Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889)

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens in the chronology.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 8 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1875 Ralph Henry Graves joins the faculty of the reopened university Ralph Henry Graves returned to Chapel Hill in 1875 as professor of engineering at the newly reopened University of North Carolina. He later taught mathematics and held his professorship until his death in 1889.Search the index · NCpedia: Graves, Ernest
2. June 1882 James Lee Love wins the Phillips Mathematical Prize The sons of Charles Phillips had offered a prize for the best sophomore in mathematics. Love's marks in trigonometry and analytic geometry so far outran the class that Professor Ralph H. Graves dropped the planned examination and gave him the prize on his year's record; it came at commencement as thirty dollars with a letter from William B. Phillips. People: William Battle Phillips, Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889), Charles PhillipsSearch the index · James Lee Love, Recollections (1920-1921), scan p. 189
3. May 7, 1883 Chapel Hill elects John Manning and Professor Graves to its town board Chapel Hill's town election chose John Manning, Professor Graves, John Ward and J. M. Cheek Jr. among its commissioners. People: John Manning, Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889)Search the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 12, 1883, p. 2
4. about 1886 Wilson Caldwell is elected to the Chapel Hill board of commissioners Placed on the Republican ticket without seeking it, Wilson Caldwell, head of the university's labor force, was elected a Chapel Hill commissioner about 1886, defeating Professor Ralph Graves. James Lee Love recalled an earlier race, about 1882 or 1883, in which Caldwell beat Professor A. W. Mangum. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889), Adolphus Williamson MangumTown of Chapel Hill: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Tour
5. winter of 1888-89 James Lee Love takes over the mathematics courses during Ralph Graves's last illness When Professor Ralph H. Graves fell gravely ill, President Battle put Love in charge of mathematics. At George Winston's insistence a man was called from Johns Hopkins, and Love brought in his friend Mansfield T. Peed to take the freshmen while he taught the sophomores and juniors; after Graves died the trustees chose William Cain over Love for the chair. People: Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889), Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe WinstonSearch the index · James Lee Love, Recollections (1920-1921), scan p. 249
6. 1889 William Cain is elected to head mathematics and engineering To succeed Ralph H. Graves the trustees elected William Cain of the South Carolina Military Academy, an author on bridge building, which let the faculty begin teaching civil engineering at little added cost. People: Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889)Search the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 452 · Also: Catalogue of the University of North Carolina, 1889-90
7. July 9, 1889 Mathematics professor Ralph Henry Graves dies Graves, head of mathematics since the reopening, fell into deep depression, sought treatment in Baltimore and took his own life. His widow raised their four children in Chapel Hill and sent the sons through the university.Search the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 441 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 20, 1889, p. 3
8. 1892 Professor Walter Dallam Toy buys the Graves house and makes it a bachelors' hall The widow of mathematics professor Ralph Henry Graves sold their West Franklin Street house to Walter Dallam Toy, who shared it with several other unmarried professors. People: Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889)Search the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 159