The Family of Benjamin Graham, Sr.
Of
Canal Lewisville
Coshocton County, Ohio

Sometime in the year 1816 Benjamin Graham, Sr., and his wife, Mary (Miller) Graham, and their sons, Miller and Benjamin, Jr., left their home somewhere in County Tyrone in the Province of Ulster, Ireland, and came to the United States.

Information about the port at which they landed or how they traveled westward has not been preserved. It is known that they lived for a while in Washington County, Pennsylvania where a third son, Thomas, was a born. By 1819 they were living in or near Steubenville, Ohio, where the daughter, Mary Jane, and a son, William, were born. Sometime in the year 1821 they moved to Coshocton County, Ohio, where on September 8th they purchased from the U. S. Government land in the Northwest corner of White-Eyes Township. The original grant was signed by James Monroe, President of the United States. The legal description of the land is: Township 6 North, Range 5 West, the East one-half of the Southwest quarter of section 5. This land lies northwest of the present town of Fresno (originally named Avondale), Ohio. We assume that the younger children of the family were born at this location.

On December 26, 1832, Benjamin Graham, Sr., together with Alexander Renfrew purchased from James Hamilton, Executor, for $666 a tract of land in Keene Township containing 212 acres and lying very near to the village of Canal Lewisville. The legal description of this is: Lot 20 in a recent subdivision of the Fourth Quarter of lands in Township 6, Range 6 as shown in a plot on page 62 of Book 6 of the records in the County Recorder’s Office at Coshocton, Ohio. On April 22, 1837, this land was divided, Benjamin Graham becoming the sole owner of the south half of the tract and Alexander Renfrew taking the north half of the 1st.

On August 18, 1837 Thomas Graham and his father, Benjamin Graham, purchased from Rufus Eldridge Lot 101 in Canal Lewisville. On July 12, 1843 Thomas Graham purchased from Joseph E. Johnson Lot 106 in the same village. On July 11, 1844 Thomas Graham married Rebecca Stillwell. On January 17, 1849 Thomas and Rebecca Graham sold their interest in Lot 101 at Canal Lewisville to Benjamin, Sr. for $100. On the same date Benjamin Graham transferred to his son Thomas Graham the farm near Canal Lewisville the purchase of which was reported in the preceding paragraph. On August 27th of the same year records show that Benjamin Graham, Jr., and Jane (Love) Graham sold to William Stephens the Lot #101 in Canal Lewisville. The transaction by which Benjamin Graham, Jr., acquired title to Lot 101 is not at present known to us. It is of interest that on October 1 of that same year Benjamin Graham, Jr., and family left Coshocton County seeking a new home and arrived in Dubuque, Iowa 31 days later. On Nov 14, 1849 Thomas Graham gave to his father Benjamin Graham a life-time lease for “the house which he now occupies in Canal Lewisville.” (It is probable that this house was on Lot 106 of the village.) This lease also made provision for “a room for the unmarried sisters.” These were Mary Jane, Elizabeth and Sarah Ann Graham. This lease was witnessed by Michael Trottman, who, about six weeks later, married Elizabeth Graham.

At various times Benjamin Graham, Sr., transferred portions of his lands to other children. On September 1, 1845 he transferred to his son, James K. Graham, the land in White-Eyes township, the acquisition of which, on September 8, 1821, was reported above. The consideration for this was “natural love and affection and 50 bushels of wheat per year.” In 1851 James K. Graham sold this land to Robert McCormick and purchased from his father a tract of land in Section 1 of Keene Township, Coshocton County.

On September 1, 1845, Benjamin Graham, Sr., also transferred to his oldest son, Miller Graham, 80 acres of land in the southwest quarter of Section 25 in Crawford Township, Coshocton County. On March 1, 1855 he transferred to his son-in-law, Oliver J. Hood, 80 acres of land in Section 11 of Mill Creek Township, Coshocton County, who accepted the obligation to pay to Benjamin Graham and his wife, Mary (Miller) Graham, $60 per year during their lives. On April 2, 1864 Mary Graham signed a deed relinquishing her right to this payment.

On March 24, 1855 Benjamin Graham, Sr., died. He was interred in the Amity Presbyterian Cemetery in Keene Township, Coshocton County, Ohio. His grave is covered by a very large flat stone of white marble. In 1958 it is a very conspicuous memorial in the little hill-top cemetery.

