Graham Family - Part 4

James Madison Graham

Per family records, James Madison Graham was the son of Porter Graham and Susannah Bashford, born in 1826 near Muncie, IN. I believe his birth place is in error and that he was born in Ohio, based on census records and leads I have on Porter Graham.

The first record I have found for him is in the marriage index for Delaware County, Indiana located at Delaware County, Indiana GenWeb. I still need to order the record but this information tracks with the family record.

Graham James M Elizabeth Doughty Aug 22 1844 C2 124

I next find him with his family on the 1850 Census in German, St Joseph, IN. His age of 26 would indicate a birth date in 1824 or 1825.

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

In Part 2 I shared a letter written by James' youngest daughter, Rose, in which she stated that her father had left for California before she was born. In Part 3, James' granddaughter, Mabel Camfield Marsh, said, "(Aunt Rachel was married twice) she had 5 kids, she said she raised the youngest by the loom. her first man went to California in 52 and never came back." I found James living with his brother-in-law, Thomas Buckles, in Vacaville, Solano, CA on the 1860 census.

Thomas L. Buckles, age 33, born OH
James M. Graham, age 35, born OH
Martha Graham, age 40, born IN

Who was Martha Graham? James had a sister Martha who was born about 1834 in Ohio and had married Charlie Opfel in 1858 so it is very unlikely that this is her. Was this James' second wife? If so, had he obtained a divorce from Elizabeth? Was she some other relative? I have a lot of unanswered questions here.

The Solano County Genealogical Society has several deed transaction listed in their index that appear to be for James between 1860 and 1866. I did a double take when I saw that he had sold to a James Madison. The 1860 census for Solano County does show a James Madison, age 35 born Norway. There is also one transaction between Martha and James. The index only covers 1840-1870 so I will requesting these deeds and looking for when the properties were finally sold or transferred.

Graham, James M. et al to Johnson, Andrew; Deed 1860/06/04; Book O, page 674
Graham, James M. et al to Madison, James; Deed 1860/06/04; Book O, page 674
Graham, James M. to Madison, James; Deed 1860/06/09; Book O, page 676
Graham, James M. to Johnson, Andrew; Deed 1860/06/09; Book O, page 676
Egbert, Oliver B. to Graham, James M. et al; Deed 1860/07/14; Book O, page 678
Egbert, Oliver B. to Graham, James M.; Deed 1860/10/31; Book P, page 208
Egbert, R. G. to Madison, James; Deed 1864/06/24; Book T, page 155
Graham, Martha M. to Graham, James M.; Deed 1866/01/17; Book U, page 498

In 1870 Martha Graham is still in the same household as Thomas Buckles, however James is not! They are with a family named Mack and as of right now I don't know if they were somehow related or just boarders. Silveyville Township, Solano, CA; page 7.

Davis Mack, 40, IN, Farmer
Jane Mack, 20, IL, at home
James Mack, 10, CA, at home
Josephine Mack, 4, CA, at home
Sophronia Mack, 2, CA, at home
Martha Graham, 53, IN, Domestic
Hosea Mack, 36, IN, Farm Laborer
Thomas Buckles, 45, IN, Farm Laborer

So where was James? I did not find any likely candidates in Solano County, CA. In 1870 there was a James Graham, age 40 b OH living in a hotel in Chillicothe, Livingston Co, MO, bridge builder. This would be the wrong age, our James would have been about 44, however this is the only record that seems likely in the index for James Graham.

There was a J M Graham age 44 b OH living in Northern Reese River Valley, Lander Co, NV. He is the first person listed in dwelling #14 where seven men of various ages and nativities were living together. Occupation: Stock Raiser. This seems like the mostly record for our James as it is not too far from Solano, CA however I'm not confident this is the correct record. (Interestingly, the 1st person on the page is Dougherty, S., an 11 year old female b Iowa. The last entries on page 1 for dwelling 11 are for Higgins, W F age 30 b ME, E. J (female) age 20 b IA, E (f) age 3 b UT, and R (m) age 1 b NV.)

In 1880 Thomas Buckles is still in Silveyville, listed as Neut Buckler, age 53, born OH with wife, Mary Buckler, age 48, born PA. No sign of Martha and again, nothing for James. In 1880 the only James Graham listed without a wife, b 1826 OH, in the ancestry.com index is found in Nebraska City, Otoe Co, NE, age 53 b OH, parents b OH, married, laborer, boarding in the home of Elijah Rutherford.

James' whereabouts at the time of the 1870 and 1880 censuses are clearly in doubt.

In Part 2 Rose's letter also contained this:

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.

