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Hon. Edmund D. Graff
HON. EDMUND D. GRAFF, late of Worthington, was a man of large business
interests, political prominence and individual character. He was born at
Worthington in 1846, son of Peter and Susan (Lobingier) Graff, and always
maintained his home in Armstrong county. John Graff, his grandfather, was born
in 1763, in Germany, and grown to manhood when he emigrated to the United
States. For a time he lived in Lancaster county, Pa., and then moved to
Westmoreland county, where the remainder of his life was passed. He owned a
farm and also a distillery and was a man of some consequence in his
community., His wife, Barbara Bouns, who was born in Crawford county, Pa., was
captured by a wandering band of Indians and carried into the forest by them,
when eight years old, and probably would never have succeeded in escaping had
it not been because of the gratitude of another Indian, who had been
previously befriended by her people. The story is one of great interest. She
lived to old age amid peaceful surroundings.Peter Graff, son of John and father of Edmund D., was born May 27, 1808,
and died April 9, 1890. His earliest recollections were of soldiers marching
home from the war of 1812 and of their tales of prowess. He had but limited
educational advantages and when sixteen years old became a clerk in his
brother Henry’s store at Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland Co., Pa. Later he
entered into partnership with E. G. Dutihl & Co., commission merchants of
Philadelphia, and also became a partner in the firm of J. Painter & Co.,
Pittsburgh, Pa., in the wholesale grocery trade, and in addition he was
extensively interested in the iron trade in Armstrong, Venango and Clarion
counties. In 1844 he moved his place of residence to Buffalo Mills, Armstrong
county, where he continued to live until his death. In 1840 he became a member
of the Lutheran Church, in whose work he was active for half a century, and
for fifty years served as superintendent of the Sunday school. He married
Susan Lobingier, and they had the following children: Joseph; Susan L., who
married Andrew C. Baily; Anna, who married W. H. Kirkpatrick; Elizabeth, who
died March 24, 1842; Charles H.; Sarah Jane, who married C. B. Linton; J.
Frank; Edmund D.; Philip M., and Peter.Edmund D. Graff secured an excellent district school education which
prepared him to enter the Western University at Pittsburgh, where he was
graduated with his degree of B. Ph. in 1868. For some time afterward he was
occupied in the office of Graff, McDivitt & Co., manufacturers, at
Pittsburgh, and later succeeded to his father’s interests in the woolen mills
at Worthington. In 1880 he became interested at Duluth, Minn., in lumber
manufacturing, as senior member of the firm of Graff, Little & Co., and
ever afterward continued to be the actual as well as the nominal head of that
large concern. In 1889 the business was incorporated as the Scott-Graff Lumber
Company, of which he was president and one of the main stockholders. This
company’s plant is on the oldest sawmill site at Duluth, the mill having been
rebuilt and remodeled at different times in order to accommodate the
increasing demands of the business, which have been phenomenal and in accord
with the growth of the city of Duluth. Mr. Graff had a multiplicity of
business interests, and he was either officially or financially, and generally
in both ways, connected with various large industrial enterprises. He was
interested in the Howe Lumber Company, of Tower, Minn., which he helped to
organize, and of which he was president until the burning of the company’s
mill caused a cessation of activity there for a time. In 1900 the Tower Lumber
Company was incorporated and he became the largest stockholder and a member of
the board of directors. He was also a stockholder in the First National Bank
of Duluth. and a director of the First State Bank of Tower, Minn. At
Worthington, Pa., he was a director and stockholder in several banks, the
senior partner of the firm operating the Buffalo Woolen Mills.In 1901 Mr. Graff was married to Melvina Wolfe, of Adrian, Pa., a daughter
of Jacob Wolfe, and they resided at Worthington, Pa. He was a member of the
Lutheran Church and served several years as a member of its board of trustees.
In memory of the late Dr. C. H. Graff, a brother of Edmund D. Graff, a man of
brilliant parts, the father, Peter Graff, endowed a professorship in
Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa. From 1900 Edmund D. Graff served on its
board of trustees and at the time of his death was president of this body. As
a public man Mr. Graff was well known to his fellow citizens in Pennsylvania.
Politically a Democrat, he was one of the three members of his family who have
served in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and was a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention, in 1884, that nominated Hon. Grover Cleveland
for the presidency. He died June 3, 1912.Source: Pages 614-615, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed October 2001 by Laurel Black Morris for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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