Chronology of the Life and Times of Christopher Columbus Graham

1784 - 1885

by

James Duvall, M. A.



1778 -  James Graham brings his family to Corn Island at the Falls of Ohio with Gen. George Rogers Clark.  Graham was one of the Long Hunters, in Kentucky 1769 - 1774, under Col. James Knox.

1784 - Christopher Columbus Graham born 10 October 1784, at Ft. Worthington, four miles south-east of Danville, Ky., on Clarke's Run.  In this year Filson also published his book Kentucke along with the famous map.

1782 - James Harrod disappeared in the Winter of 1792.

1793 - Stephen Fuller Austin (1793 - 1836) was born in Virginia.

1801 - Thomas Jefferson becomes President of the United States.

1803 - Meriwether Lewis excavates at Big Bone Lick.  Louisana Purchase.

1806 - Graham is present at the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks,  12 June 1806.   

1807 - William Clark excavates at Big Bone Lick.

1811 - Great Earthquake at New Madrid.  Graham is on a flat-boat when it happens.

1812 -  War of 1812 begins.  With Major Holmes.  Graham is wounded and captured, then exchanged.  At Malden he is captured by the Indians but escapes.

1813 -  Death of Tecumseh 5 Oct 1813 at the Battle of the Thames.

1814 - Graham is at Ft. Erie with Gen. Brown.

1815 - War of 1812 is over that Spring.  Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783 - 1840) settles in the United States.

1816 - Letter of Benj. W. Dudley (1785 - 1870) to Henry Clay 25 Jan 1816.

1817 - Graham becomes a student of Dr. Dudley at Transylvania University. 

1818 - Rafinesque moves to Lexington and becomes a Professor at Transylvania University.

1819 - Henry Clay letter, 23 Feb 1819, to President Adams recommending George Robertson(1790 - 1874) of Harrodsburg for Gov. of Arkansas Territory, which he did not receive.  In this year Graham received his M. D. from Transylvania.  Following this he moved back to Harrodsburg.

1820 - Harrodsburg Springs owned by Capt. David Sutton about 1820.

1821 - William T. Barry becomes Lt.-Gov. of Kentucky

1822 - Graham is in Mexico City with Stephen F. Austin, a school mate from Transylvania, and Gen. James Wilkinson (1757 - 1825), to obtain a grant of land in Texas.  Graham travelled to Mexico by way of Tampico with Alfonso Vacara and Charles Chambers.

1824 - Agustin Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico is executed July 1824.  Thomas Harris Barlow (1789 or 1791 - 1865) moves to Lexington.

1825 - Graham letter of 31 Aug 1825 to Henry Clay.  C. S. Rafinesque patents his scheme of divisible stock certificates and appoints Graham as his sole agent.  John P. Morton (1807 - ) becomes a publisher in Louisville; he was a student at Transylvania.  Gen. James Wilkinson dies in Mexico City.  Col. Solomon P. Sharp assassinated in Frankfort, 7 Nov. 1825.  Rafinesque leaves Transylvania in 1825 or by Spring of 1826.  Thomas Harris Barlow invents and builds a steam locomotive in Lexington, 1825 - 1826. 

1826 - Greenville Springs near Harrodsburg foreclosed and bought at auction by Graham.  Did not operate, deeded buildings for a seminary. In July 1826 Andrew Jackson wrote Thomas Patrick Moore (1796?- 1853), a friend of Graham, that he had contemplated visiting Harrodsburg Springs, but Mrs. Jackson was better.  This letter was published in the Kentucky Reporter (Lexington), 2 Oct 1826.

1828 - Graham's Springs

1828 - William T. Barry becomes Post Master General under President Jackson.

1830 - Graham deeded 24 acres of land from Greenville Springs for a seminary May 1830.  "Jim Crow" introduced in Louisville Theatre by Thomas D. Rice, 21 May 1830.

1832 - Graham buys a lead interest at Galena, Illinois.  Meets Lt. Jefferson Davis.  The Black Hawk War begins, May 1832.

1833 - Graham took Black Hawk and his family home to Iowa, Spring 1833, aboard his steamboat.  Stephen F. Austin returns to Mexico City, where he is imprisoned.

1835 - Joshua Fry Speed ( - ) moves to Springfield, Illinois, where he was a merchant and helped edit a newspaper.  Stephen F. Austin released without trial.

1836 - Stephen F. Austin dies.  Map made of Falls of Louisville and Corn Island in possession of William Clark.

1838 - John Rowan becomes first president of the Kentucky Historical Society, a position he holds until his death in 1843.

1840 -In the Winter of 1840 - 1841 Graham is mobbed at Malden, Canada, while trying to recover his escaped slaves.  He is saved by Gen. George Ironside, brother-in-law to Tecumseh.  Constantine Samuel Rafinesque dies in Philadelphia.  Graham initiates a law-suit to recover damages.

1841 - Abraham Lincoln was a guest at Farmington, Kentucky, the home of Joshua Fry Speed, for six weeks.  The "Great Steam Duck" published in Louisville.

1842 - A new brick hotel, four stories high, capable of holding one thousand guests, is erected at Harrodsburg Springs by Dr. Graham in 1842 - 1843.  Cost of lodging is $20.00 per month.

1843 -  Judge John Rowan dies.

1846 - Mexican War begins 13 May 1846.

1847 - Lewis Collins publishes his History of Kentucky.

1848 - Graham Letter. Gives some personal history.  Says he had spent $300,000 on the Harrodsburg Springs and Hotel.

1850 - Supreme Court rules in favour of Graham, December 1850, in his law suit against Strader, Gorman, and Armstrong of Cincinnati.

1851 - Audubon dies.

