John was born in 1850 in Penobscot, Maine, United States[1] to Irish immigrant parents[2], Timothy McGraw and Catherine Harte[3]. He moved to Seattle (King County) in 1876[1], where in 1880 he was recorded in the census, living with his wife May, daugher Katie and son Mark[2]. He died in 1910[3][1] and is buried in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle[4].
In 2011, he was memorialized with a statue in newly established McGraw Square Park in downtown Seattle. As part of the ceremony, his great-great-grandson, Scott Pattison, noted that he told his daughter, Kate McGraw Sanford, that "of all his accomplishments in life, he was most proud of standing firm against those who tried to extract Seattle's Chinese American community - which he viewed as against the Constitution and their right to liberty." In his role as sheriff during this incident in 1886, he deputized 400 citizens to "repel vigilantes who were trying to round up Chinese laborers in Seattle and send them back to China."[5]
Sources
↑ 1.01.11.2 Associated Press, "Former Governor of Washington Dies of Fever in Seattle Home", The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Washington, June 24, 1910, p. 10; accessed 11 Feb 2023 from Newspapers.com via Ancestry.com Link to record at Ancestry.com:
John H McGraw died at his home here last night ... caused by typhoid fever. John Hart McGraw was born in Penobscot county, Maine, October 4, 1850. He left home at age 14 because of a disagreement with his stepfather. In 1876 he came to San Francisco, remaining from July to December, when he came to Seattle. He worked as a horse car driver in San Francisco. He clerked in a hotel on his arrival in Seattle and conducted a small mercantile business, which was destroyed by fire in 1879. He secured a position as a policeman, was next elected town marshal, and then chief of police, and in 1882 was elected sheriff of King county. In 1892 he was elected governor of Washington. In 1897 he retired to private life
↑ 2.02.1 United States Census 1880, Washington > King > Seattle > ED 7 > image 28 of 75; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.); accessed 11 Feb 2023 via Family Search Link to record at FamilySearch.org
↑ Susan Gilmore, "A new downtown square honoring the state's second governor is officially unveiled Wednesday morning", The Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington, February 9, 2011; accessed 11 Feb 2023 from Newspapers.com via Ancestry.com Link to article at The Seattle Times
United States Census 1900, Washington > King > ED 97 Precinct 5 Seattle city Ward 4 > image 6 of 22; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); accessed via FamilySearch Link to record
United States Census 1910, Washington > King > Seattle Ward 3 > ED 150 > image 21 of 33; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); accessed via FamilySearch Link to record
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