"A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1903. p. 224. JOHN HARTE McGRAW An enumeration of the men of the present generation who have won public recognition for themselves and at the same time have honored the state to which they belong would be incomplete were there failure to make prominent reference to the gentleman whose name is mentioned above. He holds precedence as a most capable and far-sighted business man, as a statesman of broad understanding of the issues of the day and as one who occupied a most unique and trying position during one of the most exciting periods in the history of Seattle, in which connection he bore himself with such dignity as to gain the respect of all true-minded men. He has been and is distinctively a man of affairs and one who has wielded a wide influence. A strong mentality, an invincible courage, a most determined individuality have so entered into his character as to render him a natural leader of men and a director of public opinion. The highest official honors within the gift of the people of his state have been conferred upon him and his career illustrates clearly the recognition that America accords to true worth. The width of the continent separates Governor McGraw from his birth-place, for he is a native of Penobscot county, Maine, born October 4, 1830. He is descended from Irish ancestry, and his parents, Daniel and Catherine (Harte) McGraw, were both natives of the Emerald Isle, whence they crossed the Atlantic to New York in 1848. They took up their abode, however, in Penobscot county, Maine, and there the father engaged in the lumber business until 1851, when he was accidentally drowned. He was a man of industry and marked probity of character, and his loss to his wife and three children was very great. His widow afterward married again and in 1890 departed this life. Our subject and a brother in Maine are now the only surviving members of the family. In the schools of the Pine Tree state .John H. McGraw obtained but a limited education, for not wishing to remain at home with his mother and stepfather, he obtained the former's consent and left home, from which time forward he was dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood. As soon as he was large enough he obtained a position in a store and rapidly acquired a knowledge of merchandising, becoming a most successful salesman as the result of his obliging manner and his reliability. He saved his earnings, and, at length, as the result of his industry and economy, he started in business on his own account. Attracted by the opportunities of the west, in 1876 he crossed the continent to San Francisco, where he arrived in July, and a little later in the same year he came to Seattle, reaching his destination on. the 28th of December, 1876, so that for more than a quarter of a century he has resided, here. The first business position which he occupied here was a clerkship in the Occidental Hotel, and later he conducted a small hotel on his own account, which some time afterward was destroyed by fire. Thus he was not only deprived of his business but of all he had saved through former toil. Many misfortunes had he encountered up to this time in spite of his resolution and perseverance, and now, in order to make a living, he sought a position on the police force, which then numbered four members. This seemed to him a very dark hour in his history, but it proved to be the hour before the dawning of a brighter day. It has ever been his habit to do well whatever he undertakes and his efficiency as a police officer attracted the attention of his fellow citizens, who, recognizing his ability, elected him city marshal after he had served on the police force for three years. He was elected on the Republican ticket and the city council also made him chief of police. In these positions his popularity as a citizen and officer continued to grow, and a year later he was nominated by his party as its candidate for sheriff of the county of King to fill an unexpired term. He was elected and twice re-elected to the same office, and it was during his third term that the anti-Chinese trouble began. A serious conflict was threatened between the law-abiding and law-defying citizens, but it soon became known that Sheriff McGraw would uphold law and order, no matter what it might cost him personally, and by his tact and capable management the trouble and conflict were averted, but notwithstanding the commendable course taken by him, it seriously detracted from his popularity, arousing the opposition of those who sympathized with the lawless element and when he was nominated for re-election in 1886 he was defeated, together with the others on the ticket. While serving as policeman, marshal and sheriff Mr. McGraw had become largely conversant with law, and after his retirement from office began its study, successfully passed an examination and was admitted to the bar. Soon afterward he became, a partner of Judge Roger S. Green and Judge C. H. Hanford, both eminent jurists, and not long afterward Joseph McNaught was -taken into the firm, which then became Green, Hanford, McNaught & McGraw. Its reputation was that of being one of the strongest law firms in the entire state, and thus Governor McGraw entered upon a successful and enviable professional career, but his popularity with his party was not at an end, and in 1888 he was prevailed upon to again become a candidate for sheriff, his supporters urging that it would be well for him to accept the nomination in order that the people of the county might have the chance to show that in the opportunity for calm judgment which had come they approved his course in connection with the anti-Chinese riots, which by his former defeat they had seemed to condemn. Thus it was that he again became a candidate and was elected by an overwhelming majority. He filled the office with marked ability and to the fullest satisfaction of all concerned, but in 1890 positively declined to accept the nomination again, retiring from the office in order to give his attention to the business of the First National Bank, of which he had been elected president some time before and in which capacity he served for seven years. Mr. McGraw was then chosen by his party to be its standard bearer in the state and by popular ballot was elected to the high office of governor, in which he served most faithfully from January, 1893, until January, 1897, reflecting credit upon the state of his adoption and adding an untarnished page to its political history. At the close of his administration the notices of the press were most favorable and commendatory concerning the work he had accomplished in the gubernatorial chair and the dignity and ability with which he sustained the honors of the office. One journal, said: "It is to the lasting credit of the ex-governor that general public sentiment approves his administration as honest, faithful, zealous and conspicuously business-like. He has been the tool of no combination, but has preserved clear-sighted mastery of his own convictions at all times. His state papers have been model of clearness and directness and show a mind well stocked and well balanced. American 'gumption' pervades these papers and no lover of the state will ever turn from their perusal with lessened respect for their distinguished author." A paper of the opposition party said: "He is a growing man; has studied and worked hard to make himself competent to discharge the duties devolving upon him, and his administration has been creditable to himself and party." Since his retirement from office he has been interested in mining on the Yukon river in Alaska, and is very extensively engaged in real-estate transactions in that distant territory. In 1874 Mr. McGraw was married in Maine to Miss May L. Kelly, a native of the Pine Tree state and a representative of an old New England family. Two children have been born to them: Kate Edna, now the wife of Fred H. Baxter, of Seattle, and Mark Thomas, who is now engaged, in mining in Alaska. The Governor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the degrees of both the York and Scottish rites, attaining the thirty-second degree of the latter. His is in many respects a remarkable history. With very limited advantages in his boyhood lie started out in his early youth to fight life's battles, and has certainly come off conqueror in the strife. He is a gifted man who has developed his latent powers by the faithful and conscientious performance of every duty, whether humble or great. In manner he is courteous, kindly and approachable and his friendship, which is highly prized by all who know him, can be won by true merit. Fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation, he stands out conspicuously as one of the strongest and most distinguished residents of the state. ******************* Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in January 2010 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.