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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: Rod Blackshaw on Thursday 08 April 21 18:10 BST (UK)
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I am trying to trace the origins of William Thompson GRAHAM (also known on occasion as Thomas GRAHAM). What I know is that he was born in Ireland about 1858, the son of John GRAHAM (a bootmaker) and by 1891 he was lodging in Pendleton, Lancashire and working as a letter press printer. In the same year he married Jane GUILDFORD (nee WALKER) in Hulme, Manchester and they had 4 children. Jane died in 1900 and William was recorded in the 1901 census as still living in Pendleton with the two eldest children Dora (b. 1893) and Rowland Edwin (b 1894). That is the last I am sure of. Strangely, I can find no trace of the youngest children, Mary Emmeline (b. 1896) and Annie Kathleen (b. 1898) in either the 1901 or the 1911 census. They reappear in Wilmslow, Cheshire when they marry in the 1920s.
I have reached a dead end searching for William Thompson GRAHAM in Ireland. If anyone out there in the wonderful world of RootsChat has come across him I would appreciate any info.
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This is a shot in the dark - but maybe worth bearing in mind as a possibility until further evidence is found.
On 8 Oct 1850, a John Graham, aged 21, Shoemaker - married Mary Ellen Thompson aged 19 in Belfast, denomination Presbyterian.
Groom's father Moses Graham, Bootmaker
Wife's father William James Thompson, 'Gardiner'
Witnesses S.P. Brown and William Boles.
This couple had at least the following children (note the names Rowland and Emeline)
1859 Rowland
1861 Roland
1865 Emeline
1870 Harriott
In 1865 an address of 5 Hanover St, Belfast is shown. There must have been more children than this as there is a large gap between the marriage and the first baptism.
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That looks a good find, Pennines - all those family names :)
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Birth of Harriet
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1870/03326/2219297.pdf
Marriage of Rowland
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1870/03326/2219297.pdf
Both Shankhill Road
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Marriage of Emeline Graham in 1886.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1886/10847/5960504.pdf
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Birth of triplets David, Rowland and Emmeline in 1888. MMN Graham
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1888/02498/1926686.pdf
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1888/02498/1926687.pdf
KG
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Triplets - gosh.
I think this is Dora in 1911
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW39-XZC
Henry Hardy married Jessie Guildford in 1904
Rowland in 1911
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW1Q-1KD
Death of Rowland E Graham 1919, Salford
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Oh gosh! This has moved on a bit.
Well done Heywood and Kiltaglassan!
Yes Heywood, I thought the names of John and Mary Ellen's children - linked beautifully to William's children later - also the occupations of William, his father and grandfather.
However that couple (John and Mary Ellen) must have had earlier children though - including William himself. I couldn't find his baptism - and I know whenever I say I can't find something -- somebody else does!!
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Looking good to me and making sense. Thanks for your efforts. Jessie GUILDFORD was the step-sister of the GRAHAM children and Henry HARDY was working as a dairyman in Wilmslow in 1911. Rowland was staying with his step-brother Francis GUILDFORD in 1911 in Salford. I am very confident that Mary Emmeline (my granny) was in Wilmslow before WW1 but do not know about Annie Kathleen. Mary Emmeline married in 1920 and Annie in 1924, giving her address as that of Mary.
You have given me enough to delve further and I like the fact that it now looks like I have a Moses as well as an Abraham in my ancestry!
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Note the following marriage in Townsend Street Presbyterian church in 1849 of a 17 year old Mary Graham to William Boles (the same name as one of the witnesses at the 1850 Graham-Thompson marriage in the same church), the bride's father was recorded as Moses Graham, shoemaker, one of the witnesses was a James Graham:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1849/09364/5390959.pdf
Newspaper articles in the period 1850 - 1853 about various fracases in Durham Street Belfast mention a father and son Moses and James Graham, also a (son?) John Graham and an unnamed daughter of Moses. In one of the articles, Moses is reported as saying "I am a shoe-maker, and live in 18, Durham-street". This is borne out by the following entry in the 1852 Belfast street directory:
Graham, Moses, boot and shoe maker, 18 Durham Street
https://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/1852names2.htm
Moses is also listed as a shoemaker at that same address in Henderson's directory of 1846-47. And the name Moses Graham appears in a list of unnumbered houses in Hanover Street in the 1865 Belfast street directory - unnumbered possibly because contemporary newspaper notices indicate a lot of house building going on in the street - this Hanover Street entry ties in with the mention of an address in that street at Reply #1.
