireland, and sec­ondly, G. W. Burdette. To her last hus­band were born five chil­dren; John L., Bessie; Blanche; Ida and Oscar, all of whom are liv­ing and single.

David Graham Ballengee, the old­est son of John and Rebecca, mar­ried Delphia Flint, daugh­ter of J. D. Flint, and now lives at the old Joseph Graham home­stead at Clayton. He has a large fam­ily of five sons and six daugh­ters, all liv­ing, and mostly grown. George, the old­est, mar­ried Isabelle Mann; David, the sec­ond son, mar­ried Helen Kelley; John, the third son, mar­ried Emma Erskine and is engaged in the lum­ber busi­ness, the other two sons being farm­ers. The chil­dren unmar­ried and remain­ing at home are Ella, Sallie, Minor, Dora, Etta, Emma, Homer and Grace.

[87] David G. Ballengee is engaged in farm­ing and is suc­cess­ful in his cho­sen occupation.

Mary J., youngest daugh­ter of Rebecca and John Ballengee, mar­ried, first, Robert Carter and, after his death, mar­ried Andrew H. Honaker. She now lives near Clayton and has four liv­ing chil­dren: Otey C. Carter, the old­est (liv­ing); Alice; George and Walter, the three last named being chil­dren of her sec­ond husband.

Joseph Graham, whose fam­ily and descen­dants we have thus described, died December 8, 1857, at the advanced age of 91 years, two months and eigh­teen days, hav­ing been born September 20th, 1766. His wife Rebecca’s death occurred nearly twenty years later at the age of 90 years, one month and thir­teen days. Joseph Graham, together with his wife, was a large landowner, he hav­ing accu­mu­lated nearly two thou­sand acres of land in one com­pact body, besides other out­ly­ing lands not con­tigu­ous to the main body. Nearly the whole of this land is today in the hands of his descen­dants. The home tract, on which he [88] lived and con­tain­ing three hun­dred and thirty acres was sur­veyed and patented by James Graham, Sr., in the year 1786 and by him given to his daugh­ter and has been in the fam­ily for more than one hun­dred years.