James Graham

He was baptized 15 Nov 1845.

James Graham was born 11 Oct 1804 in (or near) Enniskillen, in Fermaner (Fernanaugh) County, Ireland, the son of Robert Graham and Anna (or Ann) Barrow (or Barrows).  His mother may have died while he was young because his father Robert, born 2 Oct 1774 in Banbridge, Down County, Ireland, married a second time on 8 Feb 1808 to a widow named Catharine Russel Marshal, who had no children in her first married.  Robert, Catharine, and young James came to America around 1809, and settled in Pleasant Hill, Delaware.  Nothing is knows of the early life of James, but we can presume he was a 15-year old living with his father and step mother in Pleasant Hill, DE in the Spring of 1820. 

James married Mary Ann Butler of Newcastle County, Delaware, about 1824.  They lived in Laurel Hill, Chester County, PA, from 1825 to 1837.  They eventually had eleven children, the first six in Laurel Hill, Chester, PA.  These six were Eliza, Ann Isabelle, Robert, George, Elenor, and Mary Elizabeth.  In 1837, James and his family, along with his father Robert and his family (Robert and Christina had ten children, all born in America) moved to Hancock County, Illinois.  There James and Mary Ann became interested in Mormonism and joined the Church.  James was baptized 15 Nov 1845 at the age of 41.  He received a patriarchal blessing at the hands of Hyrum Smith at Nauvoo on 19 Jan 1842.  He was ordained a high priest and was commissioned to preach repentance.  The record states that he was received into the High Priest Quorum in Nauvoo 10 Aug 1844.  James and Mary Ann had five more children in Hancock County, Ill. (two in an unidentified area of the county, one in Bear Creek, and two in Nauvoo, the last one born in April 1846).  These children were Margaret, James, Joseph Smith, Samuel, and Brigham.

The Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register shows that he received his washing and anointing and endowment 30 Jan 1846.  In August 1846, Mary Ann died.  James married Orilla Crandall either on 3 Feb 1846 or 3 Feb 1847, but they were soon divorced (no children).  When the Saints were finally driven out of Nauvoo in 1847, James went with them to Utah.  Nothing is known of his trek across the plains nor if any of his children went with him.  On 28 Feb 1848, he married Sarah Thompson at Winter Quarters, but as far as is known, there were no children from this marriage.