John McGraw (22 May 1815 - 4 May 1877) was a wealthy

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

merchant, philanthropist, early benefactor and

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

Early years

John McGraw was born in Dryden, NY in the year 1815 to Joseph McGraw and Jane Nelson McGraw, both natives of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Career

He and his business partner,

Henry W. Sage Henry Williams Sage (January 31, 1814 – September 18, 1897) was a wealthy New York State businessman, philanthropist, and early benefactor and trustee of Cornell University.Murray Edward PoolA story historical of Cornell University with biograp ...

, together made a great deal of money selling lumber from forests in New York,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and operating a large lumber mill in

Wenona, Michigan Wenona was a historical settlement in the U.S. state of Michigan, located in what is now Bay City at . The village was founded in 1863 by Henry W. Sage (1814-1897), a merchant and philanthropist, who along with John McGraw also founded the Sage, ...

, now part of

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...

. They also co-founded the town of Wenona.

Family

He married Rhoda Charlotte Southworth in Dryden. She was born September 19, 1819, also in Dryden, the daughter of John Southworth of Salisbury, New York and Nancy Ellis Southworth of Dryden. She gave birth to his only daughter,

Jennie McGraw Jennie McGraw, also Jennie McGraw Fiske, (September 14, 1840 – September 30, 1881) was the daughter of John McGraw, millionaire philanthropist to Cornell University and Rhoda Charlotte Southworth. In 1868, she gave the university a set of ch ...

. After Rhoda's death in 1847, he married her sister, Nancy Amelia Southworth in 1849. Nancy died on 29 February 1856 at the age of 30. John later married Jane P. Bates Turner in Ithaca, Tompkins, New York, in 1861. She died in Ithaca in 1904 at the age of 84.

Death

John died May 4, 1877 in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

. His daughter, Jennie inherited his large fortune. She died 30 Sep 1881. Both John and his daughter, Jennie are buried in the crypt at Sage Chapel, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Jennie's gift to Cornell

Upon Jennie's death, some of this fortune was bequeathed to Cornell. A dispute over this gift led to the Great Will Case, ultimately decided by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

against Cornell in Cornell Univ. v. Fiske et al. (1890). His former business partner, Henry Sage, made a large donation to Cornell in the name of Jennie to replace the lost funds.

Legacy

The McGraw name graces the principal clock tower of Cornell.''The Quad on the Hill: An Account of the First Buildings at Cornell'' by Kermit C Parsons ''Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians'' Vol 22 Num 4 pp. 214 (Dec 1963) Additionally, McGraw Hall is one of the buildings on the main arts quad of Cornell University. Among other uses, it was the first home of Cornell's business school, now known as the

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management The Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management is the graduate business school in the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. It was founded in 1946 and rename ...

and located in

Sage Hall Sage Hall was built in 1875 at Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. Originally designed as a residential building, it currently houses the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Conception Although women had previously enrolled in Cor ...

References

Sources

Dryden History Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGraw, John 1815 births 1877 deaths American merchants Philanthropists from New York (state) Cornell University people People from Dryden, New York Businesspeople in timber American people of Irish descent People from Ithaca, New York Burials at Sage Chapel 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople