The Disappearance of William Graham

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

Bernice Graham, author of Graham Descendants of William and Dinah Wilson Graham, 1967 was the glue that kept Graham family members, far and wide, together.  The Graham descendants in Portsmouth, Ohio diligently filled out or wrote her yearly with  updates of family births, marriages and deaths.  Her book was published when I was a senior in high school.  On a hot summer day in the late 1980’s I paid her a visit in Marietta, Ohio.  Surrounded by stacks of newspapers, that she said she still must clip and file, we chatted about our family.  Close to 90 years of age, Bernice’s mind was bright and sharp. 

I asked who had supplied my birth information. She promptly said my grandmother.  She said my grandmother, Katherine Halderman Feyler,  would write her notes but my great aunt Eva Clayton Scott was more informative.  She also stated she had letters from my great grandmother Dessie Clayton Feyler.  Graham then directed me to go to the basement between isles, count two stacks then down three boxes and bring the box upstairs.  That box was just like Christmas morning.  Crammed full of letters from the descendants of George Graham son of William Graham.    There were several letters from my great grandmother Dessie Clayton Feyler from the 1920’s and 30’s.[i] Without hesitation she reached in and located the letter announcing my birth from my grandmother.  After getting permission to photostat some of the letters, I was prompted to take the box back to the basement and place it exactly as I had found it.

By the time of that visit, I had already worn the pages of my copy of her publication, the culmination of all those letters and questions, on the eleven children and descendants of William and Dinah Anne Wilson Graham.  As we walked to the library, that day, to make copies, I asked her if there was more to the story of the disappearance of William Graham.  She shook her head no and said that her 2^nd great grandmother, Dinah Wilson Graham, was said to have mourned and hoped he would return all the rest of her life.

The first part of her book reads more like a thought process, explaining why Bernice believed William was the son of Jared Graham.  She cites bible records and stories from various branches of the family as well as trips she and her brother, an avid McGrew researcher, made to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  Sometimes she gave a proper deed citation and other times just descriptions. 

Over the years Graham researchers are still hoping, new technology and ease of retrieving original records, we will unravel the mystery of William Graham’s disappearance.

William Graham’s birth is given as 25 August 1793.  Bernice stated: "I have an old bible published in 1816 which William Graham wrote ...data for most of his family. His signature is also written beside the 19th chapter of Proverbs...given me a few years ago by Reba West Wilson a granddaughter of Rebecca Ross Graham."  In today’s analytical genealogy world we immediately would question if the birth date was primary (written by him from knowledge) or secondary evidence since the bible was not published until after his birth.

Bernice goes on to say that William was a farmer, storekeeper, teacher and hat maker making beaver hats especially.    In referencing William Graham as a teacher:  “ .. arithmetic book in possession of my grandfather Dickson Graham...copyright 1811...used by Wm Graham while teaching school at Youngstown, Pennsylvania...inscribed his signature...Youngstown...date Feb 19, 1814...possession of Thomas Dickson Graham of Clearwater Florida, my brother...”  William would be twenty years of age thus considered an adult able to teach.  Youngstown was developing and the first town lot was not recorded until November 1815.  Prior to that time it was often referenced as Martinsburg.  Youngstown is one of the oldest borough’s in Unity Township.

Graham mentions a deed in her book concerning Arthur O’hara, who married Sarah Jackson Graham, William’s widowed mother.   With FHL microfilm at our fingertips I located  an article of agreement 24 September 1792  between O’hara, now deceased, and Henry Furry both of Unity Township.  One of the witness’ is John Chambers.  The document was not filed until 25 May 1814, the year Bernice says the book shows William Graham as a teacher.  William Graham by oath, in 1814, says that he was well acquainted with John Chambers…resided near this deponent in the character of a schoolmaster for several years that the said John Chambers removed from this country about 12 years ago and now resides…Kentucky.[ii]  This document does not clearly state that William Graham is now, himself, a school teacher.  It does tell us that William Graham was likely schooled by John Chambers circa 1802, at about nine years of age, and resided in Unity Township. 

