William James Graham, Jr.

Bill was the second son in his family and was named after his father, who died of emphysema two days before the boy’s second birthday. William Sr., age 41, owned a corner grocery store at 18th and Federal Streets in South Philadelphia. Since he was a Civil War veteran, his wife began receiving a small pension.

Margaret McAvoy Graham had given birth to eight children, although two died as infants. But it was just one year later that she died at age 34, on November 2, 1881. The six children were then raised by their Irish-born maternal grandmother, Euphemia. Her son, a successful brick manufacturer, had two boys about Bill’s age and was a good influence on his nephew. His own notable life story is found here: Thomas Bell McAvoy.

As with many in the working class of his generation, Bill’s formal education ended after the 8th grade. In the 1900 census, the 21-year-old was listed as a laborer, living with his four sisters and grandmother. Shortly after that he became a policeman and married Rebecca Stephen. The first daughter of what would be seven children with Rebecca arrived in 1903. The last was a son in 1916. Being a police officer was his lifelong career, interrupted only by the Great War.

Perhaps being swept up with the general “war fever” of 1917 prompted Bill to enlist in the Pennsylvania National Guard on July 20. But he wasn’t a mere teenager looking for adventure. At nearly 39 years of age, he was significantly more mature than the typical soldier, and knew it would be difficult to leave his wife and such a large family. In August the Guard was nationalized as part of the 28th Infantry Division.

They organized and trained at Camp Hancock, Georgia until April, 1918. Private Graham left for France with the 28th in May of 1918, arriving in early June. He served as  a bugler in the 103rd Military Police in the Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, and Meuse-Argonne offensives. He was discharged in September of 1919 with the rank of Sergeant.

[Bill also had a flair for writing, keeping a 900-page journal while he was on the ground in France. A century later, those notes were transcribed and edited by Bruce Jarvis (from whom this Notable life story was derived) and Stephen Badgley. They were published in book form as Over There With Private Graham in 2018.]

After the war, Bill resumed his career as a mounted patrolman with the Department of Public Safety, where he remained until his retirement in the late 1930s. He was in the mounted patrol at one time, as shown in this photo.

The long separation in France during the war must have taken its toll on his marriage to Rebecca. It ended in divorce in 1920. He remarried in 1922 and five additional children came from that union, four girls and a boy. His last child was born in 1933 when William was 54.

Bill died in Franklinville, New Jersey in 1940, 22 years after living through that gruesome overseas conflict. The death certificate indicates complications after a head injury. The family’s oral history has it that the injury was the result of being assaulted and robbed on his way home after winning a sizable amount of cash from gambling.