Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Today in McGraw History: December 7, 1945 - Jabo and Family

From the Beckley Post-Herald
December 7, 1945

This article has to do with Robert Lee (Jabo) McGraw and his family. I really wish there was a better copy of this photo, because we do not have any photographs of Jabo or his wife (Victoria Jane Daniels). Also included is their son, Joel McGraw and his wife. If you have copies of photos of Jabo or Victoria, or any of John & Mahala's children, please contact us as we would love to get copies to share!




Saturday, September 3, 2016

Today in McGraw History - September 3, 1953


Today in McGraw History. . .

At the reunion, I told a few people how it was H.G. "Dad" McGraw's habit to stop in at the newspapers to visit when business would find him in Beckley. On many occasions, the editors thought the visits were interesting enough to share with their readers. This is the second in the series of columns that we've found. We will have a few more of these columns to share in the months to come. . .

(This one is hard to read, so we have transcribed it below in case you can't make it out.)


The  current hot spell is the hottest any of the old timers can remember around here.  

Horace Greeley McGraw was in from McGraws yesterday, and, as is his custom when he comes to town, he stopped at the Herald office to exchange greetings.

We asked him if there had ever been a hotter spell in his recollection.  

"No, I can not remember when it was this hot around here.  But we have had worse droughts. The 1930 drought was worse, that year it rained hardly at all from early spring until fall.  There was another bad drought in 1894."

Mr. McGraw set the column straight on the slight controversy which occurred a few months ago over the naming of Hotchkiss, small Raleigh County community, and Maben, in adjoining Wyoming.  

These two places were named for Major Jed Hotchkiss and John B. Maben, he said-- and he ought to know, for both of these gentleman, accompanied by Uncle Dan Gunnoe, came to his house in 1893 and stayed all night.  

They were land agents, and "never surveyed a foot of the Virginian or C & O right-of-way," says Mr. McGraw.

They bought up and immense acreage for the Western Pocahontas Land Co.- 24,113 acres to be exact.  The land company, of course, was a subsidiary of the C & O.  This tract was part of the old Mandeville survey of 90,000 acres.  

Maben and Hotchkiss sold most of the remainder of the big survey to W.M. Ritter in 1965.  Mr. Ritter, a very smart businessman, paid $30.00 an acre, less $80,000.00 for rights-of-way to get out the lumber.  It did not require nearly $80,000.00 for this purpose, however, and when he later sold the land to some Cleveland financiers, he received $80.00 an acre at the time reserving the timber for his own.  

In 1900 occurred the big court battle between the Virginian and C & O over which was to get the right of way at Jenny Gap near Lester.  Mr. McGraw went down to Oceana to hear the case tried, and he has never forgotten the courtroom scene.

Judge Joseph Sanders was sitting on the bench.  He appeared to be strongly inclined to the C & O's side.  Judge Nelson Campbell, a Monroe Countian, was one of the C & O 's attorneys in the case.  He was a giant of a man, with a long flowing beard almost to his waist, and weighed over 300 pounds.  

After all the evidence had been taken, Mr. McGraw recalls, Judge Campbell stood up and faced the court, saying in a thunderous voice; "Judge Sanders, your decision may be against us in this case- but you have no right to rule against us.  No court in this land has a right to give a decision against us."

Judge Sanders did rule in favor of the C & O, but the State Supreme Court reversed the decision, just has Campbell had said.

Mr. McGraw recalled that it was a quirk of fate that placed Judge Sanders on the bench.  Judges were nominated by convention then, and the delegates from Wyoming, Raleigh, Mercer, and McDowell and possibly other counties then in that judicial district, had assembled at Bramwell.  The year was 1895.  When the first vote was taken, Raleigh County's James H. "Fud" McGinnis and a McDowell man received a tie vote.  Some of the Raleigh delegates had not yet arrived, and a party of horsemen was quickly dispatched to Raleigh to round up the errant delegates. In the mean time, however, Joseph Sanders, who had just been defeated for Mayor of Bluefield, sent word to the convention that he would be receptive to the Republican judicial nomination. And he was nominated before the Raleigh delegates arrived to give the nomination to Fud McGinnis.  

