Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of James Graham (12/13/2003)

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Descendants of James Graham (12/13/2003)

Generation No. 1

1. James² Graham (James¹) was born 1753 in Virginia, and died June 14, 1830 in Grahamsville, Scioto Township, Jackson, Ohio. He married Mary Buffington¹, daughter of John Buffington and Sarah Evans. She was born March 19, 1761 in Chester, Pennsylvania, and died May 02, 1838 in Grahamsville, Scioto Township, Jackson, Ohio.

Notes for James Graham:
Tombstone reads "A Soldier of the Revolution"

"A Peaceful Foray Into The Stronghold Of The Grahams", Jackson Standard-Journal, Wednesday, October 15, 1919.

Oct 2--The fame of the fighting Grahams of Scotland has gone round the world.

There is a Graham's town in Cape Colony and a Grahamsville in Jackson County. Dr. Sylvester Graham gave a name to a flour and J A Graham to a mineral.

The Grahams of Jackson county are all descended from James Graham and he must have had good blood, for it still flows in a host of people.

J H McCoy a great grandson of the pioneer offered to drive me to the old homestead today and I accepted gladly, for I wanted to pay my first visit to Grahamsville.

It was two o'clock before we started, for I wanted to attend the Sadie Faught hearing, and this prevented me from making all the investigations that should be made around the Graham homestead.

In passing along the Mabre pike, we saw Del D Colby helping William Mercer make molasses, and I was sorely tempted to stop right there the rest of the day.

When we came to the Sycamore farm, McCoy pointed out the new fram cow shed, and said that lumber was used in the dancing platform at the last Stret Fair.

Dickens wrote about echoing footsteps in the Tale of Two Cities and I wish I could write of the echoing sounds from the boards of this cow shed, the sounds of the tripping feet of gallant lads and gay lasses.

Then we came to a road which brought back to McCoy's memory the fate of Jos Lyons who was injured while making the new road and never recovered.

He told me next how John Stiffler and Alex Jones have become the owners of the old William Dawson homestead.

He related stories of the old pioneers living all along the road, and of the engineers who built a table in a Chestnut tree on the hill now owned by Harvey Sheward to make observations of the surrounding country.

We stopped for a drink out of William Howard's spring, whose fresh water once fed a fish pond, and suggested to me that many farmers should make fish ponds today.

Then we came to the home of A Q Parks in the borders of the land of the Grahams for Mrs. Parks is a Graham, and I say his huge pile of pumpkins the largest seen during the drive.

The Ford made short work of the climb up on Riegel ridge, and then carried us down into the valley of Pigeon Roost Creek, the third creek of that name in this county.

McCoy told me how the neighbors used to visit the Roost to fill bags with Pigeons knocked down with clubs, how all the trees were bent and broken by the millions of Pigeons that came to the roost, and how the ground was covered for years with their dung, until the creek ran black for miles.

The Pigeons selected a roosting place on the upper stretches of the thread like branches of the Run, where they were protected by the hills and forest from the bitter south west winds.

He then related the history of the Wyants and the Buslers, until we climbed out of the valley and found ourselves at his farm home, once the homestead of John Graham son of the pioneer.

His son William Hays McCoy who was in the Service and his young wife occupy the farm, but he was away painting for a neighbor, and she was down in the field blading Sugar cane.

McCoy took me first to his granery to show his hundred bushels of Buckwheat threshed September 30 from a little over four acres. In the same building is a lot of tobacco already hung up to dry.

Crossing the road we went into the cellar where I saw the fast quantity of canned fruit and vegetables stored up for winter by young Mrs. McCoy. Near by is the old well dug one hundred years ago.

(Continued on October 22, 1919)

Next he took me through the fields up to the Grahamsville graveyard, and we passed his son James Sanford McCoy harrowing the Buckweat land for wheat.

There is work enough in the graveyard for half a day's copying and I had to pass many monuments with a glance.

One of the first names that attracted my attention was that of Terracy, a young girl who died at fifteen years and I wonder if she ever knew that her real name was Theresa.

I saw the tombstone of Susan wife of James Kinkaid who died October 8, 1867, aged fifty five years, five months and two days. The name Kinkaid has disappeared from the county.

I stood at the grave of James Graham the pioneer who died June 14, 1830, aged seventy seven years and six months, and thought of the life which he led in the wilds of this county.

I looked at once for the inscription in memory of his wife for I have learned a secret about the pioneers, which the wife's tombstone always tells.

She died (her name was Mary Buffington) May 2, 1838 having outlived her husband by eight years. She was only seventy seven it is true, but her outliving her husband indicates to me that he always shouldered many of her burdens, as he should have done.

After all is said, one of the principal reasons why the exodus from the farm has continued so long is because so many husbands lay too many burdens on the women.

McCoy then took me down the little Run to show where James Graham build his first cabin near a spring which is yet very much alive, but not flowing freely because it happens to be in a barn yard.

