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(From his grandson, Jim Graham)

James Alexander Graham, a son of Michael and Agnes Graham, was born in Dutchess County, New York on November 16, 1849 according to the ages specified on the 1850 and 1855 census reports.  His death certificate erroneously lists his birth date as November 16, 1854.  After his parents died around 1859, James was sent to live with another family, possibly the George Delavergne family in Poughkeepsie.

When James was 13, he left home to cross the plains to the West.  Despite his young age, he drove ox teams in payment for his fare.  Family correspondence shows that James was living in Minneapolis at least between April 1876 and October 1878.  In January 1879 he was in Bear River, Minnesota.  At the age of 26 James owned a bakery in Minneapolis.  He eventually sold the bakery and started for the Black Hills, driving stage when the Indians were killing so many people. 

James made three trips west with the Government Engineers’ Corps.  He traveled up the Missouri River when buffalo were plentiful and were often shot from the river boats.

In Montana he rode range, homesteaded, and was the owner of a mine.  Family legend claims that he rode with Buffalo Bill.   At the age of 30 he went to Trinidad where his brother Nathaniel lived.  The two brothers located mines in the British West Indies.  There James caught yellow fever and was forced to go back to the United States. 

He returned to Montana where he married Jenny Leader on June 19, 1891 in Lewiston.  Jenny, a talented artist, was from Meaford, Ontario, Canada.  During their time in Montana, James and Jenny had two children:

1. Gladys Lillian was born on August 14, 1892.  Gladys, an artist like her mother, married Gile Sanderson on September 3, 1912 .  They had one son, Graham Giles James “Jack” Sanderson, born in Seattle on March 29, 1914.  Gladys died of tuberculosis on April 26, 1915.

2. Albert Bertrand “Bert” was born on July 2, 1894.  He married Ruth Wallace on July 24, 1918, and they had four children, Wallace, Virginia, James, and Gene, all born in Seattle.  Bert was in the bakery business.  He died in Oregon on December 27, 1979.

In 1899 James went to the gold rush in the Klondike.  It has been said that he got shipwrecked in the Bering Sea and came ashore, floating on his duffle bag.  James’s efforts in the Klondike were not successful, and he returned to Seattle to join up with his family.  They started a home bakery which later became a grocery business at First Avenue and Cedar Street in the old Bon Marche building.

James died in Seattle, Washington on March 24, 1938.