Augustus Graham family papers

Augustus Graham (d.1851), born Richard King in Modbury, Devon, England, was the son of John King and Mary King (nee Barrons). Modbury Parish Records list his baptism as April 15, 1776. It is unclear when Richard King began calling himself Augustus Graham. In 1806, Graham married Martha Cocke (sometimes written as Cock) in Frederick County, Maryland. By 1808, Graham had become a naturalized citizen of the United States. Also around that time, he left his wife and two children at her parents' family farm in Maryland. Graham continued to financially support his wife and children, though he would never live with them again. Only one of Graham's children, Elizabeth (Eliza), lived into adulthood.

Also around 1808, Graham formed a business partnership with John Bell. Bell, a Scotsman originally from Northern Ireland, also adopted the surname of Graham. As the Graham brothers, their initial business ventures included running a stagecoach line in Maryland, a lumber business in Delhi, N.Y, and a brewery and distillery in Norwich, N.Y. In 1815, Augustus and John moved their brewery and distillery to Brooklyn, N.Y. After the original distillery burned down in 1816, they built a larger distillery, this time to much financial success. By 1822, they had left the distillery business and started the Brooklyn White Lead Company. Incorporated in 1825, the white lead company grew to employ 90 people and was valued at $435,000.

Concurrently, while establishing the Brooklyn White Lead Company, both Augustus and John were also involved in philanthropic ventures. Augustus Graham founded the Apprentices' Library in 1823. The mission of the library was to educate and provide an intellectual outlet to tradesmen. The Apprentices' Library became the Brooklyn Institute in 1843. Augustus Graham served as president of the Brooklyn Institute until his death in 1851. The Brooklyn Institute would go through two more changes. In 1890, it was incorporated as the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and finally, in 1897, as the Brooklyn Museum. Today, the Brooklyn Museum is one of the largest museums in the United States.

While doing philanthropic work in New York, Graham also pursued philanthropic ventures in England. In 1840, Augustus Graham, using his birth name of Richard King, founded the Modbury Literary and Scientific Institution in Modbury, Devon, England. With goals similar to that of the Apprentices' Library, the institution was created to provide library and lecture facilities to the people of Modbury.

John Bell Graham founded the Brooklyn Society for the Relief of Respectable Aged, Indigent Females in 1851. The organization's name was legally changed to the Graham Home for Old Ladies in January of 1899. Today, the building, located at the corner of Washington and DeKalb Avenues in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, still stands but as condominiums. John Bell Graham died in Brooklyn in 1853.

Augustus Graham and John Bell Graham were close friends as well as business partners. They shared a residence at Front and Dock Streets (now the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn) for many years before each established separate households. For some time, Augustus and John also shared their residence with Maria Graham Taylor, sometimes referred to as Isabella Taylor. Though many believed her to be their sister, there is no substantiating documentation to prove this. Maria died in 1829 at the age of 53 years. Augustus Graham, John Bell Graham, and Maria Graham Taylor are all buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.