Greeley R GRAHAM who signed his name as G R GRAHAM was born roughly about 1872 in Arkansas to a woman probably named Mary J. and a man with the surname GRAHAM. Greeley also had a brother William Henry "Bill" GRAHAM. It is not clear what happened to Greeley and William's father as yet. Really I can't say for sure that Mary J. is the Graham brothers mother though she seem to fit okay and was one of their step-father's wives (he was widowed a lot it seems).
I know that Greeley R Graham who sometimes went by the name Horace Greeley Graham (though the family didn't call him that) had a brother named William Henry "Bill" Graham. I know that Greeley married Amanda Delina Davis a daughter of Addison White Davis and his wife Mahala Florence (Hemphill) Davis. I know that Greeley's step-brother John H. Christ (Edmun S Nance Greeley's step-father had many step-children) was at Greeley's wedding and is the boy standing next to Greeley and Amanda in their wedding photo.
1880 Census for Arkansas lists Greeley(though it's hard to tell just how his first name is spelled) and William H Nance along with the other children in the family of Edmun S Nance and his wife Mary J.
Both GRAHAM boys are listed with the surname NANCE, all other records list them under the surname GRAHAM and that is the name they themselves used and passed on to their children.
1900 Census for the same family lists Greeley and William H Graham now as E. S. Nance's step-sons when the 1880 Census had them marked as his sons. E. S. Nance is a listed as a widower.
1910 Census has Greeley Graham still living with his widower Step-father and step-siblings while next door William H. Graham is living with his step-brother William H. Nance and his family. (As is William Nance's brother-in-law Mr. Ester).
Greeley's grandson recalls that as a boy he'd heard his father (Harper Harlis Graham) and his grandfather (Greeley) talk about 'Old Man Nance' before but didn't know at the time who they were talking about. He thinks that Greeley and William thought a lot of their step-father and were ashamed of their birth father as no one ever mentioned him or talked about him. He also prefers to think that Greeley and William's birth father met with some fatal accident than the possibility that the man may have abandoned his wife and young sons.
Greeley R Graham was said to have died in the year 1942 in Oklahoma. So far my dear cousin back in Oklahoma who is trying to order a copy of Greeley's death certificate to see if it says who his parents were, has been told that there are no GRAHAMs at all that died that year in Oklahoma, but they will check the digital records against the old book records. Also said cousin will be asking Greeley's youngest and only still living child(at time of writing this) if he recalls where his father died and when.
Harper Harlis Graham moved from Oklahoma to California roughly around 1944/1945 (known from letters to Harper that it was before April 1945 and his wife Emma died 11 November 1944).
Harper's mother Amanda (DAVIS) GRAHAM died in Los Angles, California (having obviously moved there from Oklahoma).
Greeley died in 1942 according to his gravestone and both he and Amanda are buried in Oklahoma among family.
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