Mary H. Graves

Mary H. Graves (September 12, 1839 – December 5, 1908) was an American Unitarian minister, literary editor, and writer of the long nineteenth century. After Julia Ward Howe, Graves was the second woman to be ordained within this Christian theological movement. Her studies had been guided by Rev. Olympia Brown of the Universalist faith. She was ordained by James Freeman Clarke as a Unitarian minister, and passed years in several pastorates, the earliest of which was at Mansfield, Massachusetts. She preached with acceptance in various places in the west, in Peoria, Illinois, Earlville, Illinois, and Manitou, Colorado. In later years, unable to keep up with the duties of the ministry, her time was filled with literary work. She contributed occasionally to the pages of The Christian Register, and other periodicals. With Julia Ward Howe, Graves edited a volume on the eminent women of New England, Sketches of representative women of New England (1904).