Edmund A. Graham

     Edmund A. Graham was born in New York City in October 1802. His family was of Scotch and Huguenot descent. Around age six his family moved to Newburg, NY where he attended the village academy until he was 12. When he was 12 Edmund A. Graham mingled farm work with going to school for a couple of years.

    Edmund A. Graham's father was a contemporary of DeWitt Clinton at Columbia College and he studied law under Samuel Jones in New York City but his health failed and he became a commercial agent in Havana and elsewhere in the West Indies for New York merchants.

    Family friend Aaron Burr invited Edmund A. Graham to study law in his office but his mother objected to that. At age 15 he moved to Ogdensburg, NY. to live with his uncle Louis Hasbrouck who was law partners with Judge Fine and also was postmaster. Edmund A. Graham worked in the post office and during his free time he read law. He was admitted to the bar. A fellow student in his uncle's law office was future U.S. Senator Preston King. In 1834, local politicians urged Graham to accept a nomination for the state assembly but he turned them down.

    Edmund A. Graham had no trouble building a profitable law practice in Ogdensburg. He was attorney of the bank of Ogdensburg (which he was also a director of), and he was hired by David B. Ogden and his family to manage and sell large tracts of land in the town of Oswegatchie. Edmund A. Graham was clerk of the village of Ogdensburg four time (1826, 1831, 1833, and 1834).

    In 1830, Edmund A. Graham was one of the projectors and a director of the company which ran the first line of American streamers (the first steamer was built from his designs) on the St. Lawrence River. The line was maintained for a long time by capitalists from Utica including Alfred Munson, Samuel Farwell, John Butterfield, and Harvey Barnard.

    In 1835, Edmund A. Graham married Cornelia Cooper (daughter of early Utica Settler Judge Apollos Cooper). In 1838, Judge Cooper became dangerously ill and he requested that the Grahams move to Utica to manage his large estate. Mr. Graham laid out Judge Cooper's farm into streets and lots which extended from the Mohawk to Cornelia Street (named after Cornelia Cooper Graham) and from Genesee Street quite the distance to the west.

    In 1845, Edmund A. Graham and other gentleman investigated the feasibility of introducing manufactures by steam into the city. A couple of things stood in their way: the lack of water power and statues that forbade corporations with a larger capital than $100,000 (the use of steam required more investments). The population of Utica had dropped from about 12,000 to 10,000. The group realized that to help Utica grow that they would need to bring more manufactures to Utica. A group of men including Mr. Graham were send to New England to investigate the factories there. The group reported found both woolen and cotton factories within the city they went to. One member of the group suggested a woolen mill be constructed in Utica and they were but they were not successful. The others recommended that they invest in cotton so the Utica steam cotton mills were built and were a success. To get rid of some of the roadblocks for raising capital including the statues, Mr. Graham drafted the general manufacturing law of 1848 it took two sessions of the state legislature to pass. Edmund A. Graham was chosen a director and secretary of the new mills (in later years he became president of the corporation.

    Edmund A. Graham was one of the most influential promoters of the Black River and Utica railroad. He was attorney for the original company. He was also a director of the old company and also of the corporation which brought it. Mr. Graham also served as Vice President of the corporation.

    Edmund A. Graham hold a number of position including director of the Oneida Bank; 1853-1872 was one of the managers of the state lunatic asylum; and director and vice president of the Utica gas light company.

    The Grahams lived at 241 Genesee Street. Edmund A. Graham passed away on January 27, 1889. The Grahams are buried in plot 22A lot 1001 of Forest Hill Cemetery. Their children Louise Graham Shantz and Edmund Banks Graham are also buried there.