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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of John Gleason GRAHAM 

Transcribed exactly according to the original complete text by Mary Moeller. 

SURNAMES: Graham, Gleason, Wills

GRAHAM, John Gleason (deceased). -- When the proposed hospital to the memory of John G. Graham shall have been erected in Canton by his daughters, the city of his adoption will have a characteristic reminder of a man who contributed largely to the purpose and achievement of its history and who, responding to the best opportunities of his environment, became widely known as a civil engineer, merchant, agriculturist and legislator. The death of this honored pioneer January 24, 1869, at the age of fifty-one years, was an event still recalled by many of the older inhabitants and still mourned by those whose lives he brightened as father, friend, counselor or benefactor. Many helpful lessons evolve from this life of human usefulness, and not the least sifting through the haze of years is that good name and positive, creative occupation are among the most valuable of man's contributions to posterity. The earliest setting of the life of Mr. Graham was a farm near the village of Northumberland, Saratoga County, N.Y., where he was born November 17, 1817, and where his father, John Graham, settled after removing from the picturesque hills of Vermont. The elder Graham married Polly Gleason in Saratoga County and upon his death his son and namesake, then a lad of tender years, went to live with his paternal grandparents. The boy's slumbering power awoke to high ideas of life and work and to a keen appreciation of education, which he acquired in the public schools and a New York Academy. It was his privilege to convey to others the knowledge thus gained, and as an educator he developed that mastery and personal influence which proved among the most useful assets of his later life. While teaching and studying he devoted his leisure to civil engineering. It was as a civil engineer that he came to Illinois during the early 'forties to aid in the construction of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, and it was the money received for his services that enabled him to lay in a stock of general supplies for the general store that he established in Canton. He rapidly grew in favor as a merchant and his position enabled him to keep in touch with the opportunities for investment by which he was surrounded, more especially in town and country property. A large part of his fortune was made from investments in land, and he engaged also in agriculture to some extent. Previous to the war Mr. Graham maintained a strong Democratic attitude, but the appeal for the restriction of slavery fell upon heeding ears and he thereafter voted the Republican ticket. He was the kind of man to observe and represent the needs of the community of which he was an integral part, and he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature for three terms (1858-1864) and also served as a Delegate from Fulton County in the State Constitutional Convention of 1862. His retirement from business life preceded the taking up of arms in the Civil War, although he served as a member during the greater part of that period and was an interested and intelligent observer of the events leading up to and following this great National struggle. The companions of his later years were the family he had cherished, the friends he had won and kept, and the books that he loved, and he found enjoyment in the retrospection which contained naught of the selfishness and sordidness which accompanies the success of many men of wealth. While economical and thrifty and a believer in wise and cautious expenditure, he yet was generous when occasion demanded and a liberal contributor to worthy local causes. He became one of the largest stockholders and chief advisers of the Canton National Bank, a fact which lent strength and efficiency to the affairs of that institution. While unusually prominent in the undertakings of his adopted town, it was in his home that Mr. Graham evidenced those traits which are the hallmarks of noble and good citizenship. His ideals tended to intellectual freedom and progress, to individuality, personal initiative, affection, consideration and thoroughness. To his wife, formerly Lydia Wills, he was a devoted husband. Mrs. Graham came on the paternal side from Scotch-Irish forefathers. In her character she was loveable and sympathetic and commanded the respect and esteem of all with whom she was ever associated. As a mother she was tender, patient and forgiving, the repository of the ambitions, plans and griefs of her children. Of these, Charles failed to survive the vicissitudes of childhood; Ella also died in childhood; Caroline is a resident of Washington, D.C.; John W. died in 1891, and Alice L. lives with her sister in Washington. Mrs. Graham died March 31, 1886. It was the mission of herself and husband to create a home atmosphere of culture and refinement. Wealth and its beneficient use, friendship and its advantages, health, happiness, usefulness - all were considered and turned to practical account by a family whose surviving members are reminders of an important period of Central Western activity.