The following is an extended excerpt from my PDF chronicle of the Graham family which includes many excepts from the memoirs of Amanda Melton Brumager which recount stories about her mother, Mary Ann McRae Graham. The chronicle also covers her husband Robert M. Graham and their daughter Kate Graham Boone.
Robert Marshall Graham was the youngest son of John Graham, born on Jan.19, 1820 in Stewart County, Tennessee. He came of age in a time of rapid growth and transformation. Tennessee had joined the Union just two decades earlier, and the lands around the Tennessee River and Big Sandy Creek were still being cleared for farms, roads, and towns.
Robert was raised in an environment of deep religious conviction, civic responsibility, and clan-based identity, his family being Scottish Presbyterians by tradition. By the time Robert reached adulthood, the old frontier was becoming a more ordered and governed region, and Robert took on a prominent role within it. Robert M. Graham was a lawyer, a notable achievement in rural 19th-century Tennessee, where formal education was rare and the law was often learned through apprenticeship or self-study. In this case, we have early family testimony that Robert’s second wife, Mary Ann, was fully literate and taught Robert to read and write. Mary Ann’s first husband and childhood friend, Joseph Melton, had been a well-educated school teacher. As a rural lawyer, Robert would have often served as a public arbitrator and a draftsman of legal documents, deeds and wills.
Robert was married four times. His first marriage was to Mary Alsup in 1838 and produced two children: Susannah (b.1840) and John Burwell Graham (b.1843). After Mary’s death, Robert was married on Oct.14, 1846 to Mary Ann McRae, the widow of Joseph Melton, with whom she previously had three children, Amanda Jane (1841-1940), Wesley (1842-1917) and Matthew (1844-1917). After only four years of marriage, Joseph died from measles in 1844. Census records show that Matthew went to live with his uncle John Melton when his mother remarried Robert Graham.
Mary Ann was the oldest daughter of Scottish parents, Alexander McRae (1790-1877) and Jane McLeod (1799-1829). Alexander had grown up in Anson County, North Carolina before coming to Humphreys County, Tennessee, where he married Jane around 1822. Jane’s parents are thought to have lived in Anson and Richmond counties in North Carolina and came to Tennessee around the time of Jane’s birth. Together Alexander and Jane had two daughters, Mary Ann (1823-1873) and Elizabeth “Betsy” (1824-1888), before Jane’s death in 1829, and Alexander’s subsequent remarriage to Lavina Rumley.
Genealogical records often tell us little about the women of the family during the 1800s. Fortunately, Mary Ann’s oldest daughter, Amanda “Mandy” Melton (who married William Brumager), left extensive accounts of her childhood and her beloved mother, Mary Ann, which give us a unique window into the early life of this family. These Memoirs were published by Amanda’s daughter, Mrs. Lillian Brumager Stott, in 1982 in the Camden Gazette newspaper. Genealogist Jonathan Smith interviewed Lillian as well and found that she had two family Bibles and a cloth sampler woven by her grandmother, Mary Ann. Amanda’s memoirs relate that after her father’s premature death from measles in 1844, her mother and her three orphaned children moved back in with Mary Ann’s father, Alexander McRae, who Amanda affectionately called “Grand Pap.”
Amanda recalls Grand Pap building for them “a little house right near his for us to live in. And it does seem to me that those were the happiest, most carefree days of my life. A ‘working’ been called to build this cabin for mother. Grand Pap had sent over the neighborhood the evening before about sundown, inviting the neighbors to the working. This always meant a frolic after the day's work was done, besides a mid day meal for all at which the table was loaded with food prepared by the women of the neighborhood in the kitchen of the home where the Working was going on. The men arrived early and the speed and efficiency with which the house went up was a marvel to us children.”
Soon afterwards, recently widowed Robert Graham began to court Mary Ann, which led to their marriage in Benton County on Oct.14, 1846. Amanda gives a vivid description of her mother on her wedding day, which took place in the presence of their extended families and their combined four children, in a large log cabin. “Mother was wearing her wedding dress again, the fine white jaconet that I had always touched with loving reverence. I have never seen a woman so beautiful as mother. And this day when she was dressed for her wedding to Mr. Graham I shall always remember her exquisite loveliness, her brown hair coiled high on her head, her clear blue eyes, her fair complexion, her tall gracefulness; and her tremulous kiss as she hugged us children tightly.”
