Samuel H. Gramm (born 1842)
Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Monongalia, Marion and Taylor Counties, West Virginia
Rush, West & Company, Publishers; Philadelphia, PA.; 1895
pages 11-12 (in the Taylor County section)
STATE SENATOR SAMUEL H. GRAMM, one of the most enterprising and successful business men of Grafton, and a member of the state senate of West Virginia, from the Eleventh district, is a son of Michael and Fannie (Hyde) Gramm, and was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, January 13, 1842.
The Gramms are of German extraction, and the earliest member of the family in this country, of which we have any account, was the paternal grandfather of Senator Gramm. He married and reared a family, and his son, Michael Gramm (father), was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania and removed to Dauphin county, in the same state, where he died in 1844. He was a farmer by occupation, and married Fanny Hyde, and they reared a family of four children: Mary, wife of Augustus Bathmore, of Middletown, Pennsylvania; Jonathan, now a merchant of Washington city, who enlisted in 1862, in company “C,” One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania infantry, and served nine months; Samuel H., and Elizabeth, who died in infancy.
Samuel H. Gramm at two years of age lost his father, and was placed under a guardian at that age. He received his education in the common schools of Pennsylvania, and at an early age learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed for several years in his native county. He then engaged in the lumber business, in central Pennsylvania, where he operated a large saw-mill for H. S. Wilson, and did a good business up to 1871, in which year he came to Doddridge county, this State. He there was also superintendent of H. S. Wilson's saw-mills and lumbering operations for two years and then, in 1873, removed to Grafton, where he has resided ever since. At Grafton he became superintendent of Pardee Cook and company's saw-mills, a position which he resigned in 1876, to actively engage in the lumbering business for himself. He commenced on a small scale, with a single mill and gradually increased his business, until the demand was such for his mill products that he was compelled to put four large mills into operation, which now give employment to one hundred and fifty hands. His lumber fields are in several counties of the State, and his lumber is principally shipped to foreign countries, where some lines of it are in great demand. In 1889 he and John L. Magill, formed a partnership under the firm-name of Gramm and Magill, and erected a planing mill at Grafton which they operated until 1892. In that year they removed to West Grafton, and built their present large and well-equipped planing mill, which is forty-five by one hundred and seventy-five feet in width and length. In connection with the manufacture of lumber there, they do a large business in contracting and building.
On February 7, 1866, Mr. Gramm was united in marriage with Fannie E. Pathmore, a daughter of William Pathmore, of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. Their union has been blessed with six children: Kate, Carrie, Annie, Jennie, George, and Alma.
Senator Gramm is a member of the Grafton Presbyterian church and Reno Post, No. 7, Grand Army of the Republic. He served during the late Civil War as a soldier, enlisting in May, 1862, in company “C,” One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania infantry, and when his nine months' term was up, he enlisted in the Construction Corps of the army of the Potomac, in which he served until the close of the war, being mustered out in 1865, at City Point, Virginia. For the last decade Senator Gramm has been prominent and active in every movement or measure calculated to promote the industrial and material development of Grafton and Taylor counties. He is a director and vice-president of the Merchants' and Mechanics' Saving bank, and president of the Grafton building and loan association, of which he is a charter member, besides being connected in various ways with other enterprises, which benefit the town. He is a prominent Mason, and holds membership in Grafton Lodge, No. 75, Free and Accepted Masons; Copestone Chapter, No. 12, Royal Arch Masons; and De Mola Commandery, No. 11, Knights Templar. He is also an Odd Fellow, being a member of Central Lodge, No. 98, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Senator Gramm is a stanch republican, and has always given the party of Lincoln, Grant, Garfield and Harrison, a loyal, earnest, active and effective support. He watches closely the trend of political affairs, whether county, state, or national. He represented the State league of West Virginia, at the national convention of republican clubs at Nashville, Tennesee, in 1892, and at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1893.
Soon after coming to Taylor county, Senator Gramm became active in the cause of the party whose principles were the creed of his political belief, and was called into the republican councils when important campaigns were pending. But naturally, it was only a short step in due time to pass from an active worker to a trusted leader, and in 1890 he was elected to represent Taylor county in the house of delegates, where his services were of such a practical and useful character as to secure a second nomination with but little opposition. During his second term he well sustained the record of his preceding term, and advocated and supported such measures of legislation as to win him general respect and make him popular with his party, which nominated him in 1894 as their candidate for state senator in the Eleventh senatorial district, composed of the counties of Monongalia, Preston and Taylor. He was elected at the ensuing election and during the past winter served in the State Senate, and his past legislative experience and good judgment made him useful in many matters of important interest to the industrial, financial and educational institutions of the State. Active, enterprising and popular, Samuel H. Gramm, in his rise from the carpenter's bench to a seat in the halls of the State legislature, is a splendid example for the struggling and ambitious youths of to-day.