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Francis James Graves was born in Goochland county, Virginia, July 8, 1814. He
is a son of James McKim Graves and Mary Marshall (Clements) Graves, and in 1838 his parents made their home
in Kanawha county, (now) West Virginia. January 31, 1840, Francis J. Graves and Susan Giltnan were united in
marriage, in Campbell county, Kentucky. To them were born two daughters: Frances Melissa, January 31, 1841;
Mary Ellen, November 10, 1844. Frances M. married William A. Preston in Cincinnati, and their home is in Fond
du Lac, Wisconsin, where he is practicing law and farming. Mary E. married Wiley W. Young in Cincinnati and
they are living in Georgetown, Brown county, Ohio, where he is practicing law. In Kanawha county, January 2,
1860, Martha Jane (Roberts) Woods became the wife of Francis J. Graves. She was born in Mecklenburg county,
Virginia, in 1828, and her parents were Howel and Sarah (Spurlock) Roberts. They passed the last years of
their life in Putnam county, West Virginia, and are there deceased. Two sons were born of the second marriage
of Mr. Graves: Francis Jefferson, June 10, 1861, and James, November 10, 1864. The latter died in August, 1865.
In 1874, Mr. Graves became a resident of Lincoln county, and he has in Duval district a farm of 160 acres of
good, tillable, well watered land. There is a vein of iron ore running through some parts of the farm, and its
soil is adapted to all kinds of grain and grass growing. He has a fine fruit orchard. His post-office address
is St. Albans, Lincoln county, West Virginia.
Extracted from West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, a reprint of Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia Lincoln County, WV, Biographies List, 1884.