David Graham's 
History of the Graham Family (1899)
James and Florence Graham's Family

William, the oldest, married in 1809, Catherine Johnson, daughter of Robert Johnson of Johnson’s Cross Roads, and settled on the farm more recently owned by the late D. M. Riffe. This tract of land containing four hundred acres, mostly river bottom, was surveyed and [58] patented by William Graham in 1785. At the first court held for the organization of Monroe county in 1799, William Graham was appointed Military Major of the sixty-sixth regiment of Virginia.  He was also appointed Justice of the Peace at the organization of said county and held the office continuously for thirty-seven years or until his death.  In the year 1809 he was elected as a Representative of his county to the General Assembly of Virginia and served acceptably in that body in the session of the winter of 1809-10. He had three children, James (No. 2), William and Betty. James was born in the year 1810 and married Patsy Guinn, daughter of Joseph Guinn. William, Jr., born 1812, married Rebecca Kincaid, daughter of Lanty Kincaid, and had three children, James Lanty, the Nimrod (see sketch of the Lanty Kincaid family), Katy and Julia. Both William, Jr., and his brother, James, moved to Missouri in the year 1841. William died there a few years later. James went from Missouri to California in the [59] great rush for gold in 1849. He again visited his native county about the year 1866. He died but a few years ago in Missouri. Bettie married Allen Ellis, son of Jacob Ellis, and moved to Ohio, where several years later they both died. They had three children, one of whom, Edgar Ellis, lived soon after the civil war on Wolf Creek, Monroe county, but later moved away.

William Graham, Sr., died in June 1836, in his seventy-first year.

John, the second son of Col. James Graham, was killed by the Indians in 1777, further mention of which will be made in these pages. To Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, who was captured by the Indians, will also be reserved further space.

David, the third son, married Mary Stodghill about the year 1795 and first settled at the mouth of Hungart’s Creek, on what is now the Woodson farm. The dwelling house now on that farm, was built by him. He was a competent land surveyor and held the office of Deputy Surveyor of Greenbrier County under Alexander Welch, as [60] principal Surveyor when he was but little more than twenty-one years of age. He was also made Lieutenant of one of the companies of the 66th Virginia Regiment. He had three sons whose names were: James (No. 4), David and Harrison; and one daughter named Sallie, who married Jonathan Gavy Tucker, a Methodist preacher. James married Jane, a.daughter of Archibald Armstrong, a son of the Emerald Isle, and settled on what is known as the Fluke or Bacon farm. It was he who built what is now Bacon’s mills.

David and Harrison moved to the west unmarried. David Graham, Sr., died in the year 1818, aged forty-six years. His widow, together with all his children moved to Schugler county, Illinois in the year 1836.

Jane, the second daughter of Col. James Graham, married David Jarrett about the year 1792 and first settled near Buffalo Lick (Pence’s Springs) on the farm recently owned by the late Edwin Mays. A few years afterward they moved to Kanawha county and after a brief stay then [61] moved to the falls of Tug River and still later they settled in the Levisa Fork of Big Sandy river in Kentucky, where their descendants still live.

David and Jane Jarrett raised three sons and eight daughters, namely: James, Ulysses and David W. were the sons. The daughters were: Polly, who married a Mr. Chambers. They had one daughter, who married a Mr. Vincent. The names of the other members of the Chambers family, with exception of Robert and Nancy, cannot now be recalled.

Florence, the second daughter, married Jarrett See and raised a large family: one daughter, of which Florence married Jas. Wellman, and resides in Cattlesburg, Ky.

Jane, the third daughter, married a Mr. Ratcliff; of her descendants we know nothing.

Nancy, the fourth daughter, married William Ratcliff; they had several children.

Hannah, the fifth daughter, married Charles Wilson.

[62] Elizabeth, the sixth daughter, married a Mr. Goff.

Sarah Ann, the seventh daughter, married a Mr. Patrick. Some of her children are living in Kentucky.

Minerva, the eighth daughter, married Chancey Kize. They had four children; Benjamin, David, Ulysses and Thomas.

James was twice married, but know nothing of his descendants.

Ulysses married Lydia Stafford; they had a large family, all of whom are dead, excepting one daughter, who lives in Missouri.

David W., the only one of the children of David Jarrett and Jane (Graham) Jarrett now living, married Nancy Dyer. The names of his sons are: Isadore, the oldest; Owen, Bernard P., Arnoldus, Ulysses, Michael M. and Lee and one daughter, Onolda, who married Jefferson Burgess. David Jarrett, Sr., born 1771, died about the year 1838 and his wife in the year 1853. They are both buried in a vault above ground on the [63] farm on which they lived. It was the writer’s pleasure to visit his aunt Jane Jarrett in Kentucky in the year 1844 and fifty-two years later he again visited the old home of his aunt, but found but few faces that greeted him a half century before. out of eleven cousins of the Jarrett family, but one, David W., as stated, remains. He occupies a portion of the farm owned by his father. There are many descendants of David Jarrett, Sr., and Jane Graham Jarrett to be found in Lawrence and adjoining counties of Kentucky. Among whom we might mention the names of Benjamin, Thomas and Ulysses Kize, who were sons of Minerva Kize and grandsons of David Jarrett, Sr.

Dr. York, living near Louisa, a prominent physician, is also a descendant, his mother being a Ratcliff. Also might be mentioned the Wilsons, Chambers, Vincents, Johnsons and others. Ulysses Jarrett, son of David, Dr., died some years after the civil war, and was in his day quite prominent, having one time represented his county [64] in the Kentucky Legislature and filled other positions of honor. It may here be observed that the name as claimed by this family is Garred, but they being a branch of the family now mostly of Greenbrier county, whose names are written Jarrett. We have adopted that orthography in this writing.

