Graves, Elisha

   Early records of Elisha Graves are hard to verify, both from the fact that there were numerous men of the same name as well as the fact that he seemed to relocate frequently. Tracking through his wife, Catherine, who was the daughter of John Whorff and the sister of Barnet Whorff is moderately easier, though this is obviously only after their union. What is known of Elisha Graves is that he was born in 1808, and by 1840 he was living in Bingham, Somerset County, Maine. In 1834, along with his wife Catherine Whorff Graves, he welcomed his first son, Samuel G. Graves. Catherine was the daughter of axe maker John Whorff of the Madison area, and the sister of Barnet Whorff who made axes with his father and would eventually go on to be one of the largest axe makers in Skowhegan. By the end of the 1840s, Elisha, Catherine, and their family, which by then included a second son, Henry C., and a daughter, Mary J. Graves, had moved to Skowhegan where Elisha was noted as working as a blacksmith. The family would relocate once again by 1860, as the census for that year saw Elisha, Catherine, Henry, and Samule living in Wayne and noted Elisha as an “Axe Temperer”. Records for Elisha during the American Civil War are scarce, though in 1869 he was listed as manufacturing axes from Milltown, on the southern fringe of Calais, in Washington County. Both sons were noted in Calais at that time as well, with Henry C. Graves listed as lumber surveyor and Samuel G. Graves noted as an axe maker like his father. Elisha would be noted in the state directories and registers as making axes in that location through 1876. The 1880 federal census indicates at least one last move, with Elisha (and Catherine) noted in West Waterville tempering axes. Elisha Graves died on October 8th of 1881 and is buried at Southside Cemetery, Skowhegan, Somerset County, Maine. (This burial location may indicate a continued connection to his wife’s family, as Barnet Whorff would have still been manufacturing axes out of Skowhegan at this time.)