GEORGE WILSON GRAHAM.

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         George Wilson Graham, an enterprising and progressive representative of journalistic interests in Louisa county, is the editor of the Oakville Sentinel, a weekly newspaper. His birth occurred on a farm near Wapello on the 13th of October, 1872, his parents being B. I. and Ann (Blackburn) Graham, both of whom are still living and are numbered among the worthy and respected residents of Wapello. Wilson Graham, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a pioneer settler of Louisa county, and it was here that B. I. Graham was born on the 30th of April, 1846. The maternal grandparents, Samuel and Caroline Blackburn, are both deceased. Mr. Graham of this review is the eldest of a family of four children, the others being as follows: Samuel R., who was born on the 1st of July, 1875; and who is now manager of the Wisconsin Lumber Yards at Peterson, Iowa; Frank R., born May 20, 1880, who is a machinist for the Iowa Central Railroad at Peoria, Illinois; and Jennie M., born April 12, 1885, who is a teacher of English and German in the schools at Chariton, Iowa.

         George W. Graham attended the schools of Wapello in the acquirement of an education and was graduated therefrom in 1893. Since putting aside his . . .

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. . . text-books he has been identified with journalistic interests, making his first venture in independent newspaper work on the 1st of June, 1902, when he established the Oakville Sentinel for S. H. Creighton of whom he purchased the paper six months later. He has since remained the editor and proprietor of the sheet, which is a non-partisan weekly and is devoted principally to the dissemination of local and general news. It has a circulation of about eight hundred and an excellent advertising patronage.

         Politically, where questions of national importance are concerned, Mr. Graham is a republican. Fraternally he is identified with the following organizations: Black Hawk Lodge, No. 281, K.P., of Wapello; Louisa Lodge, No. 19, I.O.O.F., of Wapello; Lodge No. 5, A.F. & A.M., of Wapello; and the Eastern Star. His influence has always been found on the side of material, intellectual and moral development and his work has been an element in the advancement of his native county.