Graham, William, House

The William Graham house was built in 1852 by Henry Tyson. The house is located at the end of a long drive on the north side of the Jerry City Road, 3.4 miles east of Jerry house sits atop a small natural mound, a remnant of a prehistoric beach ridge, which The configuration of the house, except for later additions to the east end, is essentially According to Henry Glassie, the noted folklorist and student of Germanic folk house-types, exterior of their houses while retaining the old-world/traditional interior they found more functional to their simple life style. The house is a rectangular wood framed structure with a gabled roof and situated on a foundation came from the immediate area.

The form is symmetrical with balanced and and two doors, with the doors located in the center and the windows located to the out- two interior chimneys, one remains the other being temporarily removed due to a deter- iorating support member. Across the entire first story front is a porch, a part of the each of the posts was removed during the late 1800's. The entire structure, including the porch, is covered by the original clapboard siding, presently painted yellow witn a white trim and is anchored by the original square/rectangular headed nails, and on covered by contemporary asphalt shingles and retains its original dimensions, moldings and frieze board.

is a simple plank attached to the wall at chair back height, and on the second floor an on each floor, and located at the center point of each gable-end wall was a fireplace. Only two fire places exist presently. These are on the west end of the house and are not the originals.

(in one paragraph) The William Graham house is significant because: it is a well preserved nineteenth example of the several houses attributed to Henry Tyson, a Pennsylvania German Mennonite who came to Wood County in 1847; and finally, a building of this particular style of architecture in Wood County in 1852 represents the westward spread of a unique folk trait, associated with the Pennsylvania Germans, into Northwest Ohio. These facts establish the house as an important artifact for furthering the study of a particular pattern of folk culture and its contribution to the larger cultural patterns of nineteenth century Wood County and Northwest Ohio.

folk culture patterns as a sunthesis of "Georgian (stylistic elements) with earlier, folk features - old Rhineland peasant interiors stuffed into stylish eighteenth form is seen as a result of the beginning of an English dominated popular culture Influencing the existing Germanic cultural patterns, reflecting a synthesis of styles The primary elements of the style are; a two room deep with, internal gable-end chimney, low pitched root, door and window arrangement that tries to appear symmetrical, the absence of a central hall and stairs with boxed in stairway curled into a corner instead, a three or tour room plan, and frequently two front doors, all of which are Columbianan County, Ohio.

He was born in the area of Germantown, Pennsylvania and had to a Cornelius Tyson who came to the Germantown area in 1683, participating in orig- between family, building houses and operating a sawmill located approximately one-half the congregation of a small Mennonite religious community that existed for only a relatively short time, but which has been documented in published works based on infor- Graham to build this house in 1852.