Why did Rose receive a letter from a lawyer in California if James died in Oklahoma? At the time of his death Hoyle was in Wood County however the county was divided and Hoyle became part of Major County. Hoyle no longer exists. I have found James' final resting place in Ames Cemetery, Ames, Major County, OK. In the transcription he is listed as James M. Graham, age 71, died October 28, 1897.

I found an index to the 1890 Oklahoma Territorial Census on the Oklahoma Historical Society site. and believe I have found James : Graham, James; IN; Cleveland; 612. Part of the census has been transcribed here. I have requested the information from page 612.

The Oklahoma GenWeb page has an index to the Indian Pioneer Papers, "Interviews that deal with people of all nationalities with first-hand experience of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, not just the Indian population." There is a listing for James M. Graham so that is another item to order.

The Bureau of Land Management allows you to search the Land Patents and download copies of the Patent. On the results page for James M. Graham in the Comments section is the word "HEIRS". The Patent is dated 6 July 1908, well after James' death. I now need to order a copy of the Land Entry Case File from the National Archives and Records Administration. The Southwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society has a listing of what treasure might be in the file here.



This is what I have found for James to date. I have listed many records that I need to order however I cannot afford to order them all at once. I think that the Land Entry Case Files may hold the most information and that they will also be the most costly.

I have no idea where I'll go in Part 5 as I am dealing with a little bit of information overload!

Graham Family - Part 3

It seems that the three Camfield girls (Mable, Pearl and Ruby) were trying to untangle their Graham genealogy back in the early 1930's.

In Part 1 I shared the genealogy notes that they had worked on and discovered that Rose Graham was originally named Susan. The notes also included the names of Rose's parents and paternal grandparents.

In Part 2 I found the family on the 1850 census and discovered that the family had been split up and scattered after James Madison Graham abandoned his family about 1852. Rose shared news of his death in 1897.

At some point after 1920, Xenia Belle (Henera) Graham Gallup moved in with her sister Rose and niece, Ruby Camfield. I find them together on the 1930 census living in South Bend, St Joseph Co, IN. Rose died in 1931. I don't know exactly when but Belle lived with Mabel in Windsor, Essex, Ontario for awhile and is mentioned in some of Mabel's letters. Belle died in 1933.

The following is an excerpt from an undated letter, written by Mabel to her sister Pearl, with emphasis added by me. A. B. was Aunt Belle, daughter of James Madison Graham.

middle of page 3

Now about A. B.s aunts and Uncles. I know aunt Mary Edgin. And aunt Rachel lived in Muncie. she visited us once so I remember her. she had some smart kids Rose Russel was a Doctor she may be alive now. and a son who was judge of the supreme court in California he lost a leg in the war his name was Abe Buckles (Aunt Rachel was married twice) she had 5 kids, she said she raised the youngest by the loom. her first man went to California in 52 and never came back.
Aunt Martha was May Baldwins mother she married Charlie Opfel his sister was Beitners first wife. so May was cousin to

Page 4

George & Kate Beitner.
Aunt Susie I met once. and A. B. says as far as she knows she is still in California (Stockton) she has no children. I tried to get out of A. B. where their farm >the grandfathers James Graham<. I also met John Graham he was next to the youngest he lived in the west someplace. He was a big fine looking man. he was the only one of those men I knew. can you imagine how hard their mother worked. eleven kids, and she had to make the cloth and make their clothes, bake their bread, it must have been like hell let loose, such a big family and all that work. So when you think you have a lot to do think of your great grandmother Graham she worked half the night

Page 5

I wish we knew where that farm was I would like to go past it sometime. I’ll bet you wish you hadn’t got me started on this subject. Past Lacyes Gilmacker Grist mills, 4 miles north of Niles near the bend in the River I got this much out of her. she snapped my head off and she is as dumb as an ox about lots of things, just plain dumb. I’ll bet I could tell you any place I ever was, no matter how long it has been. she keeps saying I don’t know what difference it makes. Mother used to get mad when I asked her questions about the relatives so I guess it runs in the breed. I told this old rip I didn’t see anything to get mad about.

All eleven children of Porter Graham and Susannah Bashford were listed in Part 1. Here Mabel has given me some more details about five of them plus information about some of their children.

In Part 2, Rose wrote about her father, James M. Graham, "...you know he went to Californa before I was born and never came back." And in Mabel's letter says of Aunt Rachel, "her first man went to California in 52 and never came back." I believe they traveled together.

When Mabel is talking about the farm she added "the grandfathers James Graham" and I think just just got confused as this would have been the farm of her greatgrandfather, Porter Graham. I have located the farm on an atlas and will include that when I get back to Porter and Susannah in a future post.

In Part 4 I'll share what I have and have not found on James Madison Graham.

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.

