08/31/2026
The Gravette Historical Museum receives in a lot of genealogy requests throughout the year, and this week we are researching the Gravett family.
Here is a photo we found online (sorry for the poor quality) of Edwin Moore Gravett, the eldest son Gravette’s founder, Ellis Tillman Gravett. In this photo Edwin and his family were in Wi******er, Kentucky, at his mother’s family’s homestead in around 1918.
Edwin Moore Gravett was born on March 26th, 1868 in Wi******er, Kentucky. He came to live in Chalk Valley, the town of Nebo (our Old Town Park) with his father in 1890 as a young adult man. Shortly after his arrival, he bought his father’s share of the whiskey distillery where they made ‘Old Chalky’ corn whiskey.
On July 4th, 1891 Edwin married Ida Johnson, the daughter of Reuben and Susan Johnson, in Newton County, Missouri.
They had four children: Eva, Dove, Ellis Trent, and Veta.
Edwin, along with a merchant, a lawyer, and a doctor, organized and started the ‘Citizens Bank’ in 1905. The bank was run under this name until May 5th, 1906 when it was nationalized with the capital increase and became the First National Bank.
In 1894 (per the Gravett News Paper Sept. 22,1894 edition) Edwin Gravett built a new 12 room home on 8 acres that he bought from his father, which is located on Dallas Street SW. This home stayed in the Gravett family until Eva Gravett sold it in 1943.
After a time of travel, Edwin moved his wife and three daughters to Washington state around 1925-1926, where he died shortly after. He is buried at the Tacoma Washington Mausoleum.
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