LEE R. GRAHAM. - Lee R. Graham, an honored veteran of the Civil war and the present efficient postmaster of Loami, is a native of this county, his birth having occurred in Woodside township, July 19, 1845. His father, Samuel Graham, was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1811, and was there reared, being a young man when he came to Illinois and settled in Sangamon county. Here he married Mrs. Mary T. Withrow, nee Peters, a native of Kentucky. Being a man of good education, he successfully engaged in teaching school in this county for some years, although by trade he was a wagon-maker. He died in 1850, at the comparatively early age of thirty-nine years. His wife survived him and reared their family, consisting of three children, namely: Lee R., of this review; Z. T., now a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Mrs. Mary F. Richardson, a widow, who also makes her home in St. Paul.

Lee R. Graham grew to manhood in this county and was educated in the Loami schools. When the Civil war broke out he decided to strike a blow in defense of the Union, and on the 15th of August, 1862, enlisted as a private in Company F, Fifty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and participated in the battles of Stone River and Chickamauga. In the latter engagement Mr. Graham was shot through the right leg and was taken prisoner, but was paroled on the battle-field and sent home, where he remained until he recovered from his wound. He rejoined his regiment at Cleveland, Tennessee, May 3, 1864, and started on the Atlanta campaign, participating in all of the battles of that campaign and the siege and capture of Atlanta. Later he was in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, and at the close of the war was sent to Chicago, where he was mustered out, having received an honorable discharge before leaving Nashville.

Returning home, Mr. Graham was married in 1867 to Miss Martha J. Darneille, also a native of this county and a daughter of Benjamin F. Darneille, who was from Kentucky. Of the seven children born of this union four are still living: Maud F., wife of W. A. Joy, of Springfield; Claud D., a resident of Loami; Grace G., wife of Charles W. Baker, of Payette, Idaho, by whom she has two children, Leah Alta and Roscoe; and Mary, wife of W. L. Turpin, who is a resident of Chicago and a nephew of James Turpin of Loami. One child died in infancy; Nellie I. died at the age of eight months; and Sanford W. died at the age of twenty-one years.

For about five years after his marriage Mr. Graham engaged in farming and then turned his attention to the carpenter's trade, at length becoming a contractor and builder. He erected numerous residences and public buildings in and around Loami, which today stand as monuments to his architectural skill and handiwork. In 1897 he was appointed postmaster of Loami, being the first Republican postmaster appointed in Sangamon county during the McKinley administration, and has since devoted his attention to the duties of that office. He has also served as tax collector and township school treasurer and his official duties have been most capably and satisfactorily discharged. He is a stalwart Republican in politics, having supported that party since casting his first presidential vote for General U. S. Grant in 1868. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is one of the trustees, and fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Grand Army of the Republic at Springfield. He was made a Mason in 1867 and is now a member of the lodge at Loami, of which he has served as secretary for six or seven years. He has also taken the degrees of the chapter. In all the relations of life he has been found true to every trust reposed in him and he well merits the high regard in which he is uniformly held.