Lysander Lee Graves
Born, reared, educated and married in Middlefork township, Macon county,
in which he has expended all the energies of his life from his birth to the
present time, Lysander Lee Graves is wholly a product of that township and
a worthy representative of its people. He is one of the intelligent and energetic
farmers of the county, and exhibits their salient characteristics of industry
and thrift in his business as he shows their public spirit, progressiveness
and breadth of view in his citizenship.
Mr. Graves was born in Middlefork township, this county, on March 9,
1866, and is a son of William R. and Permelia (Reynolds) Graves. He is a
brother of Robert M. Graves of the same township in a sketch of whom, elsewhere
in this work, a brief history of the parents will be found. Lysander L. Graves
has shown himself to be worthy of his ancestry and a fine exemplar of the
sterling traits of characters and manhood for which they were distinguished.
Like other of his day and locality, Mr. Graves obtained his education
in the country schools near his father's home and worked on the parental
farm while getting it. He remained at home until 1890, assisting his father
in the work of the homestead and laying up what he could save of his earnings
as a part of his equipment for the battle of life when the time should come
for him to take it up for himself. This he did until 1890, when he bought
eighty acres of land and began farming on his own account. He has conducted
his operations with great enterprise and skill, farming intelligently and
progressively and managing his business with shrewdness and careful attention
to its every detail, and he has been very successful. He now owns 480 acres
and has most of it under cultivation and yielding abundant returns for the
labor and care he bestows upon it.
Mr. Graves was married on February 27, 1890, to Miss Tena Mayers, a native
of this county and a daughter of A.T.H. and Minerva (Rowland) Mayers, who
are well known and highly esteemed throughout the county. Six children have
been born of the union, but only four are living. They are two sons, William
A., and two daughters, Gertrude, Beulah, and Homer Lee, all of whom are still
abiding with their parents. The head of the house is a zealous, loyal and
active Democrat in politics, at all times eager for the success of his party
and doing all he can to bring victory to its banners. He has also been active
and serviceable to the community in ways not directly political, having served
with credit to himself and benefit to the township as school director, and
taken a cordial and effective interest in every commendable enterprise for
the advancement and improvement of the country all around his and the promotion
of all its productive activities. He is prominent in the public, business
and social life of the township, and richly deserves all the encomiums that
have been passed upon him as a farmer and a citizen, and they are many, for
he is universally esteemed.
|
