Meet The Characters: McKinley Graves

For the next few months, Christ Family Film Productions will be posting character descriptions of the roles being auditioned in September for He Leadeth Me. Get to know the people...get to know the story. And join us in September for auditions in Fergus Falls, MN!

MCKINLEY ISAIAH GRAVES – AGE 64


HISTORY

- Born April 1st, 1868 in Murray County, Minnesota
- Son of: Joseph Earl Graves (deceased 1902) and Irene Bess (Griffith) Graves (deceased 1902)

Siblings

 Leonard Caleb Graves born 1853 (deceased 1920)
 Lacy Sofia Graves born 1854 (deceased 1854)
 Barry Cedric Graves born 1858 (deceased 1924)
 Reid Joseph Graves born 1859
 Donald Ernst Graves born 1862
 Loran Luther Graves born 1863

PERSONAL DESCRIPTION

- Occupation: banker
- Location: Mount Sterling, Illinois (Brown County)

- Personal interview: “No man in his right mind should be in the banking business when a depression hits. I wish someone had told me that.”

- Character profile: McKinley, youngest of five surviving children of immigrant homesteaders, was raised on a farm in Murray County, Minnesota, where his father grew wheat and corn. Determined to avoid the doldrums of farm life, McKinley finished the eighth grade and apprenticed himself at the town bank and loan office. There, he learned the business of bank, mortgage, and loan and longed for a business of his own. He left a local sweetheart for the adventures of Illinois and established his bank and loan office in Mount Sterling on the eve of the new century. When the market crashed in 1929, his worst fears became a reality: almost all of the farms in the area with outstanding loans from McKinley’s bank stopped making payments. The vault emptied of its contents so fast that McKinley had to establish a self-initiated two-day bank holiday to give him time to borrow money from a wealthy relative. The money sustains the bank for now, but the depression continues and McKinley is desperate.