William married Dinah Anne Wilson 16 July 1816, we assume in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  While not listed by name in the 1820 census, this compiler finds the “Widow Ohara” with the correct age for her along with the family of William and Dinah Wilson Graham.[iii]  William already has three children. The first daughter named Sarah, possibly after her grandmother, was born that year.

Arthur O'hara, who married Sarah Jackson Graham[iv] about 1806 died before the deed in 1814 and probate records continue thru August 1825.[v]  William Graham is cited in the partition docket. William Graham, appears in his own household in Unity Township in 1830.  By 1830 he and Dinah have nine children.

Bernice states in her publication: Some time in...& before the birth of ...youngest child, William...disappeared and was never heard from again by anyone in the family or area..”   Deborah was born 4 January 1832 and the last child Richard Wright Graham was born November 1833.

Eleven children in the household and father, William Graham disappears.  The last two children are thought to have been born in Sewickly Township, where Dinah’s father, William Wilson, resided.  It is assumed that Dinah is being helped by her father, William Wilson, until his death in June 1848.  But it was six long years before Dinah Anne Wilson Graham received three annual payments of $300.00 from her father’s will.  Eleven children being raised during the Panic of 1837 when unemployment was at it's lowest, money was devalued and banks were passing out bad loans. The recession lasted seven long  years.

Logically, Dinah would try to locate her husband. Scant newspaper scans have surfaced  for The Gazette and Farmers & Mechanic’s Register (1828-1833) or the Greensburg Gazette/Register.  This compiler has found no newspaper article, at this writing, concerning his disappearance.  Dinah Anne would need money to feed that many children.  Usually guardianships are appointed at the death of a father, even though the mother was living.  A guardian appointment was put in place to manage finances and the best interest of the child.  Orphans Court, for Westmoreland County, show no entry for any of the children. Often the sheriff and courts would intervene to aid those in need. There are no land holdings in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in William Graham’s name either.  This is a family without a breadwinner, the eldest son Wilson Graham being about 16 years old.  Bernice states that Wilson Graham felt a responsibility to help the family and family stated he rode a horse along the towpath of a canal in Pennsylvania to help make ends meet.  The Pennsylvania Canal System began in 1824 so fits nicely into the story of the family.

Bernice gave assumptions that Sarah Jackson Graham O’hara’s husband was a Jared Graham, father of William.  The trail Bernice provided was later proven by several researcher’s to be Jared Graham that married Jane Nyce and migrated to Pickaway County, Ohio.  This compiler feels there is possibly several contemporary Jared Graham’s that still need reviewed and unraveled.  There are several Scotch Irish Graham families in the vicinity.    DNA shows that this compiler does have low centimorgans to at least two issues of the Pickaway County Graham family.

Dinah Anne Wilson Graham migrated with her family to Wesley Township, Washington county, Ohio where she resided among her grown children and grandchildren.   She died in the home of grandson Thomas Graham in Bern Township, Athens County 14 March 1879 on a visit from neighboring Washington County.  Most documents call her “Ann Graham.”  She was never referenced as a widow in any documents reviewed by this writer.  Bernice Graham’s statement still holds true “William Graham disappeared.”

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[i] 1929, Aug 2 Dessie Feyler to Bernice Graham…”…impossible for us to attend reunion…returned home from Michigan yesterday and had a nice visit with Eva.. She and I filled out the form you sent…”

[ii] Pennsylvania, Westmoreland, Deeds, Volume 10, p 631, fhl microfilm 008036029, image 72.

[iii] 1820 Federal census, M33-112 Unity, Westmoreland, PA page 174

[iv] Sarah Jackson Graham O’Hara b. 1760 was contemporary to Richard Jackson b c. 1775 m. Jane Seaton resided in Westmoreland County. Jane Seaton Jackson’s brother George was a well known hatter.

[v] Pennsylvania, Westmoreland Registers and Orphan Ct Recod Index; O’Hara Arthur acct 1 OC 182 1819 , partition 5C PN 242 1825

Black & Blue - Colorful Clayton Connections

Black & Blue - Colorful Clayton Connections.

