Graham left the presidency in 1848 to a pastor a Baptist church in Saco, Maine.
[3] In 1867 he moved to Chicago at the request of family and served a Free Will Baptist church there for two years.
After that, Graham worked in the real estate business until 1870 when he briefly pastored a church in Taunton, Massachusetts before accepting a second term as president of Hillsdale College in 1871 serving until 1875 when he moved back to Chicago to work in real estate until 1879.
Graham also studied chemistry and received eleven patents, including patents for a steam generator, steam boiler, heating device and device for vaporizing and burning petroleum.
[2] He was an abolitionist before the Civil War and strong supporter of temperance and women's education and suffrage.