Dr. John W. Graham, a pioneer physician, of Northern Kansas, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, near New Philadelphia, December 5, 1845. He is a son of Joshua E. and Sarah Hearn Graham, both natives of Ohio and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The father was a farmer in Ohio, and in 1858, removed to Buchanan county, Iowa, locating near Independence, where the parents spent their lives. Dr. John W. Graham received his preliminary education in the district schools of Iowa and also a course in the Lenox Collegiate Institute. The Civil war came on about this time, and he enlisted in Company C, Forty-fourth Regiment Ohio Infantry, and saw service in Tennessee and Mississippi, participating in operations against Hood and Johnson. He was discharged in the fall of 1864, when he returned to Iowa, and read medicine under the direction of Dr. Markham at Winthrop, Iowa. In the fall of 1867, he came to Kansas and located at Wetmore, then a new station on the Central Branch Railroad. The following year, he opened the first drug store in Wetmore, and began the practice of his profession. He had an extensive practice, and long rides over the unbroken plains of from twenty to forty miles to minister to the sick and dying, was a common incident in those pioneer days. He experienced all the hardships and inconveniences of the pioneer doctor. In 1881 he entered the Northwestern College at St. Joe, Mo. where he was graduated in the class of 1882, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. About this time, he sold his drug store, and has since continued the practice of medicine in Wetmore. He has been uniformly successful in his practice and is regarded as one of the capable and conscientious physicians of Nemaha county, and in many instances is the family physician, "even unto the third generation." He is a staunch Democrat, and has always been active in the councils of his party, and has been a delegate to numerous county and State conventions, and on several occasions has served on the congressional and senatorial committees. He was the first Mayor of Wetmore, and has served a great many terms in that office, and is the present incumbent. He has always been progressive and favored municipal improvements, and it was largely due to his efforts that Wetmore has its present municipal lighting plant, which has proven a success. In the early days he served eighteen years as justice of the peace, and during that time some important cases were tried in his court, by such celebrated lawyers as Hon. B. P. Waggener and Senator John J. Ingalls. Dr. Graham was united in marriage in October, 1870, to Miss Alma M. Rising of New York State, a daughter of N. H. and Mary E. Rising, also natives of New York. They were pioneers of Kansas, coming to this State in 1856, and located on the Kickapoo Reserve, where the father conducted a stage station. He also had a stage station, store and trading-post at Granada, Kans., and a stage station at Log Chain. To Dr. and Mrs. Graham have been born five children: Guy St. Clair Graham, graduated from the Wetmore High School, and was later a student of pharmacy and medicine in Kansas University, and graduated from the Central Medical College, St. Joseph, Mo. with the degree of Doctor of Medicine and is now engaged in practice with his father at Wetmore; Hallie Graham, a graduate of the Wetmore High School and now the wife of Dr. C. M. Lukens, Muscotah, Kans.; Dr. Percy B. Graham, a graduate of Wetmore High School, and the Western Dental College, Kansas City, Mo., now engaged in the practice of dentistry at Republic, Kans.; Myrtle A., a graduate of Wetmore High School, married Percy B. Worthy, Republic, Kans.; and Edward N. Graham, a graduate of the Wetmore High School, now engaged in the wholesale grocery business, Los Angeles, Calif. Dr. Graham is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Grand Army of the Republic, Modern Woodmen of America, and the County, State and American Medical Association, and his wife and daughters are members of the Baptist church.