James McMahon Graham (April 14, 1852 – October 23, 1945) was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Born in Castleblayney, County Monaghan,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, he immigrated to the United States and settled in

Sangamon County, Illinois Sangamon County is located in the center of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, it had a population of 197,465. Its county seat and largest city is Springfield, Illinois, Springfield, the List ...

in 1868. He attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

and attended Valparaiso University; he was a teacher, lawyer in private practice, and in 1885-1886 a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

. He was prosecuting attorney for Sangamon County from 1892 to 1896 and a member of the

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

from 1891 to 1894. Graham was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the Sixty-first and to the two succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1909 – March 3, 1915); he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior (Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Sixty-fourth Congress in 1914. From 1916 to 1928, he was a member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and a member of the board of directors of Lincoln Library from 1936 to 1945. In the latter year, he died in Springfield; interment was in Calvary Cemetery, Springfield. In 2010, a memorial plaque was unveiled in his honor at the Iontas Community Resource & Arts Centre in his native Castleblayney in Ireland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, James 1852 births 1945 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Valparaiso University alumni Politicians from Springfield, Illinois Politicians from County Monaghan Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois School board members in Illinois