BIO: Robert M. Graham, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

______

History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.

Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages,

Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and

Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and

Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers

& Co., 1886.

______

PART II.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

CHAPTER LX.

WEST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.

579 WEST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.

ROBERT M. GRAHAM, farmer, P. O. Plainfield. The Graham family is one

of the oldest and most reputable in the county. Four of its members

have been associated with the legal profession for more than three-

quarters of a century, serving also continually in official positions.

William Graham (father of subject) was born in 1811, in Frankford

Township, this county, son of Arthur and Nancy (McClure) Graham, and

was married, in 1836, to Nancy Davidson, who bore him six sons: Robert

M., John D., James M., William F., Arthur H. and Alfred M. All the

sons, excepting Alfred M. (deceased), married and reside in Cumberland

County. The eldest son, Robert M., was born November 12, 1837, and,

from eleven years of age, resided with his uncle, Robert M. Graham. He

received a liberal education in the schools of his township, and when

twenty-one commenced teaching school and for seven years followed this

profession in Frankford Township, this county (F. K. Ployer was one of

his pupils). Having been raised on a farm, and preferring agriculture

to a professional life, he subsequently took charge of his uncle's

farm. In 1868 he was married to Rebecca J. McKeehan, whose ancestry

dates back more than a century. She is a daughter of Joseph and Jane

M. (Skiles) McKeehan. The married life of Robert and his young wife

was commenced on his uncle's homestead, which has descended from father

to son since the days of William Penn, from whom they have the original

grant. On this farm were born their children, Joseph M., William F.

and Clemens McFarland. Our subject's present home was the paternal

homestead of Mrs. Graham, to whom it descended by inheritance. The

first official term served by Robert M. Graham was commenced in the

autumn of 1878, when he was elected prothonotary and retained as deputy

by his successor and still continues in this office. In 1884 he was

elected justice of the peace in this township, and as a conscientious

official, public-spirited citizen and good business man, he has few

equals, and his neighbors unite in saying of him that "truly he is a

man of the times."