Graham Family - Part 2

From the notes made by my great-aunts in Part 1, I learned that Rose's parents were James Madison Graham and Elizabeth Doughty. I was able to find the family on the 1850 as follows:

1850 - Indiana, St Joseph, German
page 51A, dwelling 683, family 683
James M Graham, 26, m, OH, Farmer, ____
Elizabeth A Graham, 25, f, VA, __, 800
Luther Wm Graham, 3, m, IN
Henara Graham, 2, f, IN
Zachary T Graham, 1, m IN

I'm assuming that Henera was known the rest of her life as Belle or Xenia Belle! At least the boys names tracked with what I had. Sarah and Susan/Rose hadn't been born yet.

I was unble to find any sign of this family group in 1860, either in Indiana or Michigan. The reason for this became clear when I found an undated letter, written by Rose, Nov 22nd

I recd a letter from a lawyer in Californie last Saturday informing of the Death of my Father, he died oct 28 at Hoyle, Wood Co, Oklahoma, he was buried one mile from Hoyle P O he left a Claim of one hundred and sixty acres 40 acres in wheat that is looking fine he left no wife nor children there so of course his children here are the Heirs to his property as he left no

Will, we will have to get the property the best we can it is not much but it is ours and we ought to have it, you know he went to Californa before I was born and never came back. I have written to my sisters and we don’t know where the 2 boys are it may be some time before we get it but better late than never

I found it quite sad that Rose was abandoned by her father before she was even born. The family was split up and I believe that I have located them all on the 1860 census. I also have been able to date Rose's letter to 1897 - more on that in a future post.

In part 3, I will share part of another letter with additional clues.