James McMahon Graham was a United States Representative from Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. Born in Castleblayney

Castleblayney

Castleblayney or Castleblaney is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town has a population of about 3,000.Castleblayney lies near the border with County Armagh and is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry...

, County Monaghan

County Monaghan

County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland, he immigrated to the United States and settled in Sangamon County, Illinois

Sangamon County, Illinois

Sangamon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 197,465, which is an increase of 4.5% from 188,951 in 2000...

 in 1868. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

 and attended Valparaiso University

Valparaiso University

Valparaiso University, known colloquially as Valpo, is a regionally accredited private university located in the city of Valparaiso in the U.S. state of Indiana. Founded in 1859, it consists of five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school, a nursing school and a law school...

; he was a teacher, lawyer in private practice, and in 1885-1886 a member of the Illinois House of Representatives

Illinois House of Representatives

The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...

. He was prosecuting attorney for Sangamon County from 1892 to 1896 and a member of the board of education

Board of education

A board of education or a school board or school committee is the title of the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or higher administrative level....

 of Springfield

Springfield, Illinois

Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...

 from 1891 to 1894.

Graham was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-first and to the two succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1909-March 3, 1915); he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior (Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Sixty-fourth Congress in 1914. From 1916 to 1928, he was a member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is a non-profit, unincorporated association commonly referred to as the U.S. Uniform Law Commission. It consists of commissioners appointed by each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States...

 and a member of the board of directors of Lincoln Library from 1936 to 1945. In the latter year, he died in Springfield; interment was in Calvary Cemetery, Springfield.