Amanda tells how, when the children were older, Robert Graham put them all to work on the farm and how the girls were miserable working in the fields, but weren’t spared. She says: “My step-father was a stern man, with a temper feared by us children. We marveled at mother’s patience,” for she was fearless with her husband and able to calm him whenever he was agitated.
Amanda describes Mary Ann as a prolific weaver, able to spin multiple yards of cloth which her sisters cut apart into shapes for clothing. Then in a huge black kettle owned by a relative, Mary Ann would dye all the cloth a rich brown color and from this clothes would be sewn for the family. Amanda remembers: “I liked to watch the shuttle as it flashed across, back and forth, driven by the strength of mother 's skillful hands. Many a time have I stood at her side, watching fascinated by the rhythm of mother's weaving. Grand Pap had built the loom house when he built the little house for us to live in. For weeks mother had spent every minute of her spare time in the loom house weaving, while we three children romped and played with Grand Pap McRae's boys and girls.”
At age nine, Mary Ann had woven a large “sampler” the size of a small quilt, with family names, dates and a poem inscribed on its face. Amanda recalls a clear, sunny day in May, during which her mother’s “precious cedar chest, sturdy and prim on its four carved round legs, stood open. As mother removed the last garment from its depths for the twice a year airing and sunning, a long quivering sigh of broken enchantment escaped us children. We had hovered about in rapt attention, lovingly patting the pretty things, and wishing hard that we knew more about the days of mother’s girlhood. Wesley and Matthew vowed that mother's gay plaid wool dress was the prettiest, while I was torn between deciding for the white jaconet wedding dress or the black silk. The chest itself was fascinating. Nobody else had one. That set Mother apart. And certainly nobody else has such beautiful clothes, but mother did not wear them anymore. In retrospect, I wonder why. Was it her youthful widowhood, her early remarriage to a man with two children, and the hardship of raising a large family? We always felt that mother’s memories took her far from us when she was delving into her cedar chest; sometimes the tenderest smiles played over her face, often tears clouded her blue eyes. Mother was always quiet and gentle, she never talked much, but when she did tell us stories, we hung on her words. … This day she told us of her school days in Holly Springs, Mississippi, of how good to her were her Uncle John McRae's family, in whose home she stayed. [She also told us] of our kin, the McLeods and McRaes, and the high principles which was our heritage from those Scotch families not so many generations removed from Scotland 's rocky crags.”
“The sampler that she had made when she was only nine years old was the most amazing one. Just think of that rich coloring of greens, browns, and golds, embroidered on the sheer but strong cream colored net, the beauty of her exquisite stitches, the ABC 's, the numerals, the rhymes, the names--these, with the promise that some day it should be my very own, always brought the warmest glow of pride to my heart. When I was an old woman, past eighty, it showed up in the upheaval following my half-sister Kate 's death (1920). It was faded, circled from leaky flower vases, but still my beloved sampler, thrilling me with its old time magic and charm. I remember that mother showed us that day our names written in the family Bible by our Father who, she explained was considered the best scribe in the neighborhood, being the teacher for the community.”
The text of the sampler read:
Jane McLeod born Monday 9 of Dec. 1799
John McLeod born 7 Dec 1807
Mary A. McRae born Tuesday 25 Feb. 1823
John McLeod died in Philadelphia 3 Feb. 1836
Jesus permit thy precious name to stand
As the first efforts of an infant 's hand
And while her fingers over the canvas move,
Engage her tender heart to seek thy love
With thy dear children let her share a part
And write thy name thyself upon her heart
Amanda speculates that the father of her grandmother, Jane McLeod, might have been Alexander McLeod, who came to Humphreys Co. TN by 1809,followed by his brother Roderick McLeod about a decade later. Both McLeod brothers show a daughter Jane’s age in the 1820 Humphreys County census, indicating that either of them could be Jane’s father. Amanda notes that Alexander McLeod “entered 160 acres near Big Sandy, and had it surveyed in January1821. This would have been about the time Jane McLeod and Alexander McRae were married” in Tennessee. Amanda states that Jane had a younger brother named John, whose birth and death dates are woven into the sampler. (It is not clear how John came to die in Philadelphia at age 28, but probably he grew up in Tennessee, and later traveled to Philadelphia, perhaps for work opportunities, and died there.) The sampler also documents Jane McLeod’s birth on Dec. 9, 1799, but whether she was born in North Carolina or just after her parents moved to Tennessee is unknown.