Leaving the further genealogy of the Jarrett branch of the family, we will now take up that of James Graham, Jr., fourth son of James Graham, Sr. James married Leah Jarrett, a sister of James Jarrett, Sr., of Greenbrier county, in the year 1800 and located on a portion of the farm recently owned by the late D. M. Riffe, he owning and occupying the upper portion and his brother, as before stated, the lower end of said farm. This farm at that day, and even for years afterwards, was believed to be the most productive bottom land on Greenbrier river.

To James add Leah Graham were born five sons and two daughters. The names of the sons: James, Hiram, Jehu, Ezra and Cyrus; and the [65] daughters, Cynthia and Betsey. Of these, James married a Miss Burdette of Monroe county; Betsey, a Mr. Heffner of Greenbrier county; and Hiram married Nancy Graham, daughter of Samuel Graham. The remaining children were unmarried prior to their moving to the west.

James Graham, Jr., died about the year 1815 of a disease known in local phraseology as “The Milk Disorder” or milk disease. This disease was believed to be contracted by drinking milk from cows which had eaten some poisonous weed, herb or grass. Strange to say, what this poisonous substance was could never be found out. A search of the pasture fields and the removal of every suspicious weed failed to prevent an attack of this disease. While some farms were believed to be infested with this plague and others to be free, the occupants of one seemed as liable to the disease as others. It was a dreadful malady and baffled the skill of all the physicians and generally proved fatal to those whose misfortune it was to take it. It was usually brought on [66] in its most fatal form by overexertion or overheating. Cattle were subject to it as well as their owners.

About the year 1827 the widow of James Graham, Jr., moved to Tippecanoe county, Indiana. Her son, James, was a Captain in the Black Hawk War of 1832, since which time but little is known of this family.

Next in order of the children of James Graham comes his fifth son, Samuel. Samuel married Sallie Jarrett, daughter of David Jarrett (this David Jarrett being the father of the David Jarrett that married Jane Graham), about the year 1808 and settled on the Greenbrier river on the farm owned and occupied by Joseph Nowlan. This land was entered and patented by James Graham, Sr., about the year 1785. To Samuel Graham were born five children: James Madison, the oldest; Nancy; Betsy; David and Susan.

Nancy married Hiram Graham, her cousin, who was a son of James Graham, a brother of Samuel. [67] Susan married Andrew Jarrett, who was a son of James Jarrett, Sr., a brother of the late James and Joseph Jarrett of Greenbrier county. Andrew and his family moved to Missouri in the year 1840. Madison (James Madison) went to Tennessee about the year 1835 unmarried. Samuel Graham was drowned in Greenbrier river while fording on horseback at a ford near his home, now known as Hayne’s Ford, in March 1819. His widow, after his death, married Benjamin E. Blaine and moved to Tennessee about the year 1835. The two remaining children, David and Betsy, went to Missouri unmarried.

The farm owned by Samuel Graham, containing about four hundred acres, descended to his son-in-law, Andrew Jarrett, and was by him sold to Madison Haynes in 1840 and a portion of it, including the Graham home, was purchased by Joseph Nowlan from the descendants of Madison Haynes in the year 1884.

Lanty, the sixth son of James Graham, Sr., married Elizabeth Stodghill in 1814, and re- [68] mained on the home place of his father at Lowell. The names of his children were as follows: James Jackson, born in 1815; Florence, born in 1817; Mary, born in 1819; Emma, born in 1821; Jane, born in 1823; Sarah, born in 1825; also John, Erastus and Martha; we cannot give the date of birth. Those who married before the family went to the west were Florence, who married John Guinn, son of Samuel Guinn, Jr., and grandson of Samuel Guinn, Sr. Mary married Thomas B. Guinn, son of Andrew Guinn, and also a grandson of Samuel, Sr. Mrs. Mary Guinn is the only member of the Lanty Graham family now living in this county. She lives as the home of her late husband, together with her daughter, Mrs. Louise Coiner, about a mile southeast of Lowell. She is now in her eightieth year and well preserved, both mentally and physically for one of her age. Emma married James Ballengee, son of Henry Ballengee, who formerly lived at the mouth of Greenbrier river, where a part of the town of Hinton is now located.

Lanty Graham died in 1839.

[69] After his death, his widow and all the unmarried children moved to Missouri, about the year 1840 to 1841. Those who were married also moved away about the same time and their descendants are now scattered over the Western States, with the exception of Mrs. Mary Guinn and her children, grandchildren, &c, who long since returned from their western home and settled in the county of her nativity, as already stated.

There are three of Lanty Graham’s children living in Davies county, Missouri, namely: John S. Graham; Jane, nee Graham; and Martha, nee Graham. We are indebted to John S. Graham for the following: he is living in Pattonsburg, Mo.; married a daughter of John Meadows, a granddaughter of Joseph Guinn of Monroe county, W. Va. He has two daughters living near him. He and his daughters, it is claimed, are in good circumstances financially. His sisters, Jane and Martha, are widows; they live near him. Their children are all married and scattered from home.

[70] Florence, younger daughter of James Graham, Sr., married William Taylor, son of Natliff Taylor, one of the earlier settlers of this locality and settled on Hungarts Creek about one mile northwest of what is now Stock Yard Station on the farm now known as the “Bush place”. The dwelling house now occupied on this farm by C. E. Mann was built by William Taylor nearly ninety years ago. William and Florence Taylor had born to them several children, but as they left this country before they were grown, their names cannot now all be given. John, James and Florence are the only names now remembered. They moved to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and settled on the land where now extends a portion of the city of Lafayette. Florence Taylor, her son, John, and her daughter, Florence, visited their relations in their native county in 1851, since which time but little is known of them.