Temporary record

John Graham was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1694, and was educated at Glasgow as a physician. At the age of 24, he emigrated to Exeter, N.H., where he lived just long enough to marry (to Love Sanborn in about 1721) and to enter the ministry. On May 25th, 1723, Graham was ordained as the first minister of the Congregationalist church at Stafford, Conn., a town settled only four years previously, but when the congregation proved unable to support him, he was dismissed in 1731. After a two year residence in Lebanon, Conn., Graham accepted the call of the 2nd Congregational Church in Southbury, Conn., in January, 1733, where he remained until his death in 1774. Graham was one of the great promoters of the revivals that swept the Connecticut River Valley in 1740, and was considered to be earnest, faithful and intelligent as a preacher.

John Graham, Jr., eldest son of the immigrant, was born at Exeter in 1722. A graduate of Yale College (class of 1740), Graham followed his father into the ministry and was installed in the 2nd Church of Christ at West Suffield, Conn. Graham volunteered for service in the French and Indian War, where he saw service as a Chaplain to the 2nd Regiment at Camp Half Moon and Fort Edward in 1756, and as Chaplain to the 1st Regiment during the Siege of Havana in 1762. His ministry in West Suffield was interrupted a second time by military service when Graham volunteered as Chaplain to the 1st Connecticut Regiment stationed at Fishkill, N.Y., in 1777.

The superannuated John Graham fathered his last child, Sylvester, at the age of 72, and died not long after. Sylvester Graham was raised by a succession of relatives, working as a farm hand, clerk and teacher before chronic ill health led him to choose the ministry as a less stressful profession. Graham preached under the auspices of the Presbytery of Newark in New Jersey during the early 1830's, during which time he began to propound his distinctive, all-encompasing reformist ideas on diet and health.

Grahamism stressed the benefit of complete abstention from alcohol, tobacco and meat and advocated eating coarse-grained bread more than 12 hours old, fruits and vegetables. Beyond diet, he recommended hard mattresses, open bedroom windows, chastity, cold showers, loose clothing, pure water and vigorous exercise. He became a well known, if controversial, lecturer on not only the Grahamite philosophy, but physiology and anatomy and the position of the Bible on wine and meat, and he directed a special series of lectures toward African-Americans. The most widely read among his many publications were his Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making (1837) and the journal he edited, the Graham Journal of Health and Longevity (1837-39). Grahamism, the fad of the 1830's, waned in the 1840's, and Graham devoted himself increasingly to his Biblical lectures. His health declined steadily, and he died in Northampton, Mass., after a round of failed Grahamite cures.

Scope and contents:

The Graham Family Papers contain a miscellaneous assortment of letters, documents, and diaries relating to John Graham, Sr. and Jr., and Sylvester Graham. John Graham, Sr., is represented by a religious copybook, begun ca.1724, three printed items, two manuscript biographies, and 12 letters between him and his son, John, Jr., written during the French and Indian War.

John Graham, Jr.'s life is far better documented, with material from the time of his installment and ministry in West Suffield (8 letters and 5 other items, plus a manuscript record book of baptisms, marriages, deaths and meetings at the 2nd Church of Christ) and his service in the French and Indian War and Revolution. Particularly interesting are the correspondence of 12 letters (incoming from his father and outgoing to his wife) while at Camp Half Moon and Fort Edwards which provide details on one engagement with Indians, information on troop movements, camp life, and his duties as Chaplain. The 4 letters and 50 page diary kept by Graham while he accompanied the 1st Regiment during the Siege of Havana in 1762 provide useful information of the military operations there. The Revolutionary War material consists of 9 letters, 3 written to a son, Narcissus, 6 to his brother, Chauncey, from Fishkill, and a diary kept while stationed there. These are generally less descriptive than the French and Indian War letters.

The Sylvester Graham material is very heterogeneous, with much relating to his lectures on health and the Bible. Included are chapters from his book on Biblical Chronology, esays on American History, tea, coffee, opium, wines, diet, the history of medicine, fruits and flowers, and Fourth of July address, probably delivered by Graham. Of particular interest are the few letters that remain with the collection: a long, 8 pp. letter to John Marshall on philosophy and politics, a 10 pp. letter to Henry Clay (1847) on politics and the presidential elections, a letter to the Citizens of Northampton, 1850, outlining his personal history and reasons for leaving the city, and two letters relating to Graham's work with the American Sunday School Union. Among other items are letters from T.D. Weld, and Francis Condie, and a few letters from attendees at Graham's lectures.

M-2937.1

Clergy--Congregational Church--Connecticut
Diet
Graham, John, 1694-1774
Graham, John, 1722-1796
Graham, Sylvester, 1794-1851
Physiology
United States--History--French and Indian War, 1755-1763
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783

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