Perry Albert
Graham
Tighlman Graham, founder of the Shelby County family of this name, was a Kentuckian by birth and
lived throughout the period that literally tried men’s souls as well as their bodies. An uncompromising Union man
all during the Civil War, he became an object of hatred to disloyal wing that tried to get the old state out of
the Union. Mr. Graham found it necessary several times to flee the state in order to save his life. Sometimes also
he was compelled to run his stock over into Indiana to keep it out of the clutches of the raiders and marauders,
who were constantly carrying on their schemes of robbery and plunder. At one time, when his children were
small, Mr. Graham was with them in a tobacco field when a company of Confederate Cavalry came along. The
father’s life was not safe if caught by these vengeful men, so he deemed it wise to crawl away, telling his children
to keep concealed until the enemy was gone, then to tend the crop and tell their mother he would be back as soon
as possible. This was the last they saw of their protector for some days, and they lived in fear and trembling
during his absence. In 1868, Mr. Graham, after going back and forth several times, came to Indiana for permanent
settlement. He located on a farm in Moral township, two miles east of the village of London, and engaged in rebuilding
his fortunes shattered by the rough Kentucky experience. He married Many Jane Roswell,
who was born in Kentucky October 23, 1823, and by this union there were ten children:
Mary C., wife
of William D. Stafford, is a resident of Carroll County, Kentucky; Sarah Jane died when sixteen years old; Thomas
Franklin resides at Alma, Nebraska;
Perry Albert, subject of this sketch; Lydia, widow
of John W., son of Joel Crum,
deceased; James Larkin, born July 25, 1853, died September 6, 1905; Emily Ellen, wife of Arthur
C. Mann, of Barton County, Mississippi;
Hugh Tighlman is a resident of Fairland, Indiana; Nancy Jane, wife of Thomas
Means, lives at Lamar, Missouri;
Bennett, the youngest child, is dead. The parents of this large family were active members
of the Christian church at Fairland, and Mr. Graham assisted in building the new church at that place. He got even
with his old Confederate enemies in helping to drive back Morgan, when that audacious free-booter invaded the soil
of Indiana. Besides farming, this sturdy old pioneer used to run flat-boats to New Orleans, and for a long
time was engaged in the mercantile business.
Perry Albert Graham, fourth child of this large family,
was born at Moorefield, Switzerland County, Indiana, January 1, 1850. After his parents came to Shelby County,
he lived with them until his marriage, which occurred March 7, 1872, to Mary Eliza Crum.
She was born in Moral township, July 23, 1852, her parents being Joel and Maria V. (Jeffries) Crum, one of the oldest and most influential families of the township. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have
an only daughter, Bertha Lillian, who married Clist Walker,
resides in Moral township, and has five children: Theresa
Anna, Leslie Graham, Mary Ellen, Ruth Irene and Margaret Alice. After his marriage, Mr. Graham rented land for a couple of years and then bought a part
of the old Doble farm, on which he lived for seventeen years, and in 1889 moved to his present place. He now owns
two-hundred and fifteen acres of as fine farming land as can be found in the township. He is a member of the Christian
church at Fairland, while his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church at London. Becoming disgusted with
the two old parties, Mr. Graham joined the Populists when that organization took the field, and he has ever since
been one of its firm adherents. He is a member of Sugar Creek Masonic Lodge, No. 279 at Fairland, and a charter
member of the Oskaloosa Tribe of Red Men at London.
Copied by Melinda
Moore Weaver
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