Graham Family - Part 1

I have been stuck on my Graham line for years. About a month ago I wrote A Rose by any other name... and just to recap, my great-grandmother was Arazina Rose Graham Camfield. I knew she was born in 1852 but I wasn't able to find her on the 1860 census and there was a good reason for that! Her name was actually Susan. I discovered this through a set of hand written genealogy pages that were included in the Carlisle Family letters. So to begin this series on my Graham ancestors here is the transcription of those notes. I have edited out any information that refers to living relatives.

Graham Genealogy Notes

Page 1
Porter Graham born England
Susan Bashford
James Madison born 1826 married near Muncie, Ind.
Porter
Charles
John T
William

Rachel
Mary
Margaret
Martha
Harriet
Susan

James M. Graham Born 1826 Married 1844 Died 1897
Elizabeth Doughty – Fort Comfort Virginia 1826 died Jan 5, 1880
Children all born near Muncie, Indiana
Luther William 1846
Zacharia Taylor 1848
Xenia Belle 1847
Sarah Jane 1850
Susan Arazina (Rose) 1852

Page 2

Joseph H Camfield married May 8, 1872
Susan Arazina (Rose) Graham
Fred H. Nile, Mich 1874
Mabel Blackriver, Mich 1876
Pearl South Bend, Ind 1886
Ruby “ “ 1888
Leroy “ “ 1890

Page 3

LeRoy Camfield Born March 24, 1890 South Bend, Ind.
Married Pearl Wagner (?) date_______
Lived in Celeron, NY + Jamestown, NY
2 sons (names withheld) 2 daughters
(names withheld)


Ruby Blanche Camfield Born April 24, 1888 South Bend, Ind
Lived in S. Bend

Pearl Vivian Camfield Born uly 14, 1886
Married Daniel M. Carlisle Dec. 24, 1919
Live in Buchanan, Mich
3 children
(names withheld)
Died at ______ on _______

Page 4

Don’t loose these sheets as page 1 especially is the “record” and the other pages have some information on that I had not figured out yet.

Page 5

Luther William Graham, born June 6, 1846 near Muncie, Ind
Was in the Civil War
Married in Texas 1876
Lived in California
Died at Soldiers Home, Sawtelle, California 1917

Zacharia Taylor Graham, born 1848 near Muncie, Ind.
Married never
Lived at – no one knows what became of him since 1883

Page 6

Fred H Camfield, born Nov. 1874, Niles, Mich.
Married Libbie Warner Feb 1897
Divorced – left 1925

Lived in Chicago mostly
3 sons (names withheld)

Mabel Camfield Born Aug 15, 1876 in Blackriver, Mich.

Married Benj. H Marsh date Feb 16 - 1898
Lived in Windsor, Ont. 22 yrs. 1931
1 daughter Vera Jane. Married Harry
Edmunds Sept 18, 1926 grand daughter (name withheld)
Vera was born in
Sandusky Ohio Jan 27 – 1903
Harry. Toronto Ont. Dec. 13 – 1903

Page 7

Xenia Belle Graham born near Muncie, Ind
Married John Gallup date Feb 17 1875
“ “ died Jan 14 1902
Lived near Pokagon + Dowagiac
also 1116 So Main St, So Bend, Ind
(It would be nice if we had the names of Uncle John’s
Brothers + Sisters if any.
Sarah Jane Graham born Muncie, Ind
Never married
Lived + died in Colorado Springs, Colo.
date 1915

Susan Arazina (Rose) Graham Born Oct 4, 1852
Near Muncie, Ind
Married Joseph H. Camfield date May 8, 1872
Lived in South Bend, Ind died _______
Died in Buchanan, Mich Jan 31, 1931

(As my files are scattered all over I do not have easy access to the images of these pages and will add them as I work out my computer problems)

Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten. Enclosed with letter written
2 Jan 1933. “Page 1 Porter Graham” [Page 1]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple, [Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan. 2008.]

Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten. Enclosed with letter written
2 Jan 1933. “Joseph H. Camfield” [Page 2]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple, [Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan. 2008.]

Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten. Enclosed with letter written
2 Jan 1933. “Leroy Eastwood Camfield” [Page 3]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple, [Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan. 2008.]


Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten. Enclosed with letter written
2 Jan 1933. “Don’t loose these sheets” [Page 4]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple, [Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan. 2008.]

Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten. Enclosed with letter written
2 Jan 1933. “Luther William Graham” [Page 5]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple, [Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan. 2008.]


Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten. Enclosed with letter written
2 Jan 1933. “Fred H. Camfield” [Page 6]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple, [Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan. 2008.]

Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten. Enclosed with letter written
2 Jan 1933. “Xenia Belle Graham” [Page 7]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple, [Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan. 2008.]