This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Willis, Hanks, Graham, Lawson, Stark, Stagg, Strother, Soileau, Rougeou, Deroussel, Slaughter, Story and Smith. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/WEB.2ACI/493 Message Board Post: Re: William Jackson Graham (1843-1925) and his wife Laura Dyer Graham (1849-1930). Both are buried at Butter Cemetery near Forest Hill, Louisiana. William Jackson Graham was the son of Robert Graham & Ruth Smith and a brother to my great-grandmother Julia Ann Graham Willis. Robert Graham, Ruth Smith Graham and Julia Ann Graham are all three buried in the Graham Cemetery in Forest Hill. My Uncle Howard Willis told me that William Graham's grave was the first he ever helped dig. He was only 10-years-old at the time. William Graham was his great-uncle. Julia Ann Graham Willis and three of her sisters married four Willis' brothers. Robert Graham's four daughters that married four of Rev. Daniel Hubbard Willis, Sr.'s sons were: Julia Ann Graham (1845-1936) married Daniel Hubbard Willis, Jr. (1839-1900), Demerius Graham (1849-1886) married Calvin Willis (1855-1911), Annie Graham (1855-1936) married Robert Willis (1858-1939) and Mary Ann "Maggie" Graham (1853-1940) married Dempsey Willis (1854-1919). Additional daughters of Robert and Ruth Graham were: Elizabeth "Lizzie" Graham who married Joel Merchant, Katherine Graham (b. circa 1842) who married D. Sermons, Emily Graham (1846-1933) who married William Butter (1850-1923), and Lucy "Ruth" Graham (b. 1851) who married James Moore (1849-1913). Robert and Ruth Graham also had two sons: William Graham (1843-1925) who married Laura Dyer (1849-1930) and Lorenzo Dow Graham (1848-1933) who married Victoria Pickren. I new Lorenzo Dow Graham before he died. He lived in Florida. He was named after the great Methodist preacher. Robert and Ruth Graham had a total of 10 children. Five of these marriages celebrated Golden wedding anniversaries. Robert Graham was born in Mississippi on August 20, 1818. He moved to Texas in about 1836. He then moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana, about 1841. Robert Graham married Ruth Smith (b. Dec. 5, 1813; d. Jun. 2, 1869) about 1843. Soon after marring Ruth Smith (a trapper's daughter) from Natchitoches, they moved to Forest Hill, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. He was a successful farmer and cattleman there. Ruth Smith Graham told her husband Robert Graham that she wished to be buried at the top of a hill on their land, near Forest Hill. She died of Typhoid fever and was buried atop that hill which is known today as the Graham Cemetery. Robert is buried next to her. William Jackson Graham's father, Robert Graham had two brothers: William Graham (who moved to Bell County, Texas) and Samuel Graham (who moved to Wisconsin). Robert Graham's father was yet another William Graham. This William Graham's father was Samuel Graham and Samuel's father was supposedly, yet another William Graham from Charlotte, North Carolina (circa 1765). Randy Willis http://www.randywillis.org randywillis@ev1.net