Joseph
Graham
Kentucky Post, Tuesday, 22 November 1921, page 1
Services for Joseph "Uncle Joe" Graham, 82, one of the best known river men in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, whose death occurred Monday at his home, 31 E Fourth st. Newport, will be held Wednesday afternoon at the late home.
Graham for the past 65 years has been engaged
in river work. For years he was pilot on the steamer Guiding Star. During the
Civil War he enlisted in the Union navy and later was made an ensign. Following
the conflict he again took up work on the river and divided his time between
piloting steamboats and doing professional bell diving.
With his son, Benjamin, now dead, he searched the Ohio and neighboring streams
for the missing head of Pearl Bryan. Following the murder of the Greencastle
Ind. school girl, services of Graham and his son were sought by authorities and
they searched bottoms of streams for miles around Cincinnati for the head of the
dead girl.
Graham was awarded a medal by the US Government for bravery during the war. He was a member of George Thomas Post GAR. Two sons, Joseph, John, member of the Bellevue School board; three daughters, Misses Anna, Mary and Margaret Graham, survive.