Teresa Martin Klaiber, Dec. 2019

From an early age I remember being told I looked tired because I had circles under my eyes.  By the time I graduated high school my eyes looked like I might have been punched.  Physicians said it was allergies, I did not drink enough and was dehydrated, and needed more rest, a heart valve issue (discovered at age 40).  Makeup nor the photographers touch up hide or mask “the circles” in my high school graduation picture.  Even with age and glasses, the dark area cannot be hidden.

Teresa Lynn Martin 1967

I visited Bernice Graham, in Marietta, Ohio in the early 1980’s. She immediately commented that I had eyes like Isaac Calvin Clayton.  I nodded, thinking she was talking about the hazel color, as she pulled out the book, she had written[i], turning to the page with a picture of Isaac.  My mouth probably fell open because she was not referencing the color of my eyes. She was in fact referencing the deep coloration around my eyes.  Even in a black and white picture of my 2^nd great grandfather, you could distinctly see the darkness.

Isaac Calvin Clayton

It would be a few more years before my allergist would admit that genetics probably played a role, after all I still like to sleep for up to 12 hours a night. And while genetics play a role, predisposition such as thyroid disease can also play a role. 

Isaac Calvin Clayton[ii], [Alexander, John, Thomas, Thomas, Zebulon, John, Edmund, Henry] was born 17 April 1843 in Bartlett, Wesley Township, Washington County, Ohio, son of Alexander and Hannah W. Collins Clayton.

As a child I would visit Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth, Ohio with my sweet, tiny, great aunt Eva Clayton Scott. “Aunt Eva” was the sister of my great grandmother, Dessie, who died prior to my birth.  She made her home with my grandmother, Katherine Halderman Feyler, since both were widowed.   As you enter the cemetery you are greeted with a beautiful Civil War Monument circled by those who served.  Isaac Calvin Clayton’s military stone faces the entrance and is one of the first stones you see within Soldier’s Circle. 

On May 2 1864 Isaac enlisted as a private in Company D of the 148^th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Plymouth, Ohio[iii].  His description was duly noted on the record with blue eyes, brown hair, fair complexion and 5 feet 10 ½ inches tall.  There is no mention of the circles around his eyes.

He was mustered in the 17^th of May at Marietta for 100 days.  The Regiment was organized as an Ohio National Guard Unit. On May 23^rd the Regiment boarded a Marietta & Cincinnati train headed for Harper’s Ferry.  Shortly after leaving Marietta the train was involved in an accident.  Three men were killed and three seriously injured.  The Regiment, with Isaac, proceeded to Harper’s Ferry where it remained a short time before moving to Washington, D.C.  By June 12 they were at Bermuda Hundred.  The following day they were in General Butler’s entrenchment at the front.

Isaac was among seven companies under Lt. Colonel Kinkead that left Bermuda Hundred for City Point on 16 June 1864.  On the ninth of August Joseph Smith of Company D, S. E. Graham of Company H and another man in company A were killed by an explosion of an ordinance boat.  Sometime between May 2 and June 30 Isaac reported sick.  The total loss of the Regiment was forty, many due to illness.  On the twenty-ninth of August the 148^th left City Point for a return trip to Marietta.  They arrived in Marietta on September 5.  On the thirteenth a public dinner was given the Regiment by the citizens of the County.  Isaac mustered out the following day.  He received his honorable discharge 15 December 1864 signed by Abraham Lincoln, as President, and Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War[iv].  His discharge is in possession of descendent, Kacey Cavanagh Coleman.[v]

Four months later, Isaac married Anna Jane Graham 24 January 1865 in Bartlett, Wesley Township, Washington County, Ohio[vi].  Their first child, our ancestor, Dessie Mae Clayton was born 15 July 1865 in Bartlett[vii]. 

In early 1883 Isaac got a job with Drew Selby & Company in Portsmouth, Ohio.  By Fall of 1883 Isaac was able to move the family to Portsmouth permanently.  He went to work at Drew, Selby and Company shoe factory where Jesse Mains Graham[viii]  was already employed.

Portsmouth flooded in February 1884.  The Ohio rose an average of a foot per hour.  Flooding began the 8^th and reached its height February 12^th.  People were driven from their homes.  Family stories passed down say that during the flood Isaac bruised his hand while repairing a boat.

