Robert Graham Appointed Commissioner

In Louisiana, Police Juries have served as parish governments since the early1800s.  Here's an article that explains more about the Police Jury.  Road and bridge building and maintenance were handled at the local level by residents who were appointed as Commissioners.  In the newspaper article below Robert Graham along with his neighbors H. G. Nash and William Dyer (most likely the father of Robert's daughter-in-law, Laura Dyer m. William Jackson Graham), were appointed commissioners for Spring Hill Ward and charged with the building and maintenance of a bridge. 

Transcription: 

Alexandria, La.,
January 10, 1878.

The Jury met pursuant to adjournment; all members present; F. Seip, President, in the chair. The minutes of yesterday's meeting were read and adopted. [...]

On motion of Mr. Calhoon,
Resolved, That in accordance with a resolution passed by the Jury, appointed Commissioners to apportion road hands in the respective Wards,
    H. B. Nash, Robert Graham and William Dyer are appointed Commissioners for Spring Hill Ward; [...]

Source: 

"Alexandria, La., January 10, 1878," The Louisiana Democrat, 16 Jan 1878, p. image 2; digital images;  Chronicling America. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ 

Civic Duty - Newspaper Article

Elephind.com is a new search engine for locating historical news articles.  In just a few minutes, I was able to locate this article, which mentioned my 3rd great-grandfather Robert Graham.   

The Louisiana Democrat. (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, January 16, 1878, Image 2 Col 6 (about 2/3 down page). 

To read original article go to: 

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82003389/1878-01-16/ed-1/seq-2/#words=/

Transcript of highlighted area:

On the motion of Mr. Calhoon,

Resolved, That in accordance with

a resolution passed by the Jury, ap-

pointing Commissioners to apportion

road hands in the respective Wards,

H.B. Nash, Robert Graham and

William Dyer as appointed Com-

missioners for Spring Hill Ward;

[rest of article deleted as it doesn’t apply]

 Transcribed by Norah Glover 23 July 2013

William Dyer was the father of Laura Dyer who married William Jackson Graham, son of Robert Graham.

William Jackson Graham - Laura Dyer Marriage

On th 24th of January 1870 Wm J. Graham and Laura Dyer were issued a marriage license in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.  William Jackson Graham, son of Robert Graham and Ruth Smith was 26 years old and Laura Dyer, daughter of William Dyer and Mary Hurbert was 20 years old at the time of their marriage.  

The Minister's Marriage Return tells us that they were married at the home of Laura Dyer's father William Dyer on 26 January 1870.   There are 2 records of this marriage at the Rapides Parish courthouse.  One is a handwritten statement and the other is the standard form.  Both are essentially identical and we are left to wonder why 2 records were submitted.

Additional names to research from these records are:  Wm Randolph, Thomas E. Randolph, F. Richard Barker, Mathew P. Willis 

Records obtained from the Rapides Parish Courthouse, Alexandria, Louisiana.