St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-09-17
Graves Family Reunion.

An occasion of very unusual interest
was enjoyed in Cabot, last week, in the
reunion of the children, grand chill
dren. and great grand children of the
late John and BetseY Graves, formerly
of Marshfcld. The gathering took
place at the residence of j. G.. Graves
of Cabot. There We're present four
brothers and one sister, j. G. Graves,
William Graves, of Mansfield, Mass,
MyrOn NJ. Graves, of Holland, and
Rev. Samuel Graves, of Grand Rapids,
Mich, late Baptist preacher in that
city, and Mrs. Elizabeth Graves Lewis,
of Pcacham. 1t is more than forty
years since these were all together !;
what was then youthful and childish
in the persons of these brothers and
sister, is now in "the sere and yellow
leaf the youngest being d years old,
and the oldest 10 the brown locks and
raven tresses had become silver or
tlecked with the ''snow that never
meltS, and the forms and the faces
showed traces of the storms that at
times had beat upon them. But the
present was forgotten in the memories
Of the past, which they lived over
again with the relish of young life.
There were tears and smiles, and sub
dued voices and side-splitting laugh
ter, as old memories were revived, and
wit and pathOs were blended as the
touching or ludicrOus events that
checkered the past were rehearsed in
the delightful features of the occasion
and the good cheer Of the bOunteOus
table of the host, added not Il little to
the zest of the gathering.
There were present twenty-five in
all of the descendants, which is about
one-half of the entire number. In the
afternoon, last Thursday, a phOtOgra-
pher who had been previously engag-
ed, appeared on the scene, and the
process began of taking the ''Gravest"
group that ever stood or sat before a
camera. Half dozen Impressions of
the group, in as many different atti-
tudes, were taken. Nothing could
have been more delightful or pictur-
esque then the forms, ages and group
ings of this company on the lawn in
that beautiful cool August afternoon,
with the charming landscape i'll the
distant background, which if equalled
can hardly be surpassed out of Yer
mont.
The family were of New Hampshire
stock thence they removed III IS2|, TO
St. JOhnsbury, and thence to Marsh
field, in lS43, where the father died in
1868. They belong to a hardy yeO-
man race. The father and one of the
uncles were in the war of lS12-I4, the
one ut the battle of Plattsburg, the
other lost his life at Portsmouth, y.
III. The grand father on their mothers
side, while yet a lad of sixteen, should
cred his musket in I775, and lent a
hand in the historic battle of Bunker
Hill, and one of his brothers, the young
est, was captured in the late war, on
the Weldon railroad, in Virginia, and
died of starvation in Andersonville
prison.
Six of the children remain, and six
have passed away. These six, and all
their descendants, are total abstainers
from alcohol, and all but two or three
from tobacco and the hardy virtues
they have practiced and these under
mining vices they have Stunned, have
kept intact the standing of the race.
The value of such gatherings can hard
! ~ he estimated. They keep fresh aud