On March 31, 1855 Thomas Graham and Rebecca (Stillwell) Graham sold to David Markley the farm near Canal Lewisville which he had acquired from his father in 1849. For many years it was knows as “The Markley Farm.” In 1896 the writer believes that it was occupied by the Oliver T. Hood family (probably as tenants). In 1925 its location was shown to the writer, his mother and father by Christopher Graham, a son of Miller Graham and grandson of Benjamin Graham, Sr. In 1958 the farm is occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Pomerone who have rebuilt the residence to form a charming home while preserving many interesting features of the original construction.

On March 31, 1855 Thomas Graham also sold Lot 106 in Canal Louisville. His brother-in-law, Michael Trottman, was the purchaser. By this date all sisters of Thomas Graham had married. Soon after these sales Thomas Graham moved his wife and 6 children to Jasper County, Illinois. There, in February 1856, he purchased land in Grove Township where he lived until 1892. In 1959 3 of his grandchildren were living in Jasper County.

On June 27, 1855 Mrs. Mary (Miller) Graham was appointed administrator of her husband’s estate. Her sons, Miller Graham and James E. Graham, were recorded as her sureties. Mrs. Graham’s final account was allowed on January 5, 1857. (In August 1958 inquiry at the office of the probate judge in Coshocton County Court House brought the response that records of that era were stored in the attic or the basement. Attempts to see these records were discouraged.)

According to the U. S. Census of 1860 Mrs. Mary Graham was living in that year with the family of her son, Miller Graham, in Crawford Township. In 1864 she relinquished her interest in land given to her daughter and son-in-law, the Oliver Hoods. She died on September 13, 1868 and is buried near her husband in the Amity Cemetery.

Miller Graham continued to live on his farm in Crawford Township and in the village of Fresno (originally named Avondale) until his death in 1891.

Benjamin Graham, Jr., moved his wife and two children by covered wagon to the farm near Iowa City, Iowa. The left Coshocton County on October 1, 1849 and arrived at Dubuque, Iowa, 31 days later. There is some evidence that they sought land in Illinois and Wisconsin before settling in Iowa. On September 11, 1850 the U. S. Census taker found this family located in Iowa City, Townships, Johnson County, Iowa.

On May 17, 1856 James K. Graham sold a tract of land which he owned in Section 12 of Mill Creek Township. Soon after that he moved his family to Iowa. In an account book belonging to our grandfather, Anthony Wilkinson of Chelsea, Iowa, we have found two entries regarding transactions in farm products with James K. Graham. One entry is dated 1856 and the other 1858. Also in the Wilkinson family cemetery near Chelsea, Iowa County, Iowa, there is a monument bearing the inscription “Infant daughter of J. K. and M. Graham, April 5, 1857, aged 5 months.” These facts convince us that James K. Graham and family were living near the farm residence of his sister, Sarah Ann (Graham) Wilkinson at least for a short period. In the U. S. Census record for 1860 we stumbled on a record showing that James K. Graham, wife and family of 8 children were living in Scott Township, Johnson County, Iowa, very near the residence of his brother, Benjamin Graham, Jr. This area is about 60 miles down the Iowa River valley from the Wilkinson farm at Chelsea, Iowa. Sometime thereafter he moved his family back to a farm near Buckeye Prairie in Church not far from Pana in Christian County, Illinois, where he died in 1866.

*Mary Jane (Graham) Hood and her family lived at various places in Coshocton County until her death in 1899.

Sarah Ann (Graham) Wilkinson came to Iowa as a bride in 1850, probably traveling by canal and river boats and by ox teams to reach the pioneer farm two miles south of the village of Chelsea in Salt Creek Township, Iowa County, Iowa, where she lived and raised a large family. There she was buried in 1896 in the family cemetery on the Anthony Wilkinson farm. There 3 of her grandchildren reside in 1959.

*The Writer recalls vividly a visit to his grand aunt, Mary Jane (Graham) Hood in 1896 in company with his grandmother, mother and brother. He believes that the Hood family were then living on the farm purchased by Benjamin Graham in 1832. Searches of records indicate that the farm was owned at that time by David Markley or his heirs. Therefore, Oliver T. Hood and family probably were living on the farm as tenants.

Note: This accounting of Benjamin Graham, Sr and his wife, Mary (Miller) Graham was written by brothers, Harry and Homer Trimble in April 1959. They were the grandsons of Sarah Ann (Graham) Wilkinson and Anthony Wilkinson. They were the sons of Mary Albanetta (Wilkinson) and Rev. Thomas Anderson Trimble. Harry died 20 Jul 1962, Brookline, Massachusetts and Homer died 29 Nov 1965 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, neither married nor had children. They spent most of their latter years researching family history and visiting relatives and friends.

Retyped and submitted by: Sandra Wilkinson-Blandford, email: blandfos_2000@yahoo.com