He was born in Centralhatchee, Georgia to John Wesley McGraw, a railroad worker, and Lillie Ashley, who worked as a seamstress at the Sewell Manufacturing Company. When he was about three months old, his family moved to Villa Rica, Georgia, where he lived to the age of 12. At that time, the family moved to Bremen, Georgia. In adulthood he pursued a career in business in Bremen, managing a clothing manufacturing plant.