---

Of note to me in this article is James H. "Fud" McGinnis. We have our own James H. "Fud" McGraw who is the son of William Harrison "Pole" McGraw. "Fud" was the progenitor of Paul, Darrell V. (Sr), and Kenton McGraw among others. 




Sunday, August 21, 2016

Today In McGraw History: August 21, 1957


Today in McGraw hsitory. . .


Robert is the G Grandson of John & Mahala McGraw
(Robert>Sidney J.>Okey>John)

As far as we can tell, Robert was the first physician in our line!


Friday, August 12, 2016

52 Years Ago Today In The Beckley Post-Herald
August 12, 1964






Today in McGraw History - August 12, 1948


Yesterday in McGraw History. . .

Okey L was the Grandson of John & Mahala
(Okey L.> Okey "Oak">John)

There are still many members of our family in the Greenbrier County area.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Today In McGraw History: Warren McGraw and Bobby Kennedy


Today In McGraw History:
Warren McGraw and Bobby Kennedy

From the Beckley Post-Herald
April 15, 1968

48 Years Ago Today


This article was sent to us by Colleen (McGraw) Hagy, a GG Granddaughter of John & Mahala. 
(Colleen>Dwight>Herbert>H.G.>John)

Since campaign season is in full swing, she thought she would share this! If you have something that you would like to share, just let us know!

Thanks, Colleen!



Saturday, March 26, 2016

From the Beckley Post-Herald: Owls Bop Paw Paw


From the Beckley Post-Herald
Saturday Morning - March 26, 1977


Tomorrow will continue our Tournament coverage with the results of the
Glen Rogers vs. Gauley Bridge Championship Game!



Friday, March 25, 2016

From The Raleigh Register: Glen Rogers In First Playoff


From The Raleigh Register
Friday Afternoon - March 25, 1977



Remember to check Back tomorrow for full coverage of the results from the
Glen Rovers vs. Paw Paw Class "A" Tournament opener!

From The Beckley Post-Herald - Owls: 12 Starters?


From The Beckley Post-Herald
Friday Morning - March 25, 1977


This afternoon we will have our second article of the day, and the articles will continue through the weekend, so make sure you check back Saturday and Sunday to see how coverage of the Tournament progressed!



Thursday, March 24, 2016

Sunday, March 20, 2016

39 Years Ago Today: Glen Rogers advances to the State Boys Basketball Tournament!

In the Raleigh Register 39 Years Ago Today:
Glen Rogers advances to the State Boys Basketball Tournament for the first time in 41 years!

Do we have any sports fans out there? We hope so! For many of us who attended John McGraw School, the next step in our education was heading up Glen Rogers High School. Because of this, for the rest of the month we're going to be following the Glen Rogers Owls as they advance through the WV Boys High School Basketball Tournament. There will be 13 articles coming up between now and March 30. 

Beckley used to have morning (Beckley Post-Herald) and afternoon (Raleigh Register) newspapers until they merged to form the Register-Herald, the current daily newspaper. Because of this, some days we will be featuring both a morning and an afternoon post to make sure you have all of the coverage. If you're not a sports fan, we apologize, but a great many of you may remember this historic season, and may know or be related to members of the team.

Today we pick up on Glen Rogers advancing to the state tourney!
As always, you can click on the article to expand and/or print them!


The next article is coming up on the 23rd, so remember to check back then.
If you "Like" our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/McGrawReunionWV then you will be sure to see all our new articles and genealogy as we post them!


Saturday, March 12, 2016

Today in McGraw History: Sherri McGraw wins DAR Essay Contest!


Today In McGraw History. . .

39 Years ago in the Post Herald and Register


Sherri is the GG-Graddaughter of John & Mahala.

(Sherri > Benny > Walter > William Harrison "Pole > John)




Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Today in McGraw History - March 9, 1920

Today in McGraw History. . .

March 9, 1920, 96 years ago



Some of you have heard our Counsin Warren talk about how John & Mahala's son, H.G (Dad), was the first house in our section of the county to have natural gas service. We found this note in the Charleston newspaper from 1920 sowing that the drilling of his well was complete. The well is played out and hasn't been in production in memory.