52 Ancestors - #31 Thomas Tubbs Graves - He Was Smitten

My great great great grandfather Thomas Tubbs Graves was born on June 14, 1808 in New York State.  Thomas was christened on July 31, 1808 at the Reformed Dutch Protestant Church in Easton, Washington County, New York.

Thomas was the son of William Tubbs Graves who was born April 13, 1782 and Maria Maritje Herder (or Harder) born March 27, 1785.  This information is from the family Bible of William Tubbs Graves, dated October 8, 1854, at one time in the possession of James Graves.

Thomas married my great great great grandmother Fidelia N. Riggs (born in Woodbridge, Connecticut on April 21, 1812) in 1830 in Dexter, Jefferson County, New York. Fidelia was the daughter of James Riggs and Pamela Carrington. A story that has been passed down from one generation to another is about how Thomas and Fidelia met. Fidelia was a noticeably pretty girl and as a young lady she went visiting in Herkimer, New York. One Sunday she went to church there wearing a "scoop bonnet" with the entire front filled with roses. Thomas Graves was also there that morning and upon seeing Fidelia among those pink roses, he was so smitten by her beauty that he never looked at another woman. 

 Thomas Tubbs Graves

Thomas and Fidelia’s first child Henrietta M. was born in January 17, 1831 in New York. Their second Pamelia Fidelia was born January 1833 also in New York State along with Cynthia Elizabette in 1835 at Dexter; Lydia I. in March 10, 1837; Lafayette William on April 21, 1839 at Dexter, Jefferson County, New York; Sarah Frances in 1841; Thomas Jefferson in 1843; Ann Eliza on April 10, 1847 in Clayton, Jefferson County, New York; and my great great grandfather James born January 2, 1850.

Sometime in 1850, Thomas and Fidelia went west, traveling through the Great Lakes to Horicon, Dodge County, Wisconsin.  By August 2, 1850 they were living in Hubbard. They bought a farm near Oak Grove, Dodge County, near where Morrison and Diana Barott later settled. Thomas and Fidelia built a beautiful, brick house there that still stands.

Thomas and Fidelia’s daughter Pamelia Fidelia Graves married Eliphalet Burgess Crawford in Horicon on December 19, 1850; daughter Henrietta M. married Mortimer S. Sayles also in Horicon on April 12, 1852; daughter Cynthia Elizabette married Alfred Barott, (from the neighboring farm) on September 24, 1852 in Mayfield, Wisconsin; daughter Sarah Frances married Henry M. Dubois on July 4, 1857; daughter Lydia married first Hugh Devlin and then after eight children she divorced Hugh and married his brother Robert and moved to Round Lake, Minnesota; and son Lafayette William married Emily Powers Stratton on November 22, 1861 in Juneau, Wisconsin.

Thomas and Fidelia’s son Thomas Jefferson Graves never married and enlisted in the 14^th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry in November 1861. Thomas’ 14^th Infantry fought at the Battle of Shiloh, TN and the Battle of Vicksburg, MS. Their eldest son Lafayette William also enlisted in September 1862 in the 21^st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and fought in a number of major battles.

Two-thirds of the 14^th Infantry reenlisted including Thomas who was then assigned to the 29^th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Shortly after a battle in Alabama, Thomas was returned to Madison, Wisconsin where he died in the hospital of disease on April 26, 1865 at age 22. My great grandfather Jefferson Thomas was named for him. On October 21, 1867 my great great grandfather James married Effie Beaubier. (Thomas Tubbs Graves’ sister Henrietta married Alexander Beaubier and then their daughter Effie married her cousin James.)

Thomas Tubbs Graves died December 11, 1868 In Oak Grove Township, Horicon County, Wisconsin at the age of 60.  His daughter Sarah Frances Dubois remarried on December 24, 1868 to Henry Wall after being widowed sometime between 1865 and 1867. His daughter Pamelia and her husband moved to Sioux City, Iowa where her husband opened the largest clothing house in the state - Oak Hall Clothing House.

Thomas’ wife Fidelia died on August 21, 1871 in Horicon, Dodge County, Wisconsin at the age of 59 and is buried at Wruke Cemetery in Horicon with her husband. In May 2001 Thomas and Fidelia’s descendants erected a new headstone for their grave after the previous ones were vandalized and removed.

Thomas’ daughter Henrietta M. Graves Sayles died February 3, 1873 Saylesville, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, at the age of 62.

Their daughter Cynthia Elizabette Graves Barott died January 6, 1890 and was buried in Laurel, Montana. She was 54 years old. Their son James A. Graves was widowed on January 24, 1899 and remarried on July 2^nd of that year to Isabel Norsebo whom he later divorced. He then married Anna Belle Rucker on January 2, 1901. By 1903 James was in Washington State and settled in Stevenson, Skamania County, Washington where he died on July 15, 1915. Daughter Lydia I. Graves Devlin died on January 26, 1916 at Aitkin County, Minnesota at the age of 78, and daughter Pamelia Fidelia Graves Crawford died in approximately 1919 at the age of 76.

Thomas’ son Lafayette William Graves did move to Washington for a number of years and during the 1910 census he was living in Ethel, Lewis County Washington. During the 1920 census he was living in Tacoma as was his daughter Marian and her husband. At some point he returned to Wisconsin where he died on March 6, 1924 in Alma, Wisconsin just six and a half weeks before his 85^th birthday.

I have not been able to determine when Sarah Frances Graves Dubois Wall died or anything about Thomas’ daughter Anne Eliza Graves after 1860.  Some believe that she married John D. Cooley in New York State but I believe that was another Anne Eliza Graves. Some people also believe there was another son after James but I can find no record of one.

(Some of the information here was provided by the great granddaughter of Cynthia Elizabette Graves Barott – Viola Cayo Schnake Walden and also a descendent of Lafayette William Graves – Phil Graves of Wisconsin. I would like to thank previous generations again for writing it down and passing information along.)

Great great great great grandparents: William Tubbs Graves/Maria Maritje Herder

Great great great grandparents: Thomas Tubbs Graves/Fidelia N. Riggs

Great great grandparents: James A. Graves/Effie Beaubier

Great grandparents: Jefferson Thomas Graves/Martha Matilda Riches

Grandparents: Effa Belle Graves/Alva Ashbury Tucker

Parents: E. Rosalie Tucker/Lionell Burris Mitchell