A callous was worn in the center of his hand.  While driving a stake at his residence, on Third Street, in April 1884, he bruised the hardened flesh, of the callous, which caused catarrh.  While catarrh is usually described as a buildup of mucus in the nose or throat, in this case it was an inflamed and purulent hand.  He continued to work for several days before calling Dr. Gibson. Gibson found him laboring with a high fever and diagnosed him with pyaemia.

Isaac Calvin Clayton died 23 April 1884.   Isaac was only 41 years old.  The obituary in the Portsmouth Times states that the employees of Drew Selby & Company attended the services “in body.” 

I will never know if Isaac was predisposed to heart disease or thyroid disease, or if an earlier ancestor blessed us both with “raccoon eyes.”   I still visit Greenlawn Cemetery and wonder at the parallels.  My thyroid was removed in 2009.  I still battle allergies. Isaac died of blood poisoning and in 2014 I was diagnosed with a blood cancer[ix].   I am drawn to this man that died far too young.  

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[i] GRAHAM Descendants Of William and Dinah Wilson Graham

[ii] Second great grandfather of compiler.

[iii] Civil War Index To Pensions 1861-1934, T288, 546 rolls (Washington, D.C.: National Archives NARA, ), T288-85, Isaac C. Clayton, D 148th Ohio Inf

[iv] microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, ), Civil War Pension #44468, Isaac C. Clayton

[v] Coleman resides 2019 Lexington, Fayette, KY

[vi] Clayton - Graham, (1865), Ohio, Washington County Marriages: vol 4 page 65; courthouse, Marietta, Ohio, Ohio

[vii] Family data, Feyler Family Bible, The Holy Bible: The Authorized Edition of the New Testament...revised...1881...with Complete Concordance...Comprehensive Bible Dictionary, (Philadelphia, PA: A. J.. Holman & Company, 1889); original owned in 2016 by Teresa Martin Klaiber, [address for private use], Rush, KY.

[viii] Jesse Mains Graham brother of Anna Jane Graham Clayton. Mother of Isaac Calvin Clayton.

[ix] Multiple Myeloma

Memories of Elizabeth Crutcher Weakly McNamara

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber August 5, 2010

I am getting old. When I started genealogy I was a youngster. I have had many mentors along the way, corresponded with many good researchers who have now gone on to the great beyond. Each person taught me something new to put in my tool kit and carry forward in my own genealogical journey. Elizabeth Crutcher Weakly McNamara is still teaching me lessons even after her death.

Correspondence from Libby, [she requested we call her Libby] has been tucked in my files for 32 years. I recently renewed my research interest in the Peake/Peek family and opened those old files for review. Knowing that she was now deceased I began to wonder where all her wonderful materials ended up.

A quick Google search gleaned little and I was deflated when I read a genealogy query thread that asked who Elizabeth McNamara was and no one could give a definite reply.

I was able to ascertain that her last publication done in 1985 Descendants of Thomas Cruther is back in print. I was deeply impressed with a quick response from Kent Crutcher who explained that he had purchased the copyright from the lawyer following her death but did not know where her other materials might be housed.

That said I had a flashback and did remember that several boxes of her genealogy books had come to the Boyd County Library after her death which added to our collection. But again there is no original notes or research housed in the Boyd County library archives.

Libby also corresponded with Dr. Reba Neighbors Collins in Edmond, Oklahoma. Reba did thankfully add a section to her book History of the Janes-Peek Family on Elizabeth Weakly McNamara's Peak line in 1975. Unfortunately the publication does not give citations for Elizabeth's work and Collins is also now deceased. I cherish my autographed copy of the book.

Besides her contribution to Collin's book and her Crutcher publication in 1985 I am aware of three other publications compiled by her. In 1980 Gateway Press published Weakley, Scearce, Arnold Families of Kentucky: their descendants and ancestral families. In 1978 she did a 28 page typescript titled The Novinger family of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and Adair County, Missouri which is housed at the NSDAR library. The same year she published Old Letters and Documents from the Estate of James Crutcher 1755-1823. The Kentucky Historical Society and Library of Virginia have copies of this last publication.


