Joseph Brown Graham, son of William Harris and Myra Elizabeth Penland Graham, was born on 18 March 1864, in Spring Garden, Cherokee County, Alabama. He was educated at the Spring Garden high school, and received his A.B. degree from Oxford College in 1880. He taught at Spring Garden from 1883-1889, then went to Union City, Tennessee for one year. He returned to Talladega in 1887 where he was superintendent for the city schools until 1893. He read law with Charles C. Whitson at Talladega and was admitted to the bar in 1893. He was a member of the board of examiners of public schools of Cherokee County from 1884-1886, superintendent of education of Talladega County form 1889-1903. He was a delegate to the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1901, as well as the vice-president of the State Democratic convention in 1900.
On 12 December 1900, he married Lera Jones of Talladega; the couple had one son, Joseph Brown, Jr. Graham died on 6 July 1903 in Talledega by a Southern RR car.
From the guide to the Joseph B. Graham Papers MSS. 0585., 1901, (University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama)
