William H. Graven
William H. Graven was born in Prairie Township, Holmes Co., Ohio, July 12, 1833, a son of John and Margaret (Shreve) Graven. John Graven, grandfather of William H., and by occupation a carriage trimmer, was born in 1759, and was a resident of Philadelphia until 1815, in which year he came to what is now Holmes (then Coshocton) County, and bought 1,120 acres of land, to which the following year he moved his family, the children being five in number. The farm was then all woodland which they set to work to clear, and the nearest neighbor was five miles distant. John Graven, Sr., was married to a daughter of Nicholas Randels, named Rebecca, born in 1762, and died March 17, 1848. The old couple passed bravely through the Revolution and the War of 1812. John Graves, father of our subject, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., October 20, 1800, and came with his father to what is now Holmes County, in 1816, since when the Gravens have been one of the prominent and most highly respected families of the county. John Graven, Jr., died in the spring of 1879, wealthy, owning at time of his death 400 acres of land and considerable personal property. His wife, Margaret (Shreve) died March 2, 1880, aged sixty-five years, six months and twenty-five days. They had a family of fifteen children, all of whom became well-known citizens of the county.
William H. Graven, whose name heads this sketch, was reared on the old homestead, and like his antecedents has been a successful farmer, now owning 87 acres of valuable land, the same being one medium in Ripley Township. He was married January 20, 1858, to Cordelia, daughter of Samuel Jones, and born in 1834 on the farm where she and her husband now reside. To this union have been born three children: Ohio K., James P. and John A., all of whom reside in Ripley Township. Mr. Graven has been prominently identified with all the public affairs of the county, and has held various official positions--as treasurer of his township, school director and member of the county board of supervisors. He and his sons affiliate with the Democratic party.
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio, J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1889