Sep­tem­ber 22, 1830, Deer­field, Mass­a­chu­setts.

Sep­tem­ber 5, 1917, Som­er­ville, Mass­a­chu­setts.

At age 14, Graves joined the Bap­tist church in North Sun­der­land, Mass­a­chu­setts, where his father New­comb Graves was a dea­con for ma­ny years. He grad­u­at­ed from Am­herst Col­lege in 1856, then stu­died at the New­ton The­o­lo­gi­cal In­sti­tu­tion (1856-8). Or­dained March 9, 1858, he pas­tored in Charles­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts (1858-63); Pro­vi­dence, Rhode Is­land (1863-74); Fall Ri­ver, Mass­a­chu­setts (1874-80); Ha­ver­hill, Mass­a­chu­setts, and New Bed­ord, Mass­a­chu­setts (from 1886). Graves wrote his first hymn when he was 15 years old; it was sung at a child’s fun­er­al by the choir he be­longed to.

• Burrage, pp. 450-1

1. Hear Thou My Pray­er