The log cabin of James Graham stood a short distance north of it and many lived in it after Graham died, and it is now a barn up on the ridge near where the old school house stood, moved there by J M Pierce.

The Grahams like the Williamses have allowed the old ancestral home to be torn down and moved away (Mrs Margaret Howell told me the other day that Albert Roach is tearing down the old house in which I was born.)

America will never be quite what it should be until pride of ancestry will cause us to preserve the old homesteads. Americans move too often.

It is true that rolling stones gather no moss, but it may be noted also that rolling stones gradually become reduced to small pebbles, and many American gamilies peter out in the third or fourth generation.

When I used the phrase peter out I had no intention of punning, but there is a certain aptness about it in the figure where stone or petros and pebbles are compared.

We stopped for a few minutes at the home of J M Pierce where we saw Mrs Pierce and her young daughter preparing roasting ears for supper and Mrs Effie Wastier a neighbor was with her.

We had passed a dead horse in the barn yard and Mrs Pierce said the its name was Barney. The incident emphasized the fact that farmers suffer many losses which are never considered by those who harp about farmer's profits.

We returned home along Spohn or Harrel ridge road, and from the high point by the Daniel Harrell home I enjoyed the wonderful vision of the southern Ohio hills.

While I looked far away to the west, I could see the hills on the other side of the Scioto River, and suddenly in the blue haze there appeared two higher points farther away.

The higher points had doubtless been visible all the time, but my eyes had not focused on them. It is always thus. We miss seeing so many things because our eyes are not open.

We passed in front of the new home of Louis Harrell, and saw J F Messing and William Erlenwein scraping the site for a new barn, and Mrs Messing were smiling on their work.

The road descends rapidly from the Messing farm through the old Crabtree homestead, and passes near the old homestead of Gilbert Weed whose son Oren Weed of Missouri is now visiting this county.

We stopped at Freedom church to take a look at the U S Benchmark in the stone under the church. It bears the figures 739 feet a correction of the original figures which were 794.

Then we drove rapidly home for the day was dying, but the colors of the Autumn foliage seemed purer more refined than in the glare of the midday sun.

Morning Glories smile all day long now, there is some Purple Ageratum left, Bottle Gentian is in its glory, the Blue Asters and the New England Aster in places, and Canada Golden Rod nods along the fences and the Runs.

We saw many apples along the road, great quantities of nuts, Walnuts, Hazels, Chestnuts, Hickories, and there were Persimmons here and there with red berries or drupes on Dogweed, Winterberries and other shrubs.

We stopped at the McCoy home to get his two old Bibles from which I will give many data about the Grahams, which after I have verified some dates and names in county records I will print later.

Following are gleanings from an old Bible:

------------The Buffington Record----------------
John Buffington, son of William and Alice Buffington, was born the 28th day of October 1731, and the fifth day of the week, and was married to Sarah Evans the 6th day of August 1753, and the second day of the week.

She was born the 29th day of February, 1737, and sixth day of the week, and they had the following children, namely:
Joseph, born August 6th, 1754,
Thomas, born July 28th, 1756,
John, born December 19th, 1757,
Mary, born March 19, 1761, and 5th day of the week,
Phebe, born April 22nd, 1764, and first day of the week,
Alice, born December 12th, 1770, and 4th day of the week,
Seth Buffington, born April 4th, 1777, and sixth day of the week.
+++
Mary married to James Graham.
Ruth, a grand daughter by Mary, was born May 21st, 1777.
Phebe married to James Sheward.
Alice married to Micael Tirnen.
+++
John Buffington died April the 7th, 1804, aged 72 years and six months.
+++
The above data were written in a fine, large, round hand, after the fashion of the beautiful writing of the early days of the Nineteenth Century. The archaic form of noting the day of the week is interesting. There is one error in the data easily detected, the birthdate of Sarah Evans, given as Feb. 29, 1737. It was not a leap year, and February had only 28 days. This suggests that the data were copied into this Bible long after the event. They seem to have been written at the same time, and that after the death of John Buffington. The Bible was printed at Philadelphia in 1804, and doubtless, the data were written in soon after the Bible was bought.
+++
The James Graham Children
On the other side of the leaf bearing the Buffington record, there appear in faint writing the following names and dates:
The ages of James and Mary Graham's children:
Sarah, February 12, 1781.
John, October 1st, 1782.
Mary, May 11th, 1785.
Seth, February 14, 1788.
Adda, June 26th, 1791.
Joseph, March 8th, 1793.
Phebe, May 24th, 1795.
Elizabeth, July 9th, 1797.
Rachel, September 29th, 1799.
The above seem to have been written with a goose quill. The names of Adda and Elizabeth are almost obliterated.
+++
Dixon Data
(unreadable)
Mary Dixon was born January 28, 1817.
Elizabeth Dixon was born March 26, 1819.
+++
Other Dixon Birthdates
This leaf follows the Apocrypha in the old Bible, and at the bottom of the last page of the Apocrypha may be found the following data:
Samuel Dixon, son of John and Rhoda Dixon, was born Oct. 3, 1811.
Amos Dixon was born July 26, 1813.
Sarah Dixon was born October 5, 1813.
Peter C. Dixon was born Sept. 9, 1822.
+++
John Graham's Children
There is another leaf at the end of the New Testament bearing data as follows:
John Graham, son of James and Mary Graham was born Oct. 1st, 1782, and was married February 2nd, 1810.
Catherine Graham, wife of John Graham, was born Jan. 21st, 1794.
Phebe Graham was born Nov. 7, 1811.
Elizabeth Graham was born Dec. 25, 1812.
John Graham was born August 31st, 1815.
Felix Graham was born June 14, 1817.
Jehiel Graham was born April 14, 1819.
+++
In much later writing, there appear these dates:
Hattie Graham, daughter of Felix and Susan Graham, was born Dec. 4, 1865.
Emma Graham was born March 6, 1865.
Susan Graham was born 1812.
After copying the above I turned back and at the end of the last page of the New Testament I found this writing: Susan Graham, born March, 1825.
At the bottom of the page is this legend:
This book was purchased --------- Mary Graham. She was the daughter of John Buffington, and the wife of James Graham. The date of the purchase was unfortunately omitted.
+++
Family of Seth Graham
Turning over the leaves I found another record betwen the Old Testament and the Apocyrpha with data about Seth Graham's family, as follows:
Seth Graham, son of James and Mary Graham, was born Feb. 14, 1783. Susannah Graham was born Jan. 28, 1788,and was married Oct. 10th, 1811.
James, son of Seth and Susannah Graham, was born June 4, 1812.
Mary Margaret was born June 20, 1814.
Peter N. Graham was born Nov. 2nd, 1815.
Mary Graham was born Feb. 6th, 1819.
This writing is almost identical with that of the name Mary Graham as the purchaser of the Bible and may have been that of the Mary who was the daughter of John Buffington and Sarah Evans.
It is possible that the daughter named Mary Margaret born in 1814, had died before the second Mary was born.

