James GRAHAM born 1757 in Mumbiehirst(?) Canonbie

[mjvdpeet]

Hi everyone

I'm in search of parents for James Graham and birth records for his children. 

This is what I know:
- he was married to Mary Anderson on 17 April 1801 in Canonbie. The marriage record lists him as being from Mumbiehirst.  I don't know if this was his present address or place of birth.  Either way, "Mumbiehirst" I gather refers to a farm north of Canonbie toward Langholm.
- He died 9 September 1824 aged 67 according to his headstone (transcript here (#6) and image here).
- From his headstone I can gather that he had children named Fanney, Elizabeth and William.  I can also gather their approximate years of birth.
- I also know he had a son named Andrew, from whom my wife is descended.  From his death record I can also infer his year of birth.  From census records I know that he was born in Canonbie.

A search of microfilm containing the Canonbie baptisms, marriage and burials for the era did not yield very much information, only:
- Evidence of James' marriage to Mary. 
- A James Graham baptism on 19 April 1758 (image here), however I have no way of knowing if this is the correct James Graham.  It reads "19 April William Graham and his wife in [something beginning with "M" that I don't think is Mumbiehirst] had a son James".
- No evidence of any baptism record for any of the children.

I don't know where to look next.  Any clues please?

Thanks 
Matt

[GR2]

The 1758 baptism is on the 9th April, not the 19th. There is an earlier entry for 19th March. The place-name seems rather to start with Miln.......

I have had a look at the 1797-98 Farm Horse Tax register for Canonbie. There are four people listed under "Mumbyhirst" : Walter Hog, Andrew Graham, William Hog, John Bell. They each pay 2/- as they each have one liable horse. William Hog has a second horse which is not liable for tax.

Perhaps/probably the Andrew Graham here is your man's father, especially as your man was living there at the time of his marriage.?

I also see, from an online transcription of monumental inscriptions at Canonbie, that the William Hog (in Nether Mumbihurst - died 1830 aged 80) was married to Ann Graham (died 1847 aged 86). Sounds as if she is one of your Grahams too.

[mjvdpeet]

Thanks GR2.  You are correct, I had read the wrong date.  I also thought it might begin with "Miln".  The only name on the Farms and Dwellings list here that fits that description is "Milnholm", though the list of names from the 1896 Ordnance Maps in this post lists no such place.

Thank you also for alerting me to the existence of the Farm Horse Tax Register, this is a new one on me. 

As for Ann Graham, she is indeed of the right era to be a sister to James.  I shall have to look for her too next time I get my hands on the microfilm.

Thanks again for your help.

[mjvdpeet]

In case anyone else ever lands here trying to figure this out, here is the conclusion that I have come to.  With the help of GR2 and Bridget (who runs the 19th Century Longtown website and has a great knowledge of the Monumental Inscriptions at Canonbie) we managed to determine that James Graham baptised on 19 April 1758 is the wrong James Graham.  This is based on this inscription which matches the birthplace on the baptism record linked in the first post:

Sacred to the remembrance of James GRAHAM of Nether-Millsteads who died there August 10th 1801 aged 43 years. He was a man eminent for his probity, integrity, Christian benevolence and piety to God. And of Mary ARMSTRONG his spouse who removed in her widowhood from the above place to Middle-ridge resided there 30 years and died Augt 27th 1846 aged 90 years. She was a woman distinguishes by her hospitality tenderness of heart and patience in adversity and who in the tenor of a long life paid testimony to the faith as it is in joy. And of James GRAHAM their son who died at Nether-millsteads March 15th 1802 aged 6 ½ years.

So I had another rummage through the baptisms and came up with this: "Oct. 10th (1756) - Andrew Graham and his wife in Mumbiehirst had a son James." James is the first child appearing in the records. Eventually after a number of subsequent children the records start to name the mother too, so it seems very likely that James' mother was Margaret Little, especially given how few residents of Mumbiehirst there were (as per GR2 Farm Horse Tax search). For the sake of completeness the full list of children of Andrew Graham and Margaret Little:
- James Graham baptised 10 Oct 1756
- Janet Graham baptised 12 Oct 1758
- Sibilla Graham baptised 5 Oct 1760
- Andrew Graham baptised 1 Mar 1765
- (Unknown) Graham baptised 21 Sep 1767
- Margaret Graham baptised 7 May 1769
- Agnes Graham born 16 Dec 1771
- John Graham baptised 13 Apr 1773

So now onto the search for Andrew Graham and Margaret Little.  The Canonbie church records start to get scarce around this era though, so I don't fancy my chances. 

Thanks GR2 and Bridget.

[sward1066]

I can’t tell how old this post is, as I’m new to rootschat and I can’t see a year date, but I was just looking up exactly the same James Graham and trying to figure out where Mumbiehirst might be. Thanks for the clarification. I think James Graham might be an ancestor of mine, his daughter Janet being my 2x great grandmother.