My Genealogy Hound

Calvin C. Graves, dealer in groceries, provisions, etc., Kingsland, Ark. Among the many enterprises necessary to complete the commercial resources of a town or city, none is of more importance than that of the grocer, as being one of the main factors in the furnishing of our food supplies. Prominent in this trade is the establishment of Mr. Calvin C. Graves, which was established in February, 1885, and now has a stock valued at $600, and the annual sales of about $6,000. Mr. Graves was born in Lamar County, Tex., in 1844, and is the son of Stephen and Margaret (Orm) Graves, natives of Virginia. The father was born in 1799, and after his marriage resided in seventeen different States until 1848, when he came to what is now Cleveland County, Ark. There he died in 1862, and his wife in 1870. He was of Irish descent, and although he followed farming the latter part of his life, he was a tanner by trade, and followed this for many years. Calvin C. Graves is the youngest of seven children, two sons and one daughter now living: Benjamin F. (a farmer of Cleveland County), Mrs. Susan Morgan (also of Cleveland County), and Calvin C. The latter attained his growth on the farm, and received a limited education in the common schools, the entire time of attendance not being over ten or twelve months. In October, 1863, he joined Company D, Second Arkansas Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, operating in Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana and Texas. He was in Price’s raid through Missouri, and surrendered in Texas in May, 1865. Returning home he engaged in farming, and in December, 1867, was united in marriage to Miss Mary Merrill, a native of Georgia, and the daughter of Patrick and Rebecca Merrill, natives also of Georgia. From there her parents moved to Louisiana, thence to Texas, and about 1860 to what is now Cleveland County, where Mrs. Merrill now lives. Mr. Merrill died in the Confederate army. Mr. Graves followed farming until 1885, and has 146 acres seven miles from Kingsland, and also has four houses and lots in that city. He is a Democrat in politics, and his first presidential vote was for H. Seymour in 1868. Mrs. Graves is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.