Together Robert and Mary Ann Graham had five children (plus two more who died in infancy): Mary Elizabeth "Lizzy" (1848-1935), Daniel Jackson (1850-1935), Nancy Catherine “Kate” Graham (1853-1920), Thomas E. Newton Graham (1856-1932; he was also a lawyer) and Martha Ann "Mattie" (1839-1885). After Mary Ann died on Oct.26, 1873, Robert married Mary Ann’s 49 year old sister, the widow of William Greer, Elizabeth “Betsy” McRae (1824-1884). After Betsy’s death, Robert married Rebecca Chandler in 1884. These two later marriages produced no further children.
In the early 1850s, Robert M. Graham was actively expanding his land holdings. A deed dated August 14, 1852, shows him purchasing two tracts totaling 207 acres in Montgomery County. A few days later he resold part of the land at a profit—a tract lying along the Cumberland River. During the same era, there was another Robert Graham in the Nashville area who was a slave trader, but our Robert Marshall Graham never owned slaves, nor did his father-in-law, Alexander McRae. In fact Amanda quotes Grand Pap as scolding one of his relatives, Ned Lindsey, at the start of the Civil War, "I told you long ago you 'd better put your money into good clean land instead of slaves."
Of the nine children of Robert and Mary Ann’s combined families, only one son is known to have fought in the Civil War, most of the sons being too young to participate. Wesley Melton, Mary Ann’s oldest son, joined the Thirty-second Infantry in 1862 as a private in the Confederate Army at the age of 19 and was assigned to the Second Mounted Rifles unit. He survived the war and lived on until 1917.
After the war, Robert Graham served his community as a juror in the Benton County Circuit Court in 1866, a role requiring good standing and local respect. In 1871, Robert M. Graham was elected and sworn in as a Justice of the Peace for Benton County. This role would have included handling local civil matters, issuing warrants, officiating marriages, overseeing guardianships, and managing minor legal claims. In 1873, following the death of his first wife, Mary Ann, Robert married her younger sister Betsy McRae. The next year, on August 29, 1874, Robert and Betsy sold a parcel of land at Sandy Station to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad for $1. While the nominal price suggests the land was donated or minimally compensated, the deed reflects cooperation with the expanding infrastructure.
Upon his death in Big Sandy on December 22, 1895, the Camden Chronicle published a detailed and affectionate obituary: “Brother Graham professed religion at the age of 14 and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in which church he served nearly all his life as trustee, and a number of years as steward. He was one of the pioneer class-leaders of Methodism in this country, and was a licensed exhorter for about ten years. He discharged all his Christian duties in the fear of God and for the good of humanity. Of his own free will and accord he made application for the lights, rights, and benefits of Ancient Free Masonry, and was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason [Big Sandy Lodge, No.290]. He lived as a Mason as he had a Christian: all his actions, words, and general deportment were seemingly prompted by the mainspring of principle acting from within. ...."
A class leader was a layperson who met weekly with a small group of members to lead prayers, encourage moral discipline, and offer personal spiritual guidance. Robert’s degree of Master Mason confirms his initiation into the third degree of Freemasonry, the highest degree in “Blue Lodge” Masonry. As a Master Mason, Robert would have attended rituals, participated in funerals, helped organize relief for widows and orphans, and maintained a strong code of personal conduct. In towns like Big Sandy, the church and the lodge often worked side by side, uniting John Wesley’s theology with Masonic ideals of enlightenment and brotherhood. Freemasonry was non-sectarian but required belief in a Supreme Being ("The Great Architect of the Universe") which seems to have aligned comfortably with Robert’s Methodist faith.
