Rev. 1 Dec. 2006, Gen. 109
DESCENDANTS OF JONAH GRAVES
AND ELIZABETH ------ OF CUMBERLAND & YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND
GENERATION 1
Jonah Graves (1) was born about
1810 in Dalston (near Carlisle), Cumberland, England, and died July-Sept. 1879
at age 69 in Bradford, Yorkshire[1]. He married Elizabeth ‑‑‑‑‑‑. She was born about 1815 in Dalston,
Cumberland. They were in the 1841 and
1851 censuses for Headingley, West Yorkshire (near Pudsey and Leeds, and not
far from Bradford). He was a spade and
shovel maker. Their first child was
born in Dalston, Cumberland, and all the others in Kirkstall, Yorkshire (next
to Headingley, near Pudsey). The
descendants of William Joseph Graves are not certain, and he was only called
William in the 1841 and 1851 censuses.
Children - Graves
+2. William Joseph Graves, b. Aug. 1834, m(1) Eleanor Woods, 1860, m(2)
Mary M. Arner.
3. Isabella Graves, b.c. 1837. Not in the 1851 census.
4. Elizabeth Graves, b.c. 1840.
5. Joseph Graves, b.c. 1844.
6. Ann Graves, b.c. 1847.
7. John Graves, b.c. 1850.
GENERATION 2
CHILDREN OF JONAH GRAVES (1) AND
ELIZABETH ------
William Joseph Graves (1), called
Joseph, was born in Aug. 1834 in Cumberland, England. He first married Eleanor (“Nellie”) Woods[2]
in 1860 in New Castle, England probably Newcastle upon Tyne, Durham/Tyne &
Wear). She was born about 1841 in
Carlisle, Cumberland, and died in England.
Joseph Graves was believed to be a miner in England. He emigrated to America in 1864 with his two
sons. He first located in Massachusetts,
and for a while was employed in the construction of a huge tunnel there. He then moved to Superior, MI, where he was
employed in the copper mines. After one
year there, he moved to Orangeville, Columbia Co., PA, and worked in the coal
mines, staying there 4 years. Joseph
married second Mary M. Arner while residing in Pennsylvania. He then went to work in the coal mines of
Ohio, living for 8 years in Nelsonville, OH.
When his son, Thomas, was 16 years of age (about 1879), he moved from
Ohio to Missouri and settled on a prairie farm for which he had traded property
in Nelsonville. The farm comprised 100
acres of land, where he lived for some time engaged in raising stock and in
general farming. After thirty years, he
sold the place and moved to a better farm north of Knob Noster, Johnson Co.,
MO, where he spent the last years of his life.
He died in 1911 on his farm near Knob Noster and was buried in a private
cemetery there.
The parents of Joseph are not
absolutely proven. The History of
Johnson County, Missouri states that he was a miner in England. However, the English records that have been
found do not support that. Also, the
1841 and 1851 census records in England only list his name as William, and he
is shown with a younger brother named Joseph.
However, the 1861 census lists him as Joseph, and the 1880 U.S. census
gives his name as W. Joseph, and no other possibilities for his parentage have
been found.
They were in the 1861 census for
Penrith, Cumberland, with no children in the household, and his occupation
listed as dyer. He was listed with his
second wife in the 1870 census for West Salem, Mercer Co., PA, occupation coal
miner, living next to John Arner and family.
They were in the 1880 census for 13th Ward, Cleveland,
Cuyahoga Co., OH, with him listed as boiler maker, 46, wife A. Mary Graves, 45,
son Thomas, 21, England, E. George, 8, OH, and Lillie, 5, OH. All the information in these census records
does not agree exactly, but they seem to be for the same family.
Joseph was in the 1900 census for
Washington Twp., Johnson Co., MO, near the family of his daughter Mary. Living with him was his brother Able (or
Abel) Graves, 75, born Aug. 1824 in England.
Abel had immigrated in 1871, and Joseph immigrated in 1866. A search of census records in England has
not found an Abel Graves of the correct age, and no household with both an Abel
and a Joseph Graves as children. The
closest thing that was found was an Abel Graves, 42, born in Whitehaven,
Cumberland, in the 1861 census for Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland. He was a beerhouse keeper with wife Mary,
and children, but he has not been found in other censuses. If Abel was born 1824 and was a brother of
Joseph, then it would seem unlikely that Joseph’s father was Jonah, born about
1810. (R‑1)
Children - Graves, by Nellie
Woods
8. Isaac Graves, b.c. 1860.
+9. Thomas Graves, b.c. 1862, m. Mary C. Hurd, 23 March 1891.
Children - Graves, by Mary M.
Arner
+10. Mary Elvira Graves, b. Oct. 1866, m. T. B. Skidmore, c. 1886.
11. James Graves, b.c. 1869; lived in Knob Noster,
MO.
12. E. George Graves, b.c. 1872.
13. Lillie (or Ella) Graves, b.c. 1875, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑
Moorehouse. Lived in Wichita, KS.
GENERATION 3
CHILDREN OF JOSEPH GRAVES (1)
Thomas Graves (9) was born in 1863
in Cumberlandshire, England. He was a
farmer and stockman of Montserrat Twp., Johnson Co., MO. He married Mary C. Hurd on 23 March 1891. They moved to a new home in 1897, where they
were still living in 1918. The Graves
farm comprised 95 acres of land, and was said to be one of the best small stock
farms in Johnson Co. (R‑1)
Children - Graves
14. Joe C. Graves, b. 31 May 1892.
15. Nellie Graves, b. 16 Dec. 1894.
16. Hannah J. Graves, b. 31 Jan. 1897.
17. W. Thomas Graves, b. 25 Dec. 1898.
18. Hattie M. Graves, b. 17 Nov. 1900.
19. Edna D. Graves, b. 15 Dec. 1905.
20. Herbert E. Graves, b. 12 June 1910.
Mary Elvira (or Alvira or Allie)
Graves (10) was born in Oct. 1866 in PA.
She married T. B. Skidmore about 1886.
He was born in April 1862 in MO.
They are said to have lived in Knob Noster, Johnson Co., MO. They were in the 1900 census for Washington
Twp., Johnson Co., MO, where he was listed as John and she was listed as Mary
A. They were in the 1920 census for
Grover Twp., Johnson Co., MO. He was a
farmer. All their children were born in
MO.
Children - Skidmore
21. James H. Skidmore, b. Nov. 1887.
22. Virginia (“Virgie”) M. Skidmore, b. Sept.
1889.
23. Benjamin H. Skidmore, b. Oct. 1891.
24. Arlen (“Arley”) L. Skidmore, b. March 1893.
25. William B. Skidmore, b. Feb. 1895.
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