1852 - Graham sells Harrodsburg Springs to the U. S. government for $100,000.  Stephen Collins Foster writes "My Old Kentucky Home".

1852- Graham and his son are on the Survey of the Southern, Atlantic, and Pacific (or Texas and Pacific) Railroad, under Col. Gray.  Graham is the surgeon, is captured by the Apaches and ransomed; he soon breaks off the survey for a trip into Mexico.

1853 - Graham purchases Sublimity Springs and 1,500 acres on the Rockcastle River, then Pulaski County.  He builds a grist mill and flour mill and a hotel.  He spent $20,000. Bland Ballard, part of the Burr conspiracy, dies.  Thomas P. Moore, Graham's friend, dies at Harrodsburg; he had been U. S. Minister to Columbia (1829 - 1833).

1855 - Graham Letter.  Discusses a tract of land he wishes to purchase on the Rockcastle River.

1856 - Fire destroys the hotel at Harrodsburg Springs.

1858 - Sublimity Springs is being operated by J. Campbell and C. S. Kromp.  Lodging is $5 per week; $3 per week for horses.  Graham's daughter Therese marries Joseph C. S. Blackburn (1838 - 1918).

1859 - Graham publishes Man from His Cradle to His Grave, a 451 page book of psychology, is published in New York.

1861 - Graham remarries May 1861 to Columbia Buford, age 22, of Crab Orchard, Kentucky.

1862 - Graham taken by Union soldiers.  Gault House murder in Louisville, 18 Oct 1862.

1866 - Graham publishes The True Science of Medicine.  

1869 - Graham publishes The True Philosophy of Mind, (Louisville:  John P. Morton & Co., 1869), 260 pages.  The title on the spine is:  "The True Science of Mind."  Letter of Graham to Lyman Draper.

1870 - Reuben T. Durrett and Thomas Bramlette begin work in the 1870's to create a "Public Library of Kentucky"  with $400,000 obtained from a state authorized lottery.

1872 - Graham donates his collection of artefacts to the Louisville Polytechnic Society.  He begins writing his history of Kentucky.  William B. Allen dedicates his History of Kentucky to Graham. Graham's daughter, Mary Graham Adams, a widow, marries former Gov. Thomas E. Bramlette.

1873 - Nathaniel Southgate Shaler (1841 - 1906) becomes the Kentucky State geologist, a position he holds until 1880.

1874 - Richard H. Collins publishes his History of Kentucky (2 vols.).  He acknowledges the contributions of Graham.

1875 - Louisville Past and Present published.  Graham is in the book.

1876 - Graham excavates at Big Bone Lick for thirty days.  He recovers seven barrels of bones, a large tusk, and some skeltons.

1877 - Graham publishes an account of his excavation at Big Bone Lick.  "The Mammoth's Graveyard"  Courier-Journal 29 Jan 1877.  This is reprinted in the Owensboro Examiner, and  in the Boone County Recorder.  Graham Letter to Charles Darwin.  30 Jan 1877, sends a copy of his letter, said to have been read and commented on by Darwin, Huxley, Tindall, and Spencer.

1878 - The Biographical Encyclopedia of Kentucky (Cincinnati:  J. M. Armstrong & Co., 1878) is published.  A Sketch of Graham appears on p. 439.  His birthdate is given as 10 Oct 1787.  "For many years, he has devoted much of his time to the collection of a cabinet of Natural History for the State.  He is a member of the Methodist Church, and during a great part of his life, has devoted himself to the best interests of his fellow-men.  At his great age, he is still full of vigor.  He resides at Louisville, and is engaged with much of his former zest in every good word and work."  The "Public Library of Kentucky" goes bankrupt, and is taken over by the Polytechnic Society of Kentucky, which was the nucleus of the Louisville Free Public Library.

1879 - Graham publishes a series of historical articles in the newly established Louisville Monthly Magazine.

1879 - At a Thanksgiving Day banquet for the Newsboys of Louisville at the Rufer's Hotel 27 Nov 1879, Graham occupies the head of the table and delivers a speech to the newsboys.

1880 - The Kentucky Legislature approves an Act to Incorporate the Kentucky Historical Society (Chapter 244).  Graham's name is first on the list of charter members.  Two new fireproof rooms are given for the use of the society for its collections in the State Capitol Building.  Graham Letter to Charles Darwin. 28 Mar 1880.  Informs Darwin his letter has been framed and is to be hung in the State Capitol Building.  Graham Letter to Darwin.  17 Apr 1880.  Tells Darwin the framed letter may be hung in the State House.  At the request of Col. Henry Watterson Graham makes an affidavit concerning the marriage of the parents of Abraham Lincoln,Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, which he attended 12 June 1806.  John Robert Procter (1844 - 1903) becomes the State Geologist, though he had no geological training.

1882 - Joshua Fry Speed (1814 - 1882), friend of Abraham Lincoln, dies in Louisville; he had started the Savings Bank of Louisville in the 1860's.

1883 - Graham wrote an account of the amputation of George Rogers Clark's leg by Richard Ferguson, as told to him by Dr. Richard Ferguson, Jr. Letter of Lyman C. Draper to R. T. Durrett. 8 Mar 1883.  Concerning Graham.

1884 - List of people in Louisville registered for the Graham Centenial. Courier-Journal 11 Oct 1884.  Graham Letter to John R. Procter.  Graham corresponds with Sir Moses Montefiore, a fellow centenarian.  Letter of Lyman C. Draper to R. T. Durrett. 3 Oct 1884.  Concerning Graham.

1885 - Graham dies 3 Feb 1885 in Louisville.  He is buried in Danville, Ky., Bellevue Cemetery.  Lot 10, section 1, division 1.