Nancy Catherine “Kate” Graham was the third child of Robert and Mary Ann Graham. Born on May 13, 1853 in Big Sandy, Benton County, Tennessee, Kate grew up in family of four siblings and five half-siblings during the time period just prior to the Civil War. She was between 8 and 12 years old during the Civil War, a profoundly formative time for a child. Her family circumstances, the war's impact on rural Tennessee, and the postwar Reconstruction environment would have shaped her life. Benton County, like much of West Tennessee, was rural, agricultural, and divided in loyalty. While officially Confederate-leaning, Union sentiment and partisan divisions existed, with military movements, conscriptions, and guerrilla activity often disrupting the countryside. Tennessee was the first Southern state readmitted to the Union (1866), but still dealt with political violence, distrust, and changing social norms. Growing up as a white Southern woman, Kate may have been expected to embody “Southern virtue,” family responsibility, and church-centered life, especially after a war that upended traditional hierarchies.
At age 20 she married John “Jack” Daniel Boone in Benton County in December 1873. Her marriage bond is dated Dec.21, 1873 with her older half-brother John Burwell Graham acting as surety. This was two months after the death of Kate’s mother, Mary Ann, on Oct.26, 1873 and six months after the death of her grandfather, Alexander McRae. Jack and Kate Boone settled in nearby Erin, Tennessee, where Jack worked for the railroad. Jack was the son of Bird Boone and Elizabeth “Betty” Lee. Not long after their marriage, Jack turned from railroad work to milling and built a steam-powered rolling mill in Erin, earning the sobriquet “Flour Mill Jack.” Within a few years he had added to his business investments a grist mill in nearby Cumberland City and acquired 225 acres of farm land and bluegrass pasture adjoining the town of Erin, gradually becoming a prominent and affluent businessman in the area.
Jack and Kate had seven children: Robert Boone (1874-1931), Fanny Blake (1876-1968), Sidney Boone (1879-1964), Mary Elizabeth (Lizzy) Metcalf (1881-1970), John Marvin Boone (1884-1961), Hetty Lorraine Pullen (1887-1984) and Morris Blake Boone (1892-1897). Two of their sons, Robert and Sidney Boone served as mayors of Erin, TN in the early 1900's. Marvin Boone (the author’s grandfather) moved with his family to Nashville around 1921 while most of his siblings stayed in Erin. The family was Cumberland Presbyterian, the denomination of Jack’s parents and many of the Grahams. As we know from Amanda’s memoirs, Kate was the inheritor of her mother’s sampler, which was displayed in the family home. With Jack’s businesses thriving, the family moved into an elegant two-story house on Maple Street in Erin which was purchased in 1895. Built in the early 1800s, the house was a spacious wooden dwelling with ornate cornices, a gray picket fence, wood boardwalk, an orchard and grazing pasture, quite a contrast to the crowded log cabins the Grahams lived in the 1840s and 1850s.
Group family photos from the 1890s and early 1900s show a large extended family, including Jack’s widowed mother Betty Lee “Ma” Boone, who lived with Jack and Kate’s family for at least a decade until her passing in 1909. Another group photo from the 1890s shows Kate with six of her living Graham and Melton siblings: Matthew, Daniel, Amanda, Lizzy, Newton and John Burwell Graham. Most of them lived into the 1930s, with Amanda being the longest-lived, dying in 1940 at age 99. Jack Boone died on January 15, 1913 and Kate, who lived through Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the early years of the 20th century, died in Erin on January 17, 1920. The Nashville Banner wrote of her death: “Mrs. Boone was stricken suddenly Wednesday afternoon with paralysis and never ratified. Mrs. Boone was a lovable Christian woman and was loved by all who came in contact with her. She was a devout member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Erin and was very active in church activities.”
With Kate, the Graham line merged with the Boone and Lee families, leaving the Graham name to be carried on by her three Graham brothers. Thus the legacy of the Graham family endured into modern times—a lineage that spanned from the hills of Knapdale, Scotland to the rolling fields of Middle Tennessee.