DR. WILLIAM F. GRAHAM, ATLANTIC.

The son of an eminent medical practitioner of more than fifty years active work in the profession, and himself a member who has devoted twenty-six years to the paternal calling (nearly all of the period in Atlantic). Dr. William F. Graham may be fairly said to have been born in the purple, in his chosen line of public duty, and nobly has he sustained the rank of his inheritance. He is one of the doctors of longest continued practice in the county, and has long occupied an exalted place in public esteem and professional regard. At Morning Sun, Louisa county, this State, his life began on January 3, 1854, his parents having located there in 1849. He is a son of Dr. J. H. and Mary (Brown) Graham, the former born in Todd county, Kentucky, in 1821, and the latter in Preble county, Ohio, in 1822.

The father completed his scholastic training at Miami University, Ohio, returning to that State after the family had moved to Illinois and completing his education. The family changed their residence to Henderson county in western Illinois about 1831, where the parents resided upon their farm and died. The elder Dr. Graham began the study of medicine soon after he left Miami University, and received his professional degree from Cincinnati Medical College in 1846. Until 1849 he practiced at Oxford, then came to Iowa and took up his residence in Louisa county, where he remained engaged in active practive until 1897, when he died. His widow is still living. Dr. J. H. Graham was a prominent and influential man. He was especially active in attendance upon the meetings, and a leader in the work of the county and State medical societies, of the former of which he was one of the founders.

Dr. WIlliam F. Graham, after reaching the age of twenty and obtaining his education in the public schools in his native county, entered Monmouth College, Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1877. He at once began the study of medicine under the direction of his father, reading in the office until 1878, when he entered the Medical College at Keokuk, taking one course of lectures there. The next fall he became a student at Rush Medical College, Chicago, where he completed his course and received his degree in 1880. He commenced practice in association with his father, but in July, 1880, located at Atlantic, and here he has been in active professional work ever since. The early years of his practice here laid him under heavy tribute in endurance of exposure and hardship, and also in the arduous labor of riding over two or three counties; for the population was scattered and physicians were few in number. But he gloried in his work, and gave it his close and conscientious attention, winning golden opinions from all classes of the people, and slowly acquiring a competence in the way of worldly possessions. He was one of the founders of the hospital, and has from the start been one of its most energetic and helpful supporters, serving for many years efficiently as the treasurer of its board of directors. He has given its finances skillful and intelligent attention, combining in his management a wise conservatism with a broad-minded progressiveness, and by this means has aided greatly in keeping it on a sound fiscal basis, while building up its reputation and expanding its usefulness.

In February, 1881, Dr. Graham was united in marriage with Dora A. Buck, of Monmouth, Ill., who died in 1884. In June, 1887, he solemnized his second marriage, being joined in it with Jane A. Wilson, of Washington, Iowa. They have had four children--Lessie, who died in 1900; Wilson H., Xenophon A. and Mary M. The Doctor actively supports the Republican party, and has served as coroner for eight years and for several years on the school board. He is a member of 'Botna Valley Medical Association, of which he was one of the founders and the first secretary, and also of the Iowa State Medical Society. He and his wife are earnest and zealous members of the Presbyterian Church, and he is one of the trustees of the congregation to which he belongs.

From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 345-346.