Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
W. B. Graham, M.D.
During the quarter of a century which marks the period of Dr. Graham's professional career he has met with gratifying success, and though his residence in Richmond dates back scarcely five years he has won the good will and patronage of many of the leading citizens and families of the place. He is a great student and endeavors to keep abreast of the times in everything relating to discoveries in medical science, taking the leading journals devoted to the discussion of the "ills that flesh is heir to" and the treatment thereof. Progressive in his ideas and favoring modern methods as a whole, he does not dispense with many of the true and tried systems which have stood the test of years.
The eldest son of Addison S. and Mary E. (Penland) Graham, the Doctor was born in Darke county, Ohio, June 26, 1843. His grandfather, William Graham, was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to the United States when he was a young man. Settling in Virginia, he spent the greater part of his life there, occupied in agricultural pursuits. In his old age he went to Darke county, Ohio, where he died and was buried. Addison S. Graham was a native of Virginia, whence he went to Darke county, in his early manhood, and subsequently he dwelt in Preble county, in the same state for several years. A cooper by trade, he was employed at that calling during his residence in Ohio. Leaving Ohio in the spring of 1855, he located in DeKalb county, Indiana, where he engaged in farming, giving his whole attention to his homestead during the last decade of his life. He was but fifty-six years of age at the time of his death, in 186S. His wife had preceded him to the silent land, her death taking place in September, 1863. They were Presbyterians in religious faith, and were active workers in the church and wherever they could do good to their fellow men. Of their four children the Doctor was the eldest; Peter D. resides in Corunna, DeKalb county, Indiana, and is engaged in the furniture business; James S. is a farmer in the same county; and Rudolph O. makes his home there also.
Dr. Graham was educated in the schools of Preble and De Kalb counties. Being the eldest child, he was obliged to lend his assistance to his father as early as possible, and loyally did he perform the tasks assigned him. When the war of the Rebellion came on, he was very anxious to go to the front at once, but was forced to curb his youthful patriotism. In August, 1862, however, he enlisted as a private in Company A, One Hundredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, at Auburn, Indiana, and served until the close of the war, being in the same company throughout the conflict. Among the numerous engagements in which he participated were the following: Missionary Ridge, Jackson, Vicksburg, Knoxville, Dalton, Snake Creek Gap, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Dallas, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Chattahoochie River, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Cedar Bluff, Lovejoy Station, Griswoldville, Savannah, Branchville, Columbia and Bentonville. His regiment was a part of the Army of the Tennessee, which did heroic service, and though the Doctor was never wounded nor taken prisoner he passed through many a battle in which he had wonderfully narrow escapes, and for one period, at least, of his army life he was either in the thick of the fight or within sound of the furious fray, for one hundred days.
Returning home, he resumed his former occupation of farming, and was thus employed until he found that his health was breaking down. He then commenced studying, with a view to leading a professional life, and spent two years in the academy at Whitewater, where he had as an instructor Professor Charles Atkinson. Then for two years he engaged in teaching school, and during a period of three years, when he taught classes in music, he pursued medical studies. After attending a course of lectures in the Eclectic College at Cincinnati, he was graduated January 7, 1874. Later he qualified himself as a Homoeopathic physician, and for a score of years has devoted himself to this line of practice. For about two years after finishing his medical studies, his health was such as to require a change of environment, and he spent much of that time on a farm. He then opened an office at Cox's Mills, a village northeast of Richmond, and remained there for some five years. He succeeded in establishing a good practice, and then went to Chester, this county, and a year later became a practitioner of Whitewater, where he resided for five or six years. His next place of business was in Fountain City, and in 1894 he came to Richmond. He is a member of Sol. Meredith Post, No. 55, Grand Army of the Republic, being post surgeon. The boys who wore the blue have a warm place in his heart, and he, in turn, is always popular with them, wherever he goes.
In 1870, Dr. Graham married Miss Emma Price, of New Paris, Ohio, and four months afterward she entered the silent land. In 1874 the Doctor married Miss Elmina Cox, of Cox's Mills, and seven years later she passed away. In Chester, Indiana, Dr. Graham was united in marriage in 1883, to Miss Sue Wesler, whose death occurred in 1887. The present wife of the Doctor, to whom he was joined in wedlock eight years ago, was formerly Miss Sallie Woodmanzee, of Clinton county, Ohio. They have a pleasant home and are surrounded by many of the luxuries and comforts of life.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899