Bio: Graham, Frederick H. (1914)

Contact: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org.

Surnames: Graham, Cowen, Tolles, Thompson, Noble, Lyford, Dwight, McLeod

----Source: History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin (1914) pages 719-720

Frederick H. Graham, president of the Atlas Manufacturing Company of Eau Claire, was born in Wellsville, N. Y., February 25, 1855, son of Hiram P. and Mary J. (Cowen) Graham, and comes of Scotch-Irish lineage. Charles Graham, grandfather, and Samuel Graham, great grandfather of Frederick H., were both natives of Buckland, Mass. Hiram P. Graham, the father, was born in Windham, N. Y., March 29, 1820, and received his education in the common and select schools of his native town. He later learned the trade of millwright, and in 1844 went to Canada, where he followed his vocation for eight years. From 1852 to 1856 he was engaged in the lumber business in Allegany county, New York, and in the latter year came to Eau Claire, where he was in the employ of the Eau Claire Lumber Company for about four years. In the fall of 1857 his family joined him, and about this time with his brother-in-law. Robert Tolles, he purchased a foundry and machine shop, which they operated under the firm name of Graham, White & Co., until the plant was destroyed by fire in 1875. In the fall of the same year they rebuilt their factory, shops, etc., which have been in continuous operation since under the name of the Phoenix Manufacturing Company, and in which concern the Graham family still retain an interest. He was also for many years president of the Dells Lumber Company, and when the village of Eau Claire was organized he was made a trustee, and when it was made a city he was elected its first mayor. In 1862 he was appointed sheriff by the governor to fill the unexpired term of his predecessor, who had enlisted as a soldier in the civil war. In 1874-75 he represented his district as state senator, and in 1888-89 was postmaster of Eau Claire and was prominently identified with city affairs up to the time of his death in 1902, at the age of 82. He left a widow and two children, Fred H. and Julia, widow of George T. Thompson.

Frederick H. Graham came to Eau Claire in 1857, where he was reared to manhood. He was graduated from the graded schools of Eau Claire in 1873, and later spent one year at the State University at Madison. For twenty years he was treasurer of the Phoenix Manufacturing Company and for ten years secretary of the Wisconsin Refrigerator Company, and since 1906 has been president of the Atlas Manufacturing Company.

Mr. Graham has been twice married: first in 1882 he married Isabell, daughter of James H. and Elizabeth (May) Noble, of Athens, Pa., and they had two daughters, Catherine, wife of Percy L. Lyford, of Vancouver, B. C. and Elizabeth, wife of Louis T. Dwight, of Burlington, Ia. His present wife was Kate McLeod, daughter of John and Mary McLeod, of Eau Claire, and they have one daughter, Mary. Mr. Graham is president of the Philharmonic Society and secretary of the Eau Claire Country Club.