Robert M. Graves
The nineteenth century was very near its meridian in time when Robert
Madison Graves, of Middlefork township, Macon county, was born in the locality
of his present residence on April l, 1849. He has witnessed all of its subsequent
splendor of development, progress and achievement, and in his own way and
location has done his part towards all that has been accomplished, giving
his aid at all times to every worthy undertaking for the improvement of his
township, which was the place of his nativity and has always been his home,
and doing all in his power to advance the interests of its people.
Mr. Graves is of North Carolina ancestry on his father's side, his
grandfather, Thomas Graves, having been born and reared in that state. His
father William R. Graves, the son of Thomas, was born in Pulaski County,
Kentucky, on December 12, 1822, and became a resident of Macon county in
this state when he was a boy of sixteen, coming hither in 1838. He took up
a tract of government land, but soon afterward sold his claim. He then bought
a tract of 160 acres. True, the country was new and unpeopled, and all the
advance of the white race were still stubbornly resisted by the Indians.
The forests and plains were still the roving grounds of wild beasts, which
were all too willing to levy on the fruits of systematic industry and even
human life itself for their subsistence. Danger lurked in every shadow and
every day was fraught with peril. The common necessaries of existence were
hard to get and the luxuries were altogether unattainable. But Mr. Graves
met all the conditions of his frontier life with lofty courage, cheerful
endurance and a resolute determination to build and prosper where he had
stuck his stake.
Having started farming in the wilderness, he never faltered in his purpose,
but kept on improving his land and enlarging his operations until, as has
been shown, he became one of the most extensive landholders in the county.
He raised considerable numbers of cattle and other live stock and fed a great
many for the markets every year, and this industry was one of the principal
factors in building up his fortune.
As a pioneer settler and a man of capacity, breadth of view and
progressiveness, he was called on to take an active part in the early government
of the township and county, and had a large share in getting started in municipal
life and laying the foundations of their civil institutions and their present
prosperity and greatness. He rose to commanding influence in the county,
and when he died on June 20, 1898, was one of the most prominent citizens
of northeastern Missouri.
In 1845 he was married to Miss Permelia Reynolds, a native of Macon county,
who died in 1869. They became the parents of thirteen children, three of
whom have passed away. Those living are: Ursula Jane, the wife of J.J.
Richardson; Robert M., the interesting theme of this article; Mary D., the
wife of R. H. Walker; Hiram N., who lives in Macon City; James F.; William
G.; Sarah, the wife of William Richardson; Isabelle, widow of James Rowe;
Catherine, the wife of John Tooley; and Lysander Lee.
They are all residents of this county, and in their several spheres are
accounted as being among the most progressive, representative and useful
citizens of the section of the state in which they live. In politics the
father was a prominent and influential Democrat, and in religion a leading
and hard working member of the Christian church.
Robert M. Graves is literally a child of the frontier and the product
of its conditions. He obtained his education in the district schools in the
neighborhood of his father's farm, which he attended irregularly during the
winter months for a few years, all the while assisting in the labors of the
farm, which in that day formed the first requirement for everybody. At the
best his gleanings from this field of small production would have been slender
but he was not allowed to get all even it might have furnished. The Civil
War broke out in the midst of his school days, and that great sectional contest
so disturbed the social, civil and business institutions of this part of
the state that almost everything was at a standstill during its continuance.
The warfare waged in and around this section was of a predatory nature, and
it required the utmost vigilance on the part of the farmers to save what
they had from the foragers of both sides to the controversy.
Mr. Graves remained at home, partially to help in taking care of the
property and carrying on the work and partially because it was dangerous
for anyone to be on the highways much of the time. He lived with his parents
until 1873, when he married and moved into a home of his own.
Since then he has been continuously and very actively engaged in farming
and raising stock, and in all his operations he has been eminently successful.
He began with a farm of 200 acres, which he bought on time, and he now owns
600 owns, 500 of which are under cultivation and highly productive.
Mr. Graves has not only been successful in business and in developing
and promoting his own welfare, but he has also taken an active and helpful
interest in the prosperity and progress of the township and county, and done
all he could to advance their interests along lines of wholesome development.
He has served the public well and wisely as constable, justice of the peace
and school director officially, and by his example and influence has inspired
an kept at work the spirit of progress in others, stimulating them to exertion
and directing their force to worthy and profitable results.
On January 9, 1873, Mr. Graves was united in marriage with Miss Flora
A. Sage, a daughter of James and Sarah (Jett) Sage, natives of Kentucky and
pioneers of Missouri, now living in Macon county, where they have long resided.
Mr. and Mrs. Graves have had six children, three of whom have died. Those
living are Philip M., a prosperous farmer in this county, and Grace and Emory,
who are still living with their parents on the family homestead. The father
is a very active, hard working Democrat, influential in his party and regarded
as on of its wisest and most judicious leaders. He and his wife and all the
children are members of the Christian church and are among the most energetic
and effective workers in the congregation to which they belong. The family
stands well socially and is regarded as one of the most useful, representative
and estimable in the county, dignifying and adorning life, both public and
private, official, social and religious, and bearing well its part in the
performance of duty and in service to the community whatever may be the line
of endeavor that requires attention and the force of action and example.
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