WILLIAM H. GRAHAM.

Among the men of intelligence and sterling worth who contribute much of the moral bone and sinew of the body politic in Michigan and other states of the North and West, a large and eminently respectable. contingent hail from the dominion of Canada, among the number in Isabella county being Thomas H. Graham, the father of the gentleman whose name furnishes the caption of this article.  Thomas H. Graham was born June 23, 1848, in Peel county, Ontario, and grew to maturity in his native country, receiving his educational discipline in the public schools.  He was reared to agricultural pursuits and when a young man married Sara Baldwin, who was born in the above county on the 18th of January, 1846. After living in the land of his birth until 1874, he disposed of his interests there and moved to Isabella county, Michigan, locating in the fall of that year on a tract of land in section 9, Isabella township, which .he purchased and which in due time he cleared and otherwise improved.

In early life Thomas Graham was an iron moulder, which trade he followed in Canada for a number of years, but after coming to. Michigan he devoted his entire attention to agriculture and met with gratifying success in that vocation. The land in Isabella county which he selected for a home consisted of one hundred and twenty acres, from which he at once began to re- move the forest growth and by patient and continuous effort the task was finally accomplished and a series of improvements inaugurated and in due time I

carried to completion. He gave his attention to general farming and, as indicated above, achieved marked success as a tiller of the soil, as the handsome competence which he accumulated attests. After placing himself in independent circumstances he divided the home place between two of his sons and moved to the forty-acre farm in section 5, which is also highly improved; in addition thereto he owns another farm of eighty acres in the same township, which, like the two mentioned, is in excellent state of cultivation. Some idea of the labor done by him is afforded by the three splendid farms to which reference is made, a total of one hundred and sixty acres, nearly all of which he cleared with his own hands, removing the undergrowth and stumps, enclosing it with fine wire fence and adding improvements in the way of buildings, which rank among the best in the township, to say nothing of the soil, which is in excellent condition and exceedingly productive. Since moving to his- present home, in 1892 he has done little active labor, con- tenting himself with the management of his interests while living the life of honorable retirement which he has so nobly earned. He is still an energetic, wide-awake man, takes an active part in the development and progress of the community in which he resides and keeps in touch with all matters of public import. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow, also a member of the Knights of the Maccabees, politically a Democrat and his religious belief is represented by the Methodist Episcopal church, -with which both himself and wife are identified. Thomas H. and Sarah Graham are the parents of eight children, whose names are as follows: Myra M. is the wife of David Lowry, of Isabella town- ship; Ernest B. whose wife was Edna Maybee; Frank, whose wife was formerly Elizabeth Pitts; William H., the fourth in order of birth; Joseph H., who is unmarried, lives in California; John J., who married Jennie Peete; Lulu L., wife of Ed. Gardner, and Lowell, whose wife bore the maiden name of Tressa Gross. William H. Graham, fourth child of Thomas H. and Sarah Graham, was born in Isabella township, where he now lives, in the month of January, 1877. He was reared to habits of industry and as soon as old enough for his services to be utilized he took his place in the woods and fields, and while still a young man was able to do a man's part at almost any kind of manual labor. During the winter months while growing up he attended the. district schools and, though not educated in the sense that the term is usually understood, he nevertheless possesses a valu2ble practical. knowledge such as colleges and universities fail to impart and by reading and observation has become an intelligent and widely informed man.

Mr. Graham, at the age of twenty-three, began life for himself on the family homestead, which he has since operated, purchasing his brother's interest in the -place some years ago and becoming sole owner. He has made a close and critical study of agricultural science, understands the nature and adaptability of soils and by applying his knowledge of practical ends has met with encouraging success in his chosen calling, occupying at this time a place in the front rank of Isabella county's representative farmers.   Since taking possession of his farm, he has added a number of improvements, including the remodeling of the residence, the erection of a fine barn, forty by eighty-one feet in size, and putting up many rods of fencing, besides beautifying the same so that his home is now among the most valuable and desirable in the section of country where it is situated.

On October 14, 1902, Mr. Graham entered the marriage relation with Ida Byron, who was born May 24, 1883, and who departed this life in December, 1908, leaving, besides a husband, two children and a host of friends to mourn her untimely loss. Chester D., the older of the children, was born August 23, 1903; the younger, a daughter who answers to the name of Eloida M., was born on December 19, 1906.