Graham, A. W. (Augustus Washington), 1849-1936

Augustus Washington Graham, attorney in Hillsborough, N.C., 1872-1888, and in Oxford, N.C., 1888-1927; secretary of the Board of Arbitration to settle a boundary dispute between Virginia and Maryland and member of the board, 1873-1876; judge on the North Carolina superior court, 1895-1896; member of the Board of Town Commissioners of Oxford, N.C., 1889- 1892; chair of the Board of Education of Granville County, N.C., 1907-1908; member of the North Carolina Senate, 1885; member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, 1901-1905, 1909, and 1913, serving as speaker in 1909; trustee of the University of North Carolina; cotton futures attorney for the United States Internal Revenue Service, 1915-1918; and president of the American Cotton and Grain Exchange Inc., 1919-1922.

Augustus Washington Graham was born in Hillsborough, N.C., on 8 June 1849, the son of William Alexander (1804-1875) and Susannah Sarah Washington (1816-1890) Graham. His father served as United States senator, 1841-1844, and as governor of North Carolina, 1845-1849.

Graham had six brothers and a sister who lived to adulthood:

Joseph Graham (1837-1907) was a physician in Lincoln County and Charlotte, N.C.

John Washington Graham (1838-1928) was a Confederate major; Orange County solicitor, 1866-1868; delegate to the North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1868; state senator, 1868-1872, 1876, 1907-1908, 1911; railroad trustee; and lawyer with his brother James in Hillsborough, Episcopalian. He married first Rebecca Bennehan Cameron (1840-1883), with whom he had eight children, and then, in 1887, Margaret Forrester Bailey, with whom he had one child.

William Alexander Graham Jr. (1839-1923) received an A.B. from Princeton in 1860. He was a Confederate major and farmed his grandfather Joseph Graham's plantation in Lincoln County. He was a white supremacist; state senator, 1874, 1878; member of the North Carolina House, 1905; president of the Farmers Alliance, 1901, 1902, 1905; and North Carolina commissioner of agriculture, 1908-1923. A Baptist, he married first Julia Lane (1845-1909, with whom he had 11 children, and then Sallie Hill Clark (1864-1936).

James Augustus Graham (1841-1909) was a Confederate captain and lawyer with his brother John in Hillsborough. He married Elizabeth Cheshire Webb (1845-1915), with whom he had four children.

Robert Davidson Graham (1842-1905) was a Confederate captain; farmer in Mecklenburg County; lawyer; secretary of the United States Civil Service Commission, 1884-1886; chair of the United States Board of Pension Appeals, 1886-1888; and principal examiner, United States General Land Office, 1888-1898. He never married.

George Washington Graham (1847-1923) was a physician. He married first Sallie Shaver (1847-1887), with whom he had four children, then Alice Leonora Alexander (1842-1905), and then Imogene Tunstall.

Susan Washington Graham (1851-1909) married Walter Clark (1846-1924), chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, who served on the court, 1889-1924, and with whom she had eight children.

Augustus Washington Graham was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1868 and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1872. He practiced law in Hillsborough for 16 years until 1888 when he moved to Oxford, N.C., and formed a partnership with Robert W. Winston, which was dissolved in 1890. Graham served on the superior court for two years (1895-1896), then returned to private practice, forming a partnership with William A. Devin in 1900, which lasted to 1913. From 1913 to 1927, when Devin retired, Graham practiced with his son, Augustus W. Jr.

Graham held numerous positions related to his law practice over the course of his career. He was secretary of the Board of Arbitration created by the legislatures of Virginia and Maryland to settle a long-standing boundary dispute and served on the Board, 1873-1876. He served on the Board of Town Commissioners of Oxford, 1889-1892, and as chair of the Board of Education of Granville County, 1907-1908. In 1915, Graham became cotton futures attorney for the United States Internal Revenue Service and was president of the American Cotton and Grain Exchange Inc., 1919-1922, living in Washington, D.C., and New York.

Graham was also active in state politics. He served in the North Carolina Senate in 1885 and in the North Carolina House of Representatives, 1901-1905, 1909, and 1913, including a stint as speaker of the House in 1909. He served as a trustee of the University of North Carolina for 34 years.

On 21 November 1876, Graham married Lucy Ann Horner, whose father had founded the Horner Military Academy in 1851. They had five children: Susan Washington; Augustus Washington Jr.; Sophronia Moore; Alice Robertson; and a child who died in infancy. Graham and his family were members of the Oxford Baptist Church where he held numerous positions of leadership over the years. Graham died on 12 October 1936 at age 87.

(Adapted from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, volume 2.)