The Passing of Governor John H. McGraw
A look back at the life of one of Washington's most influential and determined political figures after his death at the age of 60.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Ex-Governor McGraw died last Friday. The Tacoma News says of him: John H. McGraw, for years one of the staunch figures in the state of Washington, passed away last evening after a four months' battle with death. He combatted the encroachments of the Reaper with the same persistent vigor that characterized the activities of his entire life. His career was remarkable. Poor as poverty itself, he began a life that was replete with financial and political successes, with sufficient failures injected to make of him a man of iron. He feared nothing. Misfortunes encouraged him. He left a deep mark in the history of Washington. His term as governor gave to him unusual opportunities to show the manner of man he was, and on every occasion he displayed the same strong-minded, determined McGraw. He had the Irish knack of political leadership, tinctured with a semi-puritanism gathered in the New England environment of his birth. He was a natural-born executive officer with a native honesty that could not be shaken either in his business dealings or his political maneuverings. More, he was a man who was loved by an army of friends, and admired by many enemies.
“Poor as poverty itself, he began a life that was replete with financial and political successes, with sufficient failures injected to make of him a man of iron.”
John H. McGraw served as the 2nd Governor of Washington State. His death in 1910 marked the end of a formative era in Washington politics, reflecting the 'frontier' values of grit and self-reliance that defined the early statehood period.
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