Gaylord Graves

Gaylord Graves (May 22, 1804 – August 29, 1889) was an American farmer, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of the first session of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the northeast corner of Walworth County.

Biography Graves was born on May 22, 1804, in Richfield Springs, New York. He received a common school education and, at age 18, went to work as a farm hand. In 1824, he had gathered enough money to purchase a small farm in northern New York. After several unproductive years farming, he sought new opportunities in the west. He moved first to Oswego, New York, then traveled to Chicago, by way of Michigan. Finally, he went by foot into the Wisconsin Territory and established a claim in the town of Spring Prairie.

In 1855, Graves moved to Iowa and settled near Des Moines. In 1859, he settled in Emmet County, Iowa. He died on August 29, 1889, in Northwood, Iowa.

Personal life and family

Graves was married three times. He married his first wife, Nancy Tuckerman, on January 18, 1824. They had two sons and three daughters before her death due to typhoid fever in January 1845. Near the end of the year, Graves remarried with Keziah Freeman, but she died the next year of Tuberculosis. On March 15, 1848, he married his third and final wife, Mary Ann Pike ( Wheeler), the widow of Colonel Calvin Pike.