There appears to be two distinct lines of Grahams in Searcy County, Arkansas.

One is that which I’ve been writing about in this journal, which was brought to Searcy County from Alabama (by way of Texas) by Jesse Graham and Sarah Scott between 1870 and 1880, settling in Red River Township near the communities of Watts and Rambo.

The other line was brought to Arkansas from Lawrence County, Kentucky by Lindsey Lester Graham. He briefly settled first in Van Buren County, where he married local girl Martha Griffin in 1890. By 1900 they had moved to Wiley’s Cove Township in Searcy County.

The two Graham families seem to have stayed apart, the Alabama Grahams mostly remaining in Red River Township and the Kentucky Grahams mostly remaining in Wiley’s Cove Township. I have not yet found a blood connection between the two, though I’m certain there’s an indirect connection to be uncovered. There’s bound to be a marriage to a Watts or a Bohannon or a Thompson somewhere that connects them in law, if not by blood.

Then there’s the mysterious Lizzie Graham. She can be found on the 1900 census for Searcy County living in Wiley’s Cove Township as a boarder in the home of George and Nancy Robertson.

One might assume she was connected to the Kentucky Grahams that settled in Wiley’s Cove, but take a closer look. Her place of birth was Arkansas and both of her parents’ places of birth was Georgia.

That might connect her to the Alabama Grahams, what with Alabama bordering Georgia whereas Kentucky is separated from Georgia by Tennessee. Sarah Scott’s place of birth had certainly been recorded as Georgia a couple of times. Could Lizzie be a daughter of Jesse and Sarah’s oldest son William, who only appears on the 1880 census and died sometime before 1900? Or is she from a third Graham family altogether?

I offer no answers. All I know about her is what the 1900 census tells me: She was born in Arkansas in May 1880 and was 20 years old and single in June 1900; her parents were from Georgia; she was a border in the home of George and Nancy Robertson.

I wonder if there’s a deeper connection to the Robertsons.