John Graham was born in Co. Tyrone in Ireland 11/20/1799. He moved to Philadelphia in 1816 or 1817, where he then became a carpenter's apprentice. He later moved to Tennessee, where he married Isabel Pendleton Everett in the town of Kingsport in 1820. About nine years later, John and Isabel moved to Monroe county, settling first in Perry Township and then in Bloomington, where he and his family made their permanent home. By all accounts, John Graham was a likable and respected member of the community. He regularly bought and sold land and was a successful carpenter, making enough to allow his children to be educated in private schools. He occasionally was hired to build important buildings for the town (like a jail, possibly). His wife Isabella died in 1874 (possibly 1875). John retired as a carpenter in 1866 and died at the age of 87 in 1886.
John and his wife had seven children, although records show a possible eight child. The known children were James (1827-1910), Margaret (1831-1910), Susan (1835?-1855), Alfred (1835-1895), John Jr. (1840-1890), Edmund (1843-1861), Emma (1846-1926). It is highly likely that the Grahams had an eight child due to the 1840 census listing an additional child, as well as a grave for an Isabella M. Graham, who died 9/4/1847 at the age of 13 and 11 mos. in Rose Hill Cemetery, where the whole family is eventually buried. Additionally, in the bibliography about John Graham Jr., it states that John Jr. was the third son and sixth child of his parents. The 1850 census record will show that John is the fifth child listed, all of which leads to a child being born between James and John Jr., but had died before 1850. Not much is known about the oldest son, James. He was born on January 10, 1827, and, like his father, was a carpenter. The Rose Hill Cemetery record shows his death a taken place on 8/22/1910 at the age of 83.
There is also very little information about Margaret and Emma. Margaret died of pneumonia on December 18, 1910 at the age of 79. Emma also died of pneumonia, at the age of 80 on December 2, 1926. Both women never married and lived with James after the death of their father.
Susan is named in the 1850 census record, but disappears completely in all of the following census records and there is no mention of her in the marriage records, therefore she possibly died 6/30/1855, near the age of 20. She is buried next to Isabella M. Graham, the potential daughter of John and Isabella, and although the accounts note the headstone as "Ruban(?)" Graham, daughter of J. & I. Graham, it is very likely Susan due to the year of death and the initials of the parents. Alfred was born in Bloomington on December 5, 1835. He was listed as a merchant in the 1860 census record. He later began working in banking, and is listed as the Assistant Cashier at P.M. Parks & Co., a private bank in Martinsville, Indiana. In 1873, Alfred began working as an assistant cashier at the 1st National bank in Martinsville, Indiana, and eventually worked his way up to become the bank's president in 1893. He suffered from various health problems over the years until he died of a stroke at the age of 59 in 1895.
John Graham Jr. was born in November 22, 1840 in Bloomington, Indiana. He was educated in private schools and eventually went to law school at Indiana University. In 1870 he was elected Librarian of the Supreme Court in Indianapolis and after two years, moved back to Bloomington where he practiced his profession. In 1882, John Jr. was elected as the Representative for Monroe and Brown Counties. He engaged in real estate and in the insurance business and was thought of as a highly respected citizen. He died in 1890 at the age of 49 after having surgery for throat illness.
Not much information is available about the youngest son, Edmund, most likely due to that fact that he was killed in the Civil War in 1861at the age of 18. He is buried near the other Grahams in Rose Hill. A newspaper clip notes that an Edward Graham, part of the 22nd regiment from Monroe County IN, died from his wounds in St. Louis, Missouri. This Edward is most likely Edmund Graham, as there is no mention of an Edward Graham anywhere else in Monroe County during this time.
The Graham family, by all accounts, was respectable and had contributed to the greatness of Bloomington and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, none of the children married, so this particular branch of the Graham family died in with Emma in 1926.