Lake County Ohio GenWeb

Captain Robert R. Graves

This biography is taken from Biographical History of Northeastern Ohio, Embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake; Lewis Publishing Company, 1893.

Transcribed and submitted by Becky Falin, 1996.

Captain Robert R. Graves, retired from active service on the GreatLakes, is a native of the State of Ohio, born at Madison, Lake county, January 29, 1838. His parents, Eli and Nancy (Crane) Graves, were natives of Massachusetts; the father emigrated to Fredonia, New York, and thence to Ohio, where he was extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits; his grandfather was at the "Boston Tea Party," and assisted in unloading the cargo. Nancy A. Crane was the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Crane, a Presbyterian clergyman of note, who was a native of Connecticut. Captain Graves lived on the farm until sixteen years of age, when he went on the lakes as a common sailor. He was promoted from one position to another until he reached that of captain, which he filled for thirty years. He was on the lakes in all thirty-nine years and had a wide and varied experience; he has had an interest in many a worthy craft, and has accumulated a competence for his declining years.

Captain Graves was united in marriage, in 1860, to Marietta A. Wright, of Harpersfield, a daughter of Jonathan and Lucretia (Woolsey) Wright, most worthy and respected pioneers of Ashtabula county. The father of Jonathan Wright came to Ashtabula county in 1804, and located at Harpersfield. Captain and Mrs. Graves have one daughter, Altha L., born in September, 1863. In politics he affiliates with the Republican party; he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has reached the egree of Knight Templar.