William Jordan Graves was a U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

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Graves was born in New Castle, Kentucky

New Castle, Kentucky

New Castle is a city in Henry County, Kentucky, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 919. It is the county seat of Henry County. It is located on U.S. Route 421 30 miles northeast of Louisville.- History :...

, and pursued an academic course early in life, choosing to study law. He was admitted to the bar

Admission to the bar in the United States

In the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...

 and practiced law in Kentucky before serving as member of the State house of representatives in 1834. Graves was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth

24th United States Congress

-House of Representatives:During this congress one House seat was added for each of the new states of Arkansas and Michigan.-Leadership:- Senate :* President: Martin Van Buren * President pro tempore: William R. King - House of Representatives :...

 Congress and reelected as a Whig

Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

 to the Twenty-fifth

25th United States Congress

-House of Representatives:-Leadership:- Senate :* President: Richard Mentor Johnson * President pro tempore: William R. King - House of Representatives :* Speaker: James K. Polk -Members:This list is arranged by chamber, then by state...

, and Twenty-sixth

26th United States Congress

-House of Representatives:- Leadership :- Senate :*President: Richard M. Johnson *President pro tempore: William R. King - House of Representatives :*Speaker: Robert M.T. Hunter -Members:This list is arranged by chamber, then by state...

 Congresses (March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1841).

He engaged in a duel

Duel

A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...

 at the Bladensburg dueling grounds

Bladensburg dueling grounds

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds is a small spit of land, along Dueling Creek formerly, in the town of Bladensburg, Maryland and now within the town of Colmar Manor, which is northeast of Washington, D.C., United States, an area which hosted over fifty bloody pistol duels mostly fought using a duelling...

 on the Marlboro Road in Maryland with Congressman Jonathan Cilley

Jonathan Cilley

Jonathan Cilley was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine. He served part of one term in the 25th Congress. He died in office at Bladensburg, Md. as the result of being challenged to fight a duel with Congressman William J. Graves, a colleague from Kentucky...

 in 1838. Graves was a stand-in for New York newspaper editor James Webb, whom Cilley had called corrupt. Cilley was inexperienced with guns, and Graves was allowed to use a powerful rifle. A shot to an artery in Cilley's leg caused him to bleed to death in ninety seconds. This duel prompted passage of a congressional act of February 20, 1839, prohibiting the giving or accepting, within the District of Columbia, of challenges to a duel.

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1840.
He was again a member of the State house of representatives in 1843.
He died in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, September 27, 1848.
He was interred in the private burial grounds at his former residence in Henry County, Kentucky

Henry County, Kentucky

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,060 people, 5,844 households, and 4,330 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 6,381 housing units at an average density of...

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