to the U, S. senate to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Robert Strange, serving from 10 Dec, 1840, to 3 March, 1843. In 1844 he was elected governor by the Whigs on a larger vote than was ever before polled. He was re-elected in 1846 by an increased majority, but de- clined a third term, and retired to pri- vate life. He was offered the Spanish mission by President Taylor in 1849, but declined it, and in 1850 became secre- tary of the navy in Fillmore's cabinet, but resigned in 1852 ill consequence of having been nomi- nated by the Whigs for vice-president on the ticket with Gen.
Scott. During his
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term of office as secretary he projected and carried out the important expedition to Japan under Com. Perry. Gov. Gra- ham served as senator in the 3d Confederate con- gress from 22 Feb., 1864, until the end of the war. He was also a delegate to the Union convention at Philadelphia in 1866, which was called to sustain the policy of Andrew Johnson. At the time of his death he was acting as one of a commission that had been appointed to settle the boundary dispute between the states of Maryland and Virginia.
GRAHAM, George Rex, editor, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 18 Jan., 1813 ; d. in Orange, N. J., 13 July, 1894. He was intended for the bar, but circumstances compelled him to relinquish the law, and he lived with an uncle in Montgomery county. Pa., where he employed every spare moment in reading. In 1832 he returned to Philadelphia and learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, meanwhile devoting
six hours daily, after his work was completed, to
literary pursuits. A few yeai's later he was enabled
to enter a law-office, and in 1839 was admitted to
the bar. He had already contributed a series of
papers to the Philadelphia press, which met with
such favor that he was invited to become the editor
of the " Saturday Evening Post," and afterward
was one of its proprietors. His relations with
this journal continued until 1846. He pui'chased
in 1839 a monthly called " Atkinson's Casket,"
which he published until 1841, when, uniting with
it the " Gentleman's Magazine," he began the pub-
lication of " Graham's Magazine." This periodical
attained a large circulation under his management,
and its contributors included William C. Bryant,
J. Fenimore Cooper, Henry W. Longfellow, Edgar
A. Poe, and Bayard Taylor. For many years it was
the best periodical of its kind published in the
United States. In 1846 he purchased the " North
American," and in 1847 the " United States Ga-
zette," which he incorporated with the " North
American." Later he engaged in stock operations,
losing thereby much of his money, and was com-
pelled to part with the " North American " and the
" Magazine." But subsequently he regained con-
trol of the " Magazine," and continued its publica-
tion until about 1851. He then lived by his pen.
but failing health led to his being supported
by George W. Childs. For a long period he was
an inmate of the New York ophthalmic hospital,
awaiting an operation for cataract on both eyes.
His closing years were spent in New Jersey.
GRAHAM, Henry Hale, jurist, b. in London,
England, 1 July, 173*1; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 24
Jan., 1790. He came to this country with his father,
William Graham, in 1733, and settled in Chester
county. Pa. He became a lawyer, and was a man
of large influence in the province. He held the
office of register, recorder, prothonotary, and clerk
of the several courts of Chester county, and from
1761 till 1789 was one of the judges of the courts
of the county. During the latter year Delaware
county was created, and he was commissioned
president judge of its court of common pleas. In
1790 he was chosen a delegate to the constitutional
convention of the state, and died during the sit-
ting of the convention, which body, out of respect
to his memory, adjourned, and sent three of their
members to Chester to attend his funeral.
GRAHAM, Isabella, philanthropist, b. in Lan-
arkshire, Scotland, 29 July, 1742: d. in New York
city, 27 July, 1814. She was the daughter of John
Marshall, who educated her carefully. In 1765 she
married Dr. John Graham, a physician of Paisley,
and accompanied him with his regiment to Canada,
where she spent four years. Her husband was then
ordered to the island of Antigua, where he died iu
1774. Mrs. Graham returned to Scotland, but in
1789 came to New York city, and established a
school for young ladies, in which for many years
she was eminently successful. Before leaving Scot-
land she had founded the Penny society, now
known as the Society for the relief of the destitute
sick, and she continued to labor in the same field
in New York. Among the more important of the
institutions established by her are the Widows and
Orphans' asylum societies, the Society for the pro-
motion of industry, and the first Sunday-school for
ignorant adults. She also aided in organizing the
first missionary society, and the first monthly mis-
sionary prayer-meeting in the city of her residence.
She was the first president of the Magdalen society,
systematically visited the inmates of the hospital
and the sick female convicts in the state-prison,
and distributed Bibles and tracts long before there
was a Bible or tract society in New York. — Her
daughter, Joanna, who survived her, was the
mother of George W. Bethune {q. v^. Of the
"Life and Letters" of Mrs. Graham (1816; last
edition, London, 1838) more than 50,000 copies
have been sold in this country, and many editions
issued in England and Scotland. See " Letters and
Correspondence." selected by her daughter. Mrs.
Bethune (New York, 1838); and Mason's "Memoir
of Isabella Graham," published by the American
tract society.
GRAHAM, James Lorimer, consul, b. in New York city in January, 1835 ; d. in Florence, Italy, 30 April, 1876. He was partly educated at Amiens, France, where, on account of his precocious literary talent, he was selected to deliver a poetical address of welcome to Lamartine when the latter visited the school in 1848. Mr. Graham lived for a time in Rio Janeiro, and, after returning to New York, was a passenger in the steamer "San Francisco," which foundered in a gale off Cape Hatteras. His experience in this wreck injured his health and hastened his death. In 1856 he married and settled in New York, where he became widely known through his taste for art and literature and his brilliant conversational talents. As a member of the Century club, the Geographical society, and kindred institutions, he made the acquaintance of many artists and authors. He spent the years 1862-3 in Europe, and after remaining in New York until 1866 again went abroad. Meantime he had been busily engaged in acquiring what-