Hi,
I've been trying to locate the death of my GG grandfather for quite a few years now and I still can't locate one. Short of going through every single person (thousand upon thousands of them)with the same surname over decades ( which I've tried to do!) , I still haven't located a death for him. It's so frustrating, as I would dearly like to find his death, to have his given age and where he died at last.
If anyone can have a look , or suggest something, as perhaps I'm missing something really obvious, cant see the wood for the trees - it would be very much appreciated.
The person that I'm looking for is Nixon Graham born abt 1836 (this is a very loose about!)
He married in Ballymoney in 1857 ( of full age) wife Ellen Townsley , father was George Graham.
He had the last known children into the early 1870's most born around Derry Ballymoney and Coleraine areas , so he should have died well within civil reg (my g grandfather, his son was born in civil reg time too, in 1866)
In an interview with his son Nixon jnr ( the article is in the Belfast Newsletter dated 4 April 1939, title; Veteran Ulster Tinsmith, changed days in the trade, two periods in the army - if anyone wants to read it (The youngest son that he mentions that was injured in Palestine is my dear granddad - I wasn't sure what part of the world that he was injured until now as he spent his whole life in the army , so the article threw light on that one .I do know grandad suffered all his life from hearing damage, which he said was from shrapnel - I used to have to shout at him all the time lol ) .
Anyway, in the newspaper interview ,my G grandfather mentions that when he was young his family had trade throughout the whole of Antrim, so this also backs up what I know, that they moved all over the place ,certainly his son did (the one in the interview), he had least 5 addresses that I know of. He also mentions that his family have been tinsmiths for generations ( which I do know as per family stories and as per the certs)
So bearing that in mind , being the nature of some tinsmiths (being travellers) , my gg grandfather's death could be anywhere in Antrim!
The death in 1898 is not him, that one was a bachelor and a farmer (according to both his death cert and his will) He leaves his possessions to his brother.
The death in 1948 isn't him either ( that's the death of my G Grandfather)
I've looked in Scotland too ( on Scotspeople) , just in case he died over there. My grandfather apparently once told my mum that his grandfather Nixon was born in Scotland ( I don't know if he did , or didn't ) - so it is a possibility that he moved over there (or maybe back) in his later years.
There aren't too many people in Ireland that have the Christian name,so unless it is really badly mistranscribed somewhere ( I've tried with numerous spellings over the years, but still nothing .
His surname is also spelt Grahams - with an s in some records, also tried other various spelling with our Graham name too. ( there was also a Nixon in Belfast, he's a policeman- that's not him)
I doubt very much that he would have emigrated as we would have heard about it from my grandfather and my g grandfather) - although ,I have looked at the possibility many times , just in case (I never automatically rule anything out)
I've tried looking for his wife's, Ellen's death, but that has proved fruitless over the years too- she's a lot harder to find than him( I don't know what surname she would have died under , if Nixon had died she could have remarried)
Thank you for reading, and , or any suggestions.
What I do know for 100% sure about his death though - he's definitely dead somewhere out there
.... but where? is the question.
Kind Regards