Nicholas Graves
1848 - ?

According to the United States Census of 1870, Nicholas Graves was born into slavery between 1845 and 1848, the property of Iverson Lea Graves, who was one of Emory College’s first trustees and founding member of the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church. Little is known about Nicholas’s life prior to emancipation. The Census of 1870 recorded him as a freed American citizen married to a woman named Rena living at a home on Watson Street. At the time, they had two children, Nancy (age 5) and John (age 3). They would later have four more children: Jesse, Nick Jr., Elizabeth, and Iverson.
Nicholas worked as a day laborer in Oxford and his father, Robert Graves, who lived with Nicholas and his family, lived with them, working as a basket maker.
Nicholas Graves was one of the nine founding trustees of Rust Chapel United Episcopal Church. He, his wife, and all his children learned to read and write by attending school there.
Nicholas worked as a day laborer in Oxford and his father, Robert Graves, who lived with Nicholas and his family, lived with them, working as a basket maker.
Nicholas Graves was one of the nine founding trustees of Rust Chapel United Episcopal Church. He, his wife, and all his children learned to read and write by attending school there.