C. E. GRAVES

GRAVES, PREBBLE, VAUGHAN

Posted By: Norma Nielson (email)
Date: 8/19/2004 at 13:32:15

C. E. Graves is a resident farmer of Jefferson township living on section 22, New England claims him as a native son, for his birth occurred in Bowdoinham, Maine, on the 27th of September, 1841, his parents being James and Martha (Prebble) Graves, who were also natives of the Pine Tree state, in which they spent their entire lives. The father was a spar maker by trade and also owned and cultivated a farm of one hundred acres. He died in 1885, while his wife passed away in 1852.
In his youthful days C. E. Graves largely devoted his time to the acquirement of an education in the district schools and after the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted as a member of Company B, Fifteenth Regiment Maine Volunteer Infantry. He served for four years and seven months, participating in many of the important military movements of the war, and was honorably discharged on the 5th of July, 1866. After President Lincoln’s assassination his regiment was assigned to police duty and was subsequently sent to South Carolina, where they were on provost duty for almost a year. Mr. Graves participated in the engagements at Sabine Cross Roads, Pleasant Hill, Cane River Crossing, Mansura Plain, and was on duty under General Banks. He was mustered out as first lieutenant.
Following his return home after the close of military service, Mr. Graves engaged in farming for two years upon rented land in Maine and then sought the agricultural opportunities offered in the middle west. In 1869 he arrived in Adair county and for twelve or thirteen years engaged in the cultivation of rented land, but in 1882 purchased eighty acres of his present home farm – the tract upon which his buildings are located. He erected his residence and all of the barns and outbuildings that now furnish ample shelter for grain and stock. He also set out trees which are now splendid specimens of their kind and constitute a pleasing feature in the landscape. As opportunity has offered, Mr. Graves has also extended the boundaries of his place until he now has two hundred and ten acres. He is one of the substantial and well known farmers of the township and is one of the few survivors of the number who were here at the time of his arrival. He has witnessed much of the growth and development of this section of the state and has borne his part in the work of transformation and improvement.
On the 2d of February, 1878, Mr. Graves was united in marriage to Miss Ellen K. Vaughan, of Waupaca county, Wisconsin, by whom he had six children, three of whom survive, namely: Roy E., who is a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Charles C. and Beulah V., both at home.
In his political views Mr. Graves is a republican, having supported the party continuously since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He served for six terms, or eighteen years, as township trustee, his long continuance in the office being incontrovertible evidence of his ability and fidelity. He is a member of Maxwell Post, No. 14, G. A. R., at Stuart, and thus maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades, while in all matters of citizenship he is as true and loyal as when he followed the old flag on southern battlefields. He has not only appreciated but has improved the opportunities offered in the middle west and during the forty-six years of his residence in Adair county has so directed his labors as to win the success that classes him with the substantial residents of Jefferson township.
Source: The "History of Adair County Iowa and its People," Volume II. (Chicago, The Pioneer Publishing Company) 1915.