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BARBOUR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
November 26, 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 330-331
GRANT GRAHAM for over twenty years has conducted a
place of business as a druggist that is a source of pride
to all the people of Belington. He is a licensed pharma-
cist, thoroughly knows the business as well as the profes-
sion, and has found most congenial associations in this
thriving town of Barbour County.
The census shows that more than four-fifths of the
population of West Virginia is native born, and Mr. Graham
is no exception. His family have lived in the limits of the
present state for considerably more than a century. He
was born near Kingwood in Preston County, May 31, 1867.
His grandfather, Samuel Graham, was probably a native
of Preston County, spent his active life as a farmer, and
died about 1880, when past four score years. His children
were: James; David, who was a farmer in Preston
County; John, who died while a Union soldier in the
Civil war; Rosanna, who married Nicholas Posten; Lucinda,
whose husband was Richard Field; Jemimah, whose last
husband was Peter Hartlet; and Mrs. Groves.
James Graham, father of the Belington business man,
was born in Preston County, August 8, 1825, and died
at Reedsville November 16, 1910. He acquired a liberal
education for his day, and for some years was a teacher.
During the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army, in
Company B of the Fourteenth West Virginia Regiment,
and served until the close of the struggle, participating
in many of the engagements and skirmishes of Old Vir-
ginia. One wound received in battle afflicted him all
through his subsequent life. He manifested no interest in
soldiers' organizations, and did not even become a mem-
ber of the G. A. R. He was a Presbyterian, a staunch
republican and served on the local School Board and in
other capacities in his community. James Graham mar-
ried Miss Nancy Field, who was born in Preston County,
October 10, 1823, and died January 19, 1910. Her father,
Hiram Field, was of English ancestry and a fanner.
James Graham and wife reared three sons and two daugh-
ters: Joseph, a fanner in Preston County; Sanford, cashier
of the Traders National Bank of Buckhannon; Grant;
Rebecca, who died as Mrs. A. J. DeBerry; and Jennie,
wife of A. J. Barker, of Morgantown, West Virginia.
Grant Graham grew up on his father's farm, and his
best advantages were acquired in the common schools
and in the school of "hard knocks." Being the youngest
son, he failed to acquire as good an education as his older
brothers. At the age of sixteen he was earning wages
as a farm hand, and subsequently worked on a saw mill
and for two years with a drilling outfit, drilling water
wells. With a moderate capital acquired through a number
of years of industry, he established a drug business at
Kingwood, and while hiring a pharmacist he diligently
studied the profession and passed the State Board exami-
nation January 24, 1899. With his license as a pharmacist
he came to Belington the same year and took over the only
business of that kind in the little city. Since then two
efforts have been made to share in the drug trade of
this locality, but the competition soon faded out, and ulti-
mately he occupied the whole field. He conducted his early
stores in some of the old buildings of the town, but in
1913 erected a two-story brick building, which is now the
home of his Rexall Store. He carries the drug equipment
of the Rexall system, itself the highest guaranty of ex-
cellence and quality, and in addition he has store equip-
ment and facilities that would do credit to a city much
larger than Belington. He keeps his store in a spotless
condition and in perfect order and system.
Mr. Graham has served as a member of the City Council
at Belington. He is a director of the Citizens National
Bank. and has voted at every National election for a
republican candidate for president since first support-
ing Benjamin Harrison. He is a Presbyterian, while
Mrs. Graham is a Methodist, and fraternally is affiliated
with the Masonic Lodge, Scottish Bite Consistory and
Shrine, has filled the chairs in the Subordinate and En-
campment Degrees of Odd Fellowship and has sat in the
Grand Lodge many times.
At Buckhannon June 28, 1899, Mr. Graham married
Miss Etta Hinkle, a native of Upshur County and daugh-
ter of Arch and Columbia Hinkle. She was educated in the
common schools. Her oldest sister, Ida, was the late
Mrs. I. R. Post, of Buckhannon. Mr. and Mrs. Graham
had no children of their own, but they took as a child
Mrs. Graham's niece, Pearl Post, who has grown up under
their care and in their companionship and finished her
education in the Wesleyan College at Buckhannon, graduat-
ing in 1919. This training was supplemented by study
elsewhere, and she is one of the very successful teachers
in the state.
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