Originally published in The Daily Standard of Sikeston, Missouri on Monday, 13 August 1979.

John Graham

MORLEY – John Jasper Graham, 83, a retired farmer, died at 9:40 p.m. Saturday^[1] at Southeast Missouri Hospital at Cape Girardeau, where he had been a patient since Aug. 2.

He was born Jan. 19, 1896 in Watts, Ark., to the late John Henry and Mary Beohannon^[2] Graham. Three brothers and one sister preceded him in death^[3].

On Jan. 7, 1916^[4] he married Silas M. Copeland^[5] of Marshall, who survives.

Other survivors include: three sons, Denver E. Graham of Canalou, Dempsey R. Graham of Oran and Julius R. Graham of Memphis, Tenn.; two daughters, Mrs. Berlene Cody of Perry, Ark. and Mrs. Delois Goetz of Sikeston; one brother, Daniel P. Graham of Marshall, Ark.; one sister, Mrs. Emma Mainard of Purcell, Okla.; eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Friends may call at the Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel of Oran. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the First Baptist Church in Morley with the Rev. Delbert Bishop, pastor officiating, assisted by the Rev. Willis E. Osbon of the Morley Church of God.

Burial will follow at the old Morley Cemetery.

Notes

[1] Saturday was 11 August 1979. The Social Security Death Index did not list John’s day of death, only the month and year, so here we obtain it by calculating backwards from the newspaper’s date of publication.

[2] Yet another spelling variation of this surname. Mary’s own obituary spelled it “Bohannon”.

[3] This sentence is incorrect. Preceding John in death were his brothers Jessie and William, and his sisters Evisa, Mary, Sarah, Stella, and Nona. “Two brothers and five sisters preceded him in death,” would be exactly right.

[4] The marriage date given here is wrong. John and Danner were actually married on 7 January 1917. A digital image of their actual marriage form can be viewed at right.

[5] This middle initial of “M” is curious. We already knew that Danner’s first name was Silas, after her father, from its inclusion on the census forms of 1920 and 1930. All other available records report her name as Danner. I’ve seen several family trees report her middle name as “Midaner” with no sources cited. Danner could be derived from Midaner.

Source

The Daily Standard [Sikeston, MO], “John Graham,” page 8, published on Monday, 13 August 1979. Retrieved from microfilm at the Sikeston Public Library on Monday, 8 October 2012.