Union County, Ohio Biographies Project - John Graham
JOHN GRAHAM
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According to the family records kept by his parents, John Graham, son
of Samuel and Sarah Graham, was born in White-eyes Township, Coshocton
County, Ohio, October 13, A. D. 1822. He was the first of a
family of twelve children. His parents were intelligent, honest,
industrious people, and taught their children to be useful, virtuous,
self-reliant and industrious. John commenced work on the farm,
under the direction of his father, at a very early age, and continued
in this employment until he was about twenty years old. When he
was in his fourteenth year, his father sold his farm in Coshocton
County, and in September, 1836, moved his family to Union County, Ohio,
settling them on a new farm one mile northwest from the village of
Richwood, in Claibourne Township. There the family home has
continued till the present time-December, 1882. There was nothing
peculiar in the boyhood of John to distinguish him from other boys of
his own age. He was healthy, of a vigorous growth, loved fun and
enjoyed life well. He, with the other youths of the neighborhood,
had the privilege of attending school in the district schoolhouse, for
some two or three months a year. The balance of their time was needed
in work to keep the farm prospering. In the autumn of 1838 an
event occurred in the history of young Graham which changed the whole
current of his life and affected the whole of his after career.
His mother had a blind sister-Maria Butterfield-who was visiting in the
home of his father, and wished to attend the Methodist prayer-meeting,
which was to be held Sunday at 4 o'clock, in the home of Philip
Plummer, in Richwood. He went with this aunt as company to that
prayer-meeting, because she could not see to go alone. There were
some seven church members present in the meeting no minister was
present. The people who were present were plain, honest,
devout. They sang with the spirit and with the
understanding. They prayed with fervor and in faith. The
result was, God's blessing came down upon them, and His Spirit pervaded
the assembly. Some of them praised God aloud, and all felt the
influence of the Divine presence. The immediate effect upon the
subject of this sketch was that he was seized with an agitating
trembling, which, for the time, he could not control. He went
from that meeting thoughtful, serious, convicted for sin. He
commenced soon after to pray, daily, for the pardoning mercy of
God. He kept this up till, on the 11th of November, 1838, he
attended a Methodist quarterly meeting in Summersville, and after the
evening sermon of that day he, with others, knelt for prayers, at what
was called the mourner's "bench." There, while he prayed and the
church prayed for him, God, for Christ's sake, gave him a sense of
relief from the guilt of sin. Such peace, holy joy and restful
trust in God through Christ as he then experienced was a new delight to
him. Five weeks after his conversion, on the 17th day of
December, 1838, in the old log church in Richwood, he offered his name
as a candidate for membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
was received by the pastor, Rev. R. S. Kimber. He took this step
after very careful consideration, and now, after forty-four years of
experience, under the relations thus entered into, he fully approves
the choice then made. This conversion, which was very clear and
left no doubt in his mind of the Divine reality of experimental
religion, awakened a new class of desires, hopes and aspirations in
him. He soon found himself thirsting for knowledge as he had
never done before. He had no books, and his father's library was
very small, and the neighborhood had in it a very meager supply of
books, but what there were the owners were willing to lend, and he was
desirous to borrow and read. But one question with him was how to
find time and opportunity for reading. His days were necessarily
to be spent in labor on the farm, and the night, could not be used for
this purpose without lights. There were no such lamps and supply
of coal oil then as are now available. Candles were scarce and
made a poor light. In this emergency he adopted this expedient:
When his day's work was done, he would go to the woods, find a hickory
tree with a good supply of shell-barks on it, gather an armful, carry
them to the house and when supper was over he would get his book, stick
shell-bark in the fire and read by the light thus furnished. In
this way many of his first books were read. While he was thus
seeking knowledge, his father, who was willing to help him what he
could, gave him a wagon-load of wheat. This he hauled to Sandusky
City, eighty miles distant, the nearest market then accessible, sold it
for money, and with that money bought himself a small supply of
books. These he read with great interest. About this
time-1839-40-he began to feel a strong sense of duty resting upon him
to prepare himself for the work of the Christian ministry. He was
fully convinced that God called him to this work. He therefore
devoted all his thoughts and energies to getting ready for so great a
work. His school privileges were very unsatisfactory. He
felt it to be necessary, therefore, to make the greater personal and
private efforts to acquire the necessary knowledge. How well be
succeeded the church and the world have since had opportunity to judge.
