Grain merchant, farmer, municipal official.
Born at Whitfield, Dufferin County, Ontario on 10 May 1886, son of Henry Graham and Esther Ferguson, he finished school at Hamilton in 1903 and became a banker at Molson’s Bank. He transferred to a Winnipeg bank in 1905 on the request of his father who saw this move as a way to extend the interests of the Graham Brothers, a canned goods firm in Hamilton. Graham left banking in 1913 to pursue a career in the grain business. He initially joined the firm of Blackburn and Mills as office manager, becoming a partner within three years. By 1924, he was employed with Melady Bellers where he eventually became managing director in 1930. He held this position until resigning in 1945.
A man of varied interest, he farmed six sections of land in the Elm Creek district and was an active citizen in his community, serving on the Winnipeg School Board (1932-1933) and Winnipeg City Council (1946-1951). He was also Vice-President of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange and a Sunday School Superintendent. During the Second World War, he served as rural chairman of Victory Loan campaigns and Manitoba commissioner for the placement of Japanese internees.
He was married twice, first on 19 June 1912 to Margaret Elizabeth McClain (1889-1947, daughter of Samuel McClain) at Carman with whom he had three children: Dorothy Margaret Graham (1918-1998, wife of Wilbur Cox “Bill” Guest), John Colwell Graham (1924-1993), and Marjorie Graham (1928-2009, wife of John R. McPhail and Fred Code). On 16 February 1950, he married schoolteacher Freda MacInnis (?-?) at Augustine United Church. He was a member of the Masons (Master, Northern Light Lodge), Carleton Club, Winnipeg Winter Club, Southwood Country Club, and St. Stephen's Broadway United Church.
He died at Winnipeg on 16 August 1959 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
See also:
Manitoba Business: Blackburn and Mills Grain Company / Blackburn Mills and Graham
Ontario birth registration [Thomas Colwell Esson Graham], Ancestry.
Marriage [Colwell Essen Graham, Margaret Elizabeth McClain], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration [Dorothy Margaret Graham], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage [Dorothy Margaret Graham, Wilbur Cox Guest], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registration [Margaret Elizabeth Graham], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Mrs. C. Graham, social workers, dies at 57,” Winnipeg Tribune, 6 January 1947, page 3.
“Alderman and farmer,” Winnipeg Tribune, 1 October 1948. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10, page 57]
“Ald. C. Graham weds ex-school teacher,” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 February 1950, page 19.
“Former Alderman, Trustee, C. E. Graham dies at 73,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 August 1959, page 33.
Obituary [John Colwell Graham], Winnipeg Free Press, 17 September 1993, page 32.
Obituary [Dorothy Margaret Guest], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 March 1998, page 14.
Obituary [Marjorie McLain Code], Winnipeg Free Press, 5 February 2009.
This page was prepared by Sarah Ramsden and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 15 April 2024
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