William Graham (1746 - 1799)

Born 19 Dec 1746 in Paxtang, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 8 Jun 1799 at age 52 in Richmond, Henrico, Virginia, United States

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Biography

William was born in 1746. He was the son of Michael Graham and Susanna Mary Miller.

William Graham is considered to be the founder of Washington and Lee University, although the school went through several transformations before he took over the leadership.

William's dream was to become a Presbyterian Minister. It ls believed that William began his preparation for college in 1768 by first going to the home of the Rev. John Roan, who had been his mother's minister, to study the subjects that he needed to learn. After studying at Roan's, he attended a school at Marsherick operated by a Mr. Finley. He remained here for evidently about a year until he was ready to enter the College of New Jersey in 1769.

While in Lexington, Graham taught from his house until 1772, when the school was incorporated under the name of Liberty Hall Academy.

In 1774 he became rector of the log schoolhouse then known as Augusta Academy, which became Liberty Hall, May 6, 1776Liberty Hall Academy grew into Washington and Lee University.

He also filled the chair of moral and intellectual philosophy and he added to his duties those of pastor of two churches and manager of a farm on North river near Lexington.

On October 26, 1775, he was received as a minister by the Presbytery of Hanover at Timber Ridge, Virginia. The academy was removed to Timber Ridge in 1777, and to be near his farm at Lexington, Virginia, in 1782, when it was chartered by the Virginia assembly. The first class graduated in 1785, the name having been changed in 1784 to Washington Academy, in recognition of a gift by Gen. Washington, of 100 shares of stock of the James River Canal Company valued at the time at $50,000. Eventually the name grew into Washington and Lee University.

William married Mary Kerr in 1776, she was from Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Children of Rev William and Mary Graham

1. Mary Graham (1785-1863) m) Rev. Reid Bracken

In 1789, Reverend Graham became the first minister of the Lexington Presbyterian Church. Though the congregation originally met out of doors - finding coverage under tents or in the county court house as weather demanded - by 1799 the Lexington attendees eventually met in a newly constructed church building located within a portion of the current Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery.

He resigned the presidency of Washington Academy in 1796 and went to the Ohio, where he purchased land with the design of settling there with his family and a few chosen friends. He was on a journey from the Ohio to Richmond, Virginia, when he died at the home of his friend, Col. Gamble

One of the last acts of Graham's life was to arrange for the publishing of a paper that he had written on the scriptural doctrine of water baptism. In this he states that baptism ls a sign of the covenant that exists between God and man.

In the fall of 1796 he had planned on purchasing land in Ohio. It was now evident that his dream of bringing only pious Presbyterian families to the banks of the Ohio. A long lengthy battle of promises broken, deeds paid but refused etc. he ended not seeing that dream happen. ^[1]

He was sick when in Ohio planning a trip back to Virginia, he ended up with pleurisy which worsened. His friend Robert Gamble made arrangements for his funeral and he was buried in the cemetery of St. John's Episcopal Church on Church Hill in Richmond.

He was buried near the south door of the Episcopal church on Church Hill, also known as St. John’s Church, rendered historical by the oration of Patrick Henry.

His tomb was re-interred at Lexington for burial because of his service to Liberty Hall Academy as teacher and Rector and to the town of Lexington as its first regular minister at Washington and Lee University on May 5, 1911

On April 18, 1804, the Board of Trustees of Washington Academy paid tribute to Graham for his dedicated teaching, and loyalty, service and sacrifice to Liberty Hall Academy, by voting to provide a free education to his son William.

He passed away in 1799 is buried at Lee Chapel Museum located in Lexington, Lexington, Virginia ^[2]

Name: William Graham. Given Name: William. Surname: Graham. ^[3]

Born 19 DEC 1746. Paxton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States of America. ^[4]

Died 8 JUN 1799. Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, United States of America. ^[5]

Name: William Graham. Given Name: William. Surname: Graham. ^[3]

Born 19 DEC 1746. Paxton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Colony, British America. ^[4]

Died 8 JUN 1799. Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, United States of America. ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Master's Theses Page 61
2. ↑ Memorial
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Source: S662 U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record 7 Name: Page U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record Name: U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Source: S662 U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record 21 Name: Page U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record Name: U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Source: S662 U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record 31 Name: Page U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record Name: U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Record

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 November 2020), memorial page for Rev William Graham (19 Dec 1746–8 Jun 1799), Find a Grave Memorial no. 111051532, citing Lee Chapel Museum, Lexington, Lexington City, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by Ryan David Schweitzer (contributor 47779459) .

• Graham family papers, 1773-1885, https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/grahamfamily

• University of Richmond, UR Scholarship Repository, Reverend William Graham, Presbyterian minister and rector of Liberty Hall Academy by Robert Goggin Gillespie, Master's Theses Paper 304, Master Theses Paper

• As Rev Graham is written about throughout this piece, the main Page is Chapter XX,Sketches of Virginia, historical and biographical, By the Rev. William Henry Foote ... [1st]-2d series., Page 438

• Liberty Hall Academy, Liberty Hall Academy History

• Washington & Lee University. Historical Papers. N.p.: n.p., 1890. pp. 14-33. Google Books
• Source: S662 Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) rations, Inc. Note: <i>Find a Grave</i>. Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi. TID 0 Name: Footnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) Name: ShortFootnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Name: Bibliography Ancestry.com. U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
• Source: S128 Ancestry Family Trees (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.) m. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Note: This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was created. TID 0 Name: Footnote Ancestry Family Trees (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.) Name: ShortFootnote Ancestry Family Trees Name: Bibliography Ancestry Family Trees. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.Ancestry Family Tree 25 Name: Page Ancestry Family Tree Name: Ancestry Family Tree

• Source: S291 Ancestry.com, Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) perations, Inc. TID 0 Name: Footnote Ancestry.com, Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) Name: ShortFootnote Ancestry.com, Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) Name: Bibliography Ancestry.com. Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI). Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.Gale Research Company; Detroit, Michigan; Accession Number: 1772725 18 Name: Page Gale Research Company; Detroit, Michigan; Accession Number: 1772725 Name: Gale Research Company; Detroit, Michigan; Accession Number: 1772725

• Source: S663 Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) rations, Inc. Note: <i>Find a Grave</i>. Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi. TID 0 Name: Footnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.) Name: ShortFootnote Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Name: Bibliography Ancestry.com. U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.