The Graham Family of East Brady, Pennsylvania

William Graham, the first member of this family of whom we have any definite information, was born in Scotland. He emigrated to America and the first known record of him is dated 1794 when he took out a patent for a tract of land on Ten-Mile creek, Washington county, Pennsylvania, but he is known to have settled previous to that time on old Chartiers creek, in Washington county, where he built and operated a grist mill and followed his trade as a miller. A few years later he removed to the mouth of Bear creek in Armstrong county, where he built the first grist mill in that section and finally purchased a farm in Perry township, Clarion county, then a part of Armstrong county, below the mouth of the Clarion river and opposite the present town of Parker. It was later made a stopping place for steamboats on the Allegheny and the property became known as Graham’s Landing. He resided here until his death in 1835. His wife’s name was Sally Rogers and the children were:

1. James Graham
2. Rebecca Graham
3. William Graham, referred to below
4. Mary Graham
5. Samuel Graham.

(II) William (2) Graham

William (2), son of William (1) and Sally (Rogers) Graham, was born 1796 in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. He inherited part of his father’s farm in Clarion county and purchased the holdings of the other heirs of the estate and lived in the old homestead the greater part of his life, but moved in his later years to East Brady, where he died in 1872. He was a Presbyterian in religion, and a Democrat in politics. Married (first) Janet Wasson in 1826, who died December 28, 1828, leaving a son. In 1831 he married (second) Margaret, daughter of John Mechling, a Western Pennsylvania pioneer.

Children (Joseph W. by the first marriage; George, Aaron, Sarah and Amanda by the second marriage):

1. Joseph W. Graham.
2. George Graham, referred to below
3. Aaron Graham, married Sidney Gibson, now living at Renfrew, Butler county, Pennsylvania
4. Sarah Graham, married William Jardine, of East Brady, died in 1876
5. Amanda Graham, married John P. Forcht, now living in Butler, Pennsylvania.

(III) George Graham

George, son of William (2) and Margaret (Mechling) Graham, was born June 11, 1832, in Perry township, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, died in East Brady, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1899. He grew up on his father’s farm, received a public school education, learned the trade of carpenter, and was a pilot on the Allegheny river. He served in the civil war as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, and after the close of his term of service returned to Brady’s Bend, Pennsylvania, where he re-entered the employ of the Brady’s Bend Iron Company as a carpenter; was later made master mechanic and superintendent of construction. On the failure of the Iron Company he engaged in the lumber business at Brady’s Bend with Judge A. Cook, of Cooksburg, and in 1874 removed to East Brady, where the lumber and planing mill business was operated on a larger scale and under the firm name of Graham, Forcht & Company, later Graham & Cook, until 1890, when he sold his lumber interests to his son, Newton E. He married Margaret, daughter of Daniel Fritz, born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, died at East Brady in 1902. Her father was of Pennsylvania Dutch parentage. The children of George and Margaret (Fritz) Graham are:

1. John William Graham, married Ella Sedwick
2. Ella Mary Graham, married John F. Neely, now living at New Castle, Pennsylvania
3. Newton Ellsworth Graham, referred to below
4. Ida May Graham, born 1864, died 1880
5. George Graham, married Mollie Young, now living at Butler, Pennsylvania
6. Celia Graham, married Joseph A. Neely, died 1910, leaving two children:
   1. Marion Neely
   2. Joseph Applegate Neely.
7. Frank Fritz Graham, born 1868, died 1897.

(IV) Newton Ellsworth Graham

Newton Ellsworth, son of George and Margaret (Fritz) Graham, was born at St. Petersburg, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1861. He moved at an early age with his parents to Brady’s Bend. He received a common school education and entered the employ of his father in the lumber business; in 1885 founded the East Brady Review, of which newspaper he was editor and publisher until 1890, when he purchased his father’s interest in the lumber firm of Graham & Cook at East Brady; in 1902 he purchased the Cook interests and organized the Graham Lumber Company, which still continues; in 1900 he was one of the principal organizers of the People’s National Bank of East Brady, of which he was elected president and has held this office continuously since the organization; is president and principal owner of the East Brady Water Works Company, director in the Central Allegheny Valley Telephone Company and interested in oil, gas and other industries. Always an active Republican, has held a number of borough offices, county chairman, delegate to state conventions and delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1904; is a member of the Duquesne Club, Country Club, Athletic Association of Pittsburgh; a Knight Templar and Shriner. He married, in 1886, Lenora, daughter of James Young and Mary (Wallace) Foster, and has one daughter:

1. Maurine Graham.

See: Genealogy of the Allegheny Valley Pennsylvania

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content has been preserved.