Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 8 December 2004

Page
741

JAMES B. GRAHAM, manager of Western Union Telegraph office, Lebanon, was born in Montgomery, Hamilton Co., Ohio, September 11, 1816; his paternal ancestors belonged to an old family, long settled in Orange Co., N. Y., but originally from Scotland. His maternal great-grandfather was a native of Holland, and his great grandmother of France; his maternal grandfather came with his family to Cincinnati in 1794, and after remaining a short time in Fort Washington settled near Montgomery. Andrew R. Graham, his father, in company with James McBurney (our subject's uncle, after whom he was named) and Nicholas Schoonmaker, emigrated from Newburg, Orange Co., N. Y., about 1814, and settled at Montgomery. In 1815, he married Catharine Felter, by whom he had three children, James (Mc) B., Florella and Adelia. The oldest of these, our subject, went to Cincinnati in 1830 to learn the tailor's trade, and remained there until February, 1835, when he came to Lebanon. Having been attacked with virulent ophthalmia, he studied dentistry, but the profession not being congenial to his tastes, on his recovery he resumed the business of tailoring, which he carried on for a number of years at Lebanon. In 1856, he assumed the management of the telegraph office at Lebanon, which he has continued till the present time. He has served as Mayor of Lebanon two terms, member of the Town Council ten years or more, and for several years past as Justice of the Peace. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a Ruling Elder in the church at Lebanon. He devotes considerable time to music, possesses much mechanical ingenuity, and is a constant reader of scientific and