Museum / Archive

Elgin County Archives

Part Of

Graves Family Collection

Description Level

Fonds

Accession Number

2021-41

Storage Room

Archives 4th Floor Storage Room

Storage Location

M5 S2 Sh4 B8 F1

M5 S2 Sh4 B8 F2

GMD

graphic material

textual records

Date Range

1926-1946

Series

Graves Family Collection - Photographs series

Physical Description

5 photographs

1 funeral card

History / Biographical

Llloyd Graves was born in Kentucky State, USA. His birth year is disputed. According to his tombstone, funeral card, obituary, and a 1934 newspaper article where his wife, Amanda Graves, was interviewed, he was approximately 104 years old at the time of his death in 1928, suggesting that he was born in 1824. However, census records vary; the 1861 and 1871 census records indicate he was born in circa 1837, the 1881 census indicates that he was born in circa 1836, the 1911 census indicates he was born in circa 1834, and the 1921 census indicates he was born in 1824. Graves used the Underground Railroad to flee the United States from Cleveland, Ohio, where he boarded a boat that crossed Lake Erie and arrived in Port Stanley. He was later hired as a driver for Lindop's Grocer in St. Thomas and settled in a log cabin on River Road. According to his obituary, he worked as the caretaker of the Mount Salem church and school until a few months before his death in 1928. He married Mary Irons and they had a daughter, Martha Ann. Mary died at the age of 28, when their daughter was three years old. After the death of his first wife, Lloyd married Amanda Irons on August 19, 1868. Martha Ann died at the age of 24 from tuberculosis. Lloyd and Amanda eventually settled in Mount Salem and had twelve more children: Oliver, Ernest, George, Walter, William, Emma, Hattie, Etta, Martha Jane, Frank, Bertha and Norman. Lloyd died at the age of 104 in 1928 and his wife, Amanda, died at the age of 99 in 1939. Along with ten of their children, they are buried in Dunboyne Cemetery, Township of Malahide. The Babcock family lived next door to the Graves family in Mount Salem, and the families were very close. Martha Babcock's (nee Irish) (1865-1947) children were: Oviet Babcock (1895-1965), Mina May Babcock (1892-1968), and Orvis Babcock (1887-1968). Orvis Babcock married Gladys Matthews (1897-1933) and they had four children, including Marjorie (Crawford) (1919-2017), David (1924-2000), Stanley (1929-1999), and Oral (Segui) (1918-1998). Oral married Francisco (Frank) Segui (1894-1977; born in Beniarbeig, Spain), and their children were Roscita (1939-1945), Louis (1940-2015), Paul (1941-2021), John (born 1942), and Thomas Bilardino "Bil" Segui (born 1950). Bil Segui was the former Chief of Police in Aylmer. The donor's grandmother, Oral Segui (nee Babcock) grew up next door to the Graves family in Mount Salem. Amanda Graves was a midwife and delivered his grandmother and her siblings, including Marjorie (Crawford), David and Stanley. Amanda's daughter Bertha Craig (nee Graves) babysat the donor's father, Thomas Bilardino Segui (born 1950; known as Bil Segui) and his siblings, and the donor visited Norman Graves as a child.

Custodial History

The records were collected by Oral Segui and were eventually passed down to her grandson, Michael Segui, who donated the records to Elgin County Archives.

Scope and Content

Records include photographs of the Graves and Babcock families of Mount Salem, and a funeral card for Lloyd Graves (1824-1928). Item-level description is available.

Name Access

Graves (family)

Mount Salem (Ont.)

Subject Access

Black History

Less detail