Dr. Joshua B. Graves was born in Bridport, Addison Co., Vt., 

 Dec. 14, 1806. 



His father, Increase Graves, was clergyman of the Congregational 

 Church, and for forty years was pastor of one church at Bridport, Vt., 

 remaining there until his death, which occurred at the age of eighty 

 years. 



His mother, whose maiden name was Stetson, sister of the first of 

 the name who kept the Astor House of New York City, died at the 

 age of upwards of eighty years at Bridport, Vt. 



Dr. Graves spent his minority until he was eighteen on the farm 

 and attending common school. He received an academical education 

 at Castleton, Vt., remaining there one and a half years. 



About the time of reaching his majority he entered the Vermont 

 Academy of Medicine, under Prof. Woodward, from which he was 

 graduated M.D. in the year 1828, having been for two years previous 

 to his graduation assistant surgeon in the surgical and anatomical 

 departments of that institution. 



Dr. Graves commenced the practice of medicine in the city of Troy, 

 N. Y., where he remained for five years. For the following two years 

 he was a student of theology with N. S. S. Beaman, D.D., and at the 

 end of that time was ordained in his father's pulpit in Vermont, and 

 was successively a pastor of a church at Stockbridge, Mass., for one 

 year; for one year at Otego, N. Y. ; for two years at Deposit, N. Y.; 

 and five years at Honesdale, Pa.; and in the year 1842 settled in 

 Corning, N. Y., and was pastor of the Presbyterian Church of this 

 place for three years. 



During the first year after coming to Corning he resumed the 

 practice of medicine and surgery, and has remained in the practice 

 of his chosen profession until the present time. His ride extends 

 through not only Steuben County, but in adjacent counties, and espe- 

 cially in surgery he is called to distant localities. In this particular 

 branch Dr. Graves has excelled for many years, and is known for 

 his skill in successful operations in all the various departments of 

 surgery, and very especially in Ovariotomy, having saved five cases 

 out of seven. Dr. Graves is said to have performed the only opera- 

 tion of Cesarean iiection in Steuben County, which occurred in 1855, 

 a record of which may be found in the American Journal of Obstet- 



rics, vol. iv., published in 1872. He is a member of the Steuben 

 County Medical Society, a permanent member of the State Medical 

 Society, and honorary member of the Meigs and Mason Medical 

 Society, of Ohio. 



For his first wife he married Armitta L. Davis, of Troy, N. Y. Of 

 this union he has one surviving daughter, Mrs. John Myers. 



His wife died in 1845, and the same year he married Mrs. Maria 

 A. Mills, of Corning. Of this marriage one daughter survives, Mrs. 

 William S. Green. Mrs. GraAtes died in June, 1872, and in the year 

 1873, Aug. 28, he married Alice E. Lyman, of Iowa. They have an 

 adopted son, Charles Richard Graves. 



Dr. Graves has always ranked at the head of the medical profession 

 in the vicinity where he resides, and his thorough knowledge and 

 skill in medicine and surgery has led others to seek his counsel in 

 difficult cases, and particularly is he called upon in a legal way to 

 give testimony as an expert in cases requiring actual knowledge and 

 experience in difiicult casest 



Dr. Graves has gained much notoriety, and his publications have 

 received favorable notice from critics, as they have appeared from 

 time to time in the various journals of the State and United States; 

 and his counsels in many cases have added much to standard works 

 on medical science, and will be highly valued by the younger mem- 

 bers of the fraternity. 



He has been for several terms a trustee and president of the village 

 of Corning, and also trustee and president of the Board of Education, 

 and originated and wrote the first charter of the village. 



Generally, Dr. Graves has been connected with the Democratic 

 party, and was the unsuccessful candidate for the State Legislature 

 about the close of the war, and also for the State Senate in 1869, his 

 party being in the minority some three thousand. 



He was appointed the first surgeon in the Twenty-ninth Congres- 

 sional District for the examination of recruits at Elmira, at the 

 beginning of the war of the Rebellion, and formed the first 

 Board of Examiners in the State ; and, through the recommendation 

 of Gen. A. S. Diven, Dr. Graves* plan for the examination 

 was adopted through the western and central portions of the 

 State. 



