The full biographical sketch as printed, transcribed from the public-domain book. Spelling and wording are the original author’s; a few scanning errors may remain.
ORSON W. GRAHAM.
Orson W. Graham, who for many years owned and controlled one of the good productive industries of Council Bluffs, being engaged in the opera- tion of a planing mill, made an excellent record in business circles, hi« diligence and industry proving the motive power in his success. He was born in Italy, Yates county, New York, on the 4th of August, 1850. The family is of Scotch lineage and the name was originally spelled Graeme. Orson Graham, the grandfather of our subject, however, was a native of New England, while the father, Lewis B. Graham, was born after the re- moval of his parents to the Empire state, his birth occurring in Italy, New York, in 1815. During the years of his early manhood he followed farm-
ing, continuing active in that pursuit until 1865, when he was elected clerk of Yates county. He was afterward prominent in politics and established a real-estate and insurance business in Penn Yan, in which he continued up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1902. He was married three times and his second wife, the mother of our subject, was Pamelia S. Green. They became the parents of three children, of whom Orson W. is the eldest, the others being Lucretia 0., now the wife of Frank Wagener, of Pueblo, Colorado; and Mrs. Theodosia T. Baldwin, of Cleveland, Ohio. Lewis B. Graham was a soldier in the Civil war.
Orson W. Graham was reared in New York to the age of twenty years, the family, however, removing from Italy to Penn Yan when he was five or six years of age. During the winter months he attended school and about 1870 removed westward to Moline, Illinois, where he worked at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned in the east. He spent two years at that place and then went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he lived for a year. On the ex- piration of that period he returned to Penn Yan, New York, where he con- tinued for a year and afterward went to Clinton, Iowa, where he spent two or three years as a carpenter. In 1877 he arrived in Pottawattamie county and, settling on a farm in Washington township, gave his time and energies to general agricultural pursuits for twelve years. In 1889 he came to Council Bluffs, where he followed carpentering for two years, and in 1891 he established a planing mill, which he operated successfully for sixteen years or until February, 1907. He then leased the plant, after having been closely and successfully associated with the productive industries of the city for a long period.
In 1874, Mr. Graham was married in Hampton, Illinois, to Miss Char- lotte A. Wells, and they have one daughter and one son: Mary B., now the wife of James Butler; and Robert E. Graham, twenty-seven years of age. Mr. Graham belongs to the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and to the Independent < >rder of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a republican where state and national question- axe involved. He served as alderman- at-largo in Council Bluffs for two years and has ever been deeply interested in community affairs as a public-spirited citizen who labors effectively and ear- nestly for the general good. His name is associated with progress in business and public life.
Source: History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. See the original pages at the Internet Archive.
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