In the spring of 1840, the proper authorities gave
him license to exhort in the Methodist Episcopal Church. This
authority was regularly continued until June 24, 1843, when, after
proper examination by the constituted authorities of the church, be was
formally licensed to preach the Gospel. This was done in
Richwood, by the Quarterly Conference of Richwood Circuit, under the
presiding eldership of Rev. W. S. Morrow. He used this license
one year as a local preacher, and then, on June 15, 1844, lie was
recommended by the same Quarterly Conference as a suitable person to be
received by the Annual Conference into the itinerant ministry of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. In August of the same year, his
recommendation was presented to the North Ohio Conference at its
session in Canal Dover, and he was received according to the rules of
the church, and appointed as junior preacher on Port Jefferson
Circuit., with Rev. C. B. Brandeberry as his senior, and Rev. S. P.
Shaw as his Presiding Elder. He spend one year in this work, he
trusts with some profit to the people, and much satisfaction to
himself. At the next conference, which met in Marion, Ohio,
August, 1845, he was appointed in charge of Van Wert Circuit.
This work was composed of eight appointments, to be filled once in two
weeks. This people had for their places in which to meet for
worship four private houses in which families lived, one small court
house in Van Wert, two log schoolhouses and one small frame building,
which was erected in Delphos for a board kiln. At this time the
country was new, the houses all log cabins but a very few, the roads
not improved, the people just beginning to clear up their farms, and,
of course, the fare was coarse, but the welcome was hearty and
cordial. And when the time for week day preaching came round, the
people could leave their work-even the harvest field-to go to meeting,
and their young minister never spent a happier year in his life than
the one on this (then) wilderness circuit. After his year closed
at Van Avert, he was appointed in charge of Kalida Mission, in Putnam
County, with Jacob S. Albright for his colleague in labors. This
field was very much like the last one described, only there was one
partly finished church in it, and the roads were worse, the rides
longer, and the fare no better. The people, however, were kind,
cordial, hospitable and loved the means of grace. There was
considerable interest manifested in this work; a number of persons were
converted and added to the church. He and his co-laborer worked
harmoniously together, and ever afterward were friends. From
Kalida, our young minister went next to Stillwater Mission, which
included Fort Recovery and the region round about. This was a
hard field of labor; the country thinly settled, roads bad, rides long,
exposure great, health not good and pay very small. Still there
was some enjoyment, and some success. Rev. R. D. Oldfield was his
colleague in this work. During this year, 1848, he became
acquainted with Miss Jane G. McKee, of Hillgrove, Darke Co., Ohio, who
afterward, on August 25, A. D. 1850, became his wife. Their
marriage contract was solemnized by Rev. Joseph Wykes, in the church in
Hillgrove, in the presence of the congregation, on Sunday afternoon of
the above date. This union proved to be a happy one ; and now,
after thirty-two years of married life, they both approve the choice
they made. From Stillwater Mission, Mr. Graham was appointed, in
August, 1848, to Lima Circuit, with Rev. S. Fant, as his senior in
office. This was a pleasant year in his life, and his labors,
with those of his colleague, were very successful. Almost two
hundred were converted to God, and united with the church. But I
find, if I undertake to give the most condensed sketch of this
ministerial life of thirty-nine years, and more it will be extended to
too great a length for the present purpose I will therefore close this
account by giving a summary of work: He spent one year as a local
preacher; fifteen years on circuits ; twenty years on stations and
half-stations; and four years, from 1860 to 1864, on Findlay District,
as Presiding Eler. In all of which places h enjoyed the blessings
of God. And now, when gray hairs are upon him, and more than
sixty years of his life are past, be feels not a single regret that he
entered the work of the Christian ministry when he did, and that he has
continued in it till the present.