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An article in the Banner of Ulster of 20 July 1849 entitled THE DURHAM STREET SHOOTING CASE starts off thus "John Graham, a young man resident in Durham Street, and stated to be a shoemaker, was brought up in custody, for re-examination on a charge of firing at and wounding John Branagan, a labourer and occasionally a sailor, on the 14th July, in Durham St.".
The added interest is in the following extract, which was a key factor in the Bench's decision to acquit John on the basis of mistaken identity: "Mary Thompson, a respectable and rather pretty young woman, who was produced for the defence, swore that Graham, in whose company she had been before, was standing with her, at her own door in College Street, on Saturday evening, from a quarter past ten till a quarter past eleven o'clock...".
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Oh wow - what brilliant info for Rod, Gaffy!
I wonder if the respectable and pretty Mary Thompson was actually telling the truth, or simply giving her future husband, John Graham, an alibi? Great piece of 'gossip' and brings colour to a family tree.
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Great information ;)
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This is all much more than I expected. Absolutely brilliant. Big uptick to gaffy. I wonder if feelings were running high in Durham Street two days after the 12th?
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Got it in one Rod Blackshaw, the local newspapers of that era confirm that the area around Durham Street was especially 'active' in July.
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Plus ça change.
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Pennines at Reply #1 mentioned the gap between the 1850 John Graham - Mary Ellen Thompson marriage and the 1859 baptism of their son Rowland and the likelihood of there being more children. There is also a slight gap between the baptism of Roland in 1861 and the start of civil registration in 1864. I couldn't find any more 'child' baptisms online for this couple, but there's more than one way to cook an egg... so I wonder if the following might be four more daughters of John Graham and Mary Ellen Thompson - and sisters to William Thompson Graham. See what you think.
Daughter #1
I noticed a transcript of what looks like an adult baptism on 15 November 1883 in Holy Cross RC church, Belfast, for a Mary Helena Graham, parents recorded as John Graham and Mary Helena Thompson, critically, the address was 'Shankill Road' and an annotation said that Mary Helena was being baptised as a 'Protestant Convert'. When I went looking for a potential marriage for this person, I found a transcript of a church record for a marriage on 5 June 1886 in St. Mary's RC church, Belfast, of a Mary Ellen Graham to a William John Anderson, the transcript identified both parents for bride and groom, in Mary Ellen's case, the parents' names were recorded as John Graham and Mary Ellen Thompson.
Here is the civil registration for that marriage, note that Mary Ellen's father was recorded as 'John Graham dead':
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1886/10833/5951651.pdf
I found births for quite a few children to this couple and the family was then easy to find in the 1901 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Falls/Leeson_Street/951727/
Mary Ellen's birthplace of 'Londonderry' in that 1901 census return was a surprise, the relevant 1911 census return showed the same birthplace for her, but the big break came with the inclusion of an 83 year old widowed Belfast-born grandmother Mary Ellen Graham in that 1911 household (I'm not too put off by her religion, they probably just scribbled the same down for everyone):
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Falls__Belfast_/Leeson/181260/
A quick search for a death registration for the grandmother brought back the following one some 8 months after the 1911 census was taken, while the age is quite a bit out, I think it pretty well has to be her, since her address of 228 Leeson Street is an exact match for the 1911 census return address, and her description is given as 'Widow of John Graham, a Shoemaker':
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1911/05383/4502348.pdf
Going back for a moment to review Mary Ellen the daughter, she was recorded as 22 at marriage, 35 in the 1901 census and 46 in the 1911 census, which of course places birth around 1864-66, but I couldn't find a civil birth registration, so she was either not registered or I'm guessing the various ages were slightly understated and that Mary Ellen Graham's birth slots into the gap between Roland in 1861 and the start of civil registration in 1864. Why born in Londonderry? I don't know.
