William James Graham, Jr.

William was the second son in his family and was named after his father. Unfortunately, William Sr. died two years later from a lingering illness at age 41. He was a Civil War veteran attached to the 23rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, so his wife began receiving a small pension.

The baby boy was one of eight children born to Margaret McAvoy Graham, although two died as infants. She was just 34 when she died in 1882. The six children were then raised by their Irish-born maternal grandmother, Euphemia McAvoy.

As with many in the working class of his generation, William’s formal education ended after the 8th grade. In the 1900 census, the 21-year-old William 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 William to enlist in the Pennsylvania National Guard on July 30. Whatever his motivation, it must have been extremely compelling to part with his home, large family, and job. At nearly 39 years of age upon enlistment, he was significantly more mature than the typical soldier, whose average age was in the mid-20s. 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.

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

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

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.

He died in Franklinville, New Jersey in 1940, 22 years after living through his great overseas adventure. The death certificate indicates complications after a head injury. Family 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.