Thomas J. Graves

    Thomas J. Graves, Recorder of Warren County, was born August 31, 1835, in Ross County, Ohio, and is a son of Willis Ross, who was a native of the Old Dominion, and was twice married. To the first marriage was born one daughter, but both she and the mother are now dead. Jane Carothers was his second wife, and to this union were born eight children. In 1851, the family came to this county, but after a number of years removed to Benton County, MO., where the mother died in 1876. In 1877, the father returned to Warren County, but while on a visit to a daughter in Vermillion County, Illinois, in 1879, took sick and died.

    Thomas J. Graves lived with his parents until the age of thirty-five, engaged most of his time in agricultural pursuits. August 12, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, Eighty-sixth Indiana Volunteers; was elected Fifth Sergeant, and on his discharge, July 19, 1864, held the rank of First Sergeant. Mr. Graves participated in a number of severe engagements, among which were Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and, November 25, 1863 in the last named battle, was twice wounded. After the color-bearer had been shot down, another seized the flag, but he too soon fell a victim to rebel bullets. Sergeant Graves then bore the flag aloft, and although twice wounded, succeeded in planting it on the top of the ridge, the first of the entire Union Army. He was honorable discharged July 19, 1864, and immediately returned to Indiana, where he was engaged in farming until his removal to Missouri in 1869, where he still continued that vocation until he again came to Warren County, where he has since resided.

    November 21, 1877, Mr. Graves received a severe cut on the left foot, which necessitated amputation, March 18, 1878, and about this time he received a paralytic stroke, which so affected him as to render him comparatively helpless, and it was over a year before he could do a man's work. By the Republican party, he was elected to the office of County Recorder in 1879, with a majority of 1,883 votes, and he is yet serving in that capacity. Mr. Graves is a member of the G. A. R. and the K. of  H. He and wife are members of the M. E. Church and the parents of five children -Arthur L., Bertie Mc., Lewis W., Julia M. and Cecil E.

Source: Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton, Indiana. Historical and Biographical. F.A. Battey & Co., 1883.