Searching the catalogs of Kentucky libraries, Library of Virginia and NSDAR I found no indication that her original research notes made their way to a repository. I am especially saddened since I can now say she was a distant cousin through our Peak/Peek family and would love to see her citations for the information she wrote about in correspondence to my grandmother and myself.

Thankfully I have preserved the correspondence from 1978. In one letter she wrote "...Yes, I know that you are close to Ashland as that is where I was born [1911]. Dad and mother went there right after they were married in 1906 - Dad went into the law office of an uncle-in-law of mothers. We left there in 1915 and went to Covington, Ky., and in 1921 to Ft. Thomas, Ky., which is just across the Licking River from Covington and in Campbell Co. Might add that we still have many friends in Ashland."

Libby's childhood memories are good. I find the family living in Ward 6 of Covington in 1920 and in Fort Thomas for the 1930 Federal Census.

Libby shared her and her siblings full birth dates with another Peak researcher in the 1980's, J. B Hitt. But like others, Hitt would also love to know what happened to her original research. The full birth dates and place of birth for the Weakley children:

Sarah Ross Weakley 13 February 1907, Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky
Leonard Adriel Weakley 21 October 1908, Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky
Elizabeth Crutcher Weakley 12 March 1911, Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky
Margaret Ann Weakley 3 Dec 1917, Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky

Margaret's birth is the only one that qualified to be recorded in the Kentucky Vital Records that began in 1912. Leonard applied for a delayed certificate for Boyd County.

Libby's mother Carrie/Caroline Frances Peak was born 27 October 1884. Collins states Carrie's birth place was Bedford County, Kentucky in her Janes-Peek publication. But Bedford is a town in Trimble County, Kentucky. Carrie was the daughter of Robert Francis Peak who was also an attorney. Her grandfather William Francis Peak was the president of several banks including the bank at Bedford. He died in Bedford, Trimble County 29 January 1911 [KY cert#2484].

By the time Carrie was 15 they were residing in Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky. It was there that she married Calvin Simpson Weakley 20 January 1906 and then moved to Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky, where they resided for nine years.

The Ashland City Directory for 1908-1909 shows Calvin working in the office of Zerfoss & Weakley in the Thomas Building on 16th Street. The Weakley family resided at 209 Carter Avenue. In fact the house was quite crowded. The following Weakley family members were boarding at this residence: Effie a milliner, Jennie a clerk, Sallie a milliner, and Samuel S. a grocer.

The Zerfoss in Zerfoss & Weakley, attorneys was L. Frank and wife Lizzie who resided at 201 E. Central Avenue.

Libby was very small when they left Ashland. Her memories are in areas of Campbell County and surrounding Bluegrass region counties that would later help her with the genealogy research that she was interested in. She began her love of genealogy in the 1930's while still in Shelby County.

She went on to join the Women's Army Corp - WAC - during WWII. She attained the rank of Captain and served 2 1/2 years in England. Elizabeth married Harold Webster McNamara 30 June 1956 in Arlington, Virginia where she would live out the rest of her life. Both she and her husband are buried in Culpeper National Cemetery in Plot E-0155. Elizabeth Crutcher Weakly McNamara died 30 July 1998 and was buried 5 August 1998.

There are many Peake researchers that hope Libby's research has survived and is tucked away in a repository for our review.

The lesson is an age old one with genealogists. Be clear and concise about what is to become of your genealogical research materials. We can protect our work with a simple codicil to our will and pre-arrangement with a library of choice.

I think of others whose research was shattered, divided or lost after years of work and that it may include Libby's unfinished Peak materials. I am truly thankful that I am able to preserve several of her letters in my own collection. I would love to be able to add an addendum to this article that her Peak materials have been located.




Elizabeth Cruther Weakley McNamara [Carrie Peak Weakley- Robert Francis Peak - William Francis Peak - Thomas Peake - William Peake - Francis Peake - John Peake]

Teresa Martin Klaiber [John Geer Martin - Henry Kautz Martin - John Shouse Martin - Henry Foster Martin - Mary Ann Peek Martin - Thomas W. Peek - Francis Peake- John Peake]