William Jordan GRAVES, Congress, KY (1805-1848)

GRAVES, William Jordan, a Representative from Kentucky; born in New Castle, Ky., in 1805; pursued an academic course; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced; member of the State house of representatives in 1834; elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress and reelected as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1835-March 3, 1841); engaged in a duel on the Marlboro Road in Maryland with Congressman Jonathan Cilley in 1838, in which the latter was killed; this duel prompted passage of a congressional act of February 20, 1839, prohibiting the giving or accepting, within the District of Columbia, of challenges to a duel; was not a candidate for renomination in 1840; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1843; died in Louisville, Ky., September 27, 1848; interment in the private burial grounds at his former residence in Henry County, Ky.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present