More About James Graham:
Burial: Grahamsville Cemetery, Scioto Township, Jackson, Ohio
Family History Number: AFN 120Q-WHX

More About Mary Buffington:
Family History Number: AFN 120Q-WC4

Children of James Graham and Mary Buffington are:

+	2	i.	Sarah³ Graham, born February 12, 1781 in VA; died in Scioto Co, OH.
+	3	ii.	John Graham, born October 01, 1782 in Pennsylvania; died July 26, 1855 in Grahamsville, Scioto Township, Jackson, Ohio.
	4	iii.	Mary Graham, born May 11, 1785.
+	5	iv.	Seth Graham, born February 14, 1788.
	6	v.	Adda Graham, born June 26, 1791.
+	7	vi.	Joseph Graham, born March 08, 1793; died October 06, 1861.
	8	vii.	Phoebe Graham, born May 24, 1795. She married Thomas Crabtree December 16, 1813 in Scioto, Ohio; born June 20, 1792; died April 27, 1860.

Notes for Phoebe Graham:
[1860 Census - Ohio - Jackson - Scioto Township - June 22, 1860 - page 133 - image 18]
Phoebe Crabtree, 66, a farmer born in Pennsylvania. Also listed was Dorcas, 18; Maria, 10; Charles, 9; Dorcas, 6; Electa, 3; James P., 2 and Louisa, 2 months. All were born in Ohio. Maria, Charles and Dorcas were attending school. Phoebe could not read or write. Her real estate was valued at $2200 and personal property at $800.

More About Phoebe Graham:
Date born 2: Abt. 1794, Pennsylvania ²

Notes for Thomas Crabtree:
[1850 Census - Ohio - Jackson - Scioto - September 21, 1850 - Image 11]
Thomas Crabtee, 56, a farmer and Phebe, 56, born in Maryland and Pennsylvania, respectively. Also listed is Joseph, 29; Lewis, 26; Phebe, 22; Alexander, 17; Dorcas, 10 and Lewis, 2, all born in Ohio. The family real estate was valued at $1000.

More About Thomas Crabtree and Phoebe Graham:
Marriage: December 16, 1813, Scioto, Ohio

viii.

Elizabeth Graham, born July 16, 1797 ³; died July 15, 1867³. She married Eli Dixon June 16, 1814 in Scioto, OH; died August 31, 1878³.

More About Eli Dixon and Elizabeth Graham:
Marriage: June 16, 1814, Scioto, OH
Marriage contract: June 07, 1814, Marriage Affidavit filed: Mary Graham, mother of Elizabeth, gave her consent, as verified by John (X) Graham. Henry Dixon made oath that Eli Dixon was over 21.⁴

ix.

Rachel Graham ⁵, born September 24, 1799. She married Nathan Dixon⁵ March 20, 1817 in Jackson County, Ohio⁵.

More About Nathan Dixon and Rachel Graham:
Marriage: March 20, 1817, Jackson County, Ohio⁵

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