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Following on from above...
Daughter #2
When elderly widow Mary Ellen Graham died at hospital (51 Lisburn Road) in December 1911, the informant present at death was recorded as 'M Robinson Daughter' of 16 Pollard Street. That address reads across to this census return in Belfast earlier the same year:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Falls/Pollard_Street/174381/
Which relates back to this census return in Belfast in 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Ormeau/Titania_Street/1213626/
The relevant marriage took place in July 1876 at St. Thomas' Church of Ireland, Dublin, Robert Graham Robinson's bride was recorded as Martha Graham, a minor, the daughter of John Graham, a 'Leather Merchant' (the first time I've seen this, rather than boot / shoe maker - but at least its within the same general trade):
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1876/11177/8095107.pdf
So to review, a minor at marriage and 42 in the 1901 census, I'm thinking Martha Graham was born in the second half of the 1850s.
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Following on from above...
Daughter #3
Going back to that 1886 Anderson-Graham civil marriage registration in which Mary Ellen's father John was recorded as dead, note the following death of a 52 year old John Graham in Henrietta Street in July 1882, described as a married 'Boot & Shoe Maker' - significantly, the informant Robert Russell was recorded as a son in law:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1882/06395/4836525.pdf
The identity of the informant reads across to the following marriage of a Robert Russell in Great Victoria Street Presbyterian church, Belfast, in August 1880, his bride Eleanor Graham's father was recorded as 'John Graham Boot maker':
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1880/11039/8037622.pdf
Robert and Eleanor had several children before Eleanor sadly died in 1888:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1888/06162/4761203.pdf
In review, full age at marriage, reported age of 30 at death, I'm guessing Eleanor Graham was born in the latter 1850s if not earlier.
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Following on from above...
Daughter #4
The informant of Eleanor (Graham) Russell's death in 1888 was recorded as 'Margaret J Little Sister', which reads across to the following 1875 marriage of a Mark Little in Christ Church (Church of Ireland), Belfast, his bride Margaret Jane Graham's father was recorded as 'John Graham Shoemaker', one of the witnesses was... Eleanor Graham:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1875/11209/8108242.pdf
Mark and Margaret Jane went on to have several children, here they are in 1901 and 1911:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Victoria/Bridge_End_Street/1217131/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Down/Pottinger__part_of_/Major_Street/222227/
Again in review, 21 at marriage, 45 in 1901 and 55 in 1911, indicating that Margaret Jane Graham was born mid 1850s if not earlier.
So to recap, 4 more potential children to John Graham and Mary Ellen Thompson, all daughters:
- Mary Ellen (m. William John Anderson);
- Martha (m. Robert Graham Robinson);
- Eleanor (m. Robert Russell);
- Margaret Jane (m. Mark Little).
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Oh Gaffy -- you have worked SO hard to find all this information. Well done indeed.
I think what you have found is highly likely to be more of John and Mary Ellen's children. I did notice that after the marriage in a Presbyterian chapel - at least some - if not all - those later children were being baptised as Church of Ireland. So your point about the late baptism of Mary Helena into an RC congregation may mean that she was 'walking out' with an RC boyfriend - and she was preparing herself for a future marriage to an RC groom.
That's speculation of course - but I am truly amazed by your findings.
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... So your point about the late baptism of Mary Helena into an RC congregation may mean that she was 'walking out' with an RC boyfriend - and she was preparing herself for a future marriage to an RC groom.
I agree with you, it's very reasonable speculation.
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Conversion was certainly a pre-requisite for my father-in-law in the 1950s so I buy that one.
Repeated and continuing thanks to all and Gaffy in particular. It is not just what has been found, but I have learned quite a bit about how to search Irish records and piece stories together.