Grahams of Rowan & Iredell Counties, North Carolina

Grahams of Rowan & Iredell Counties, North Carolina

by Robert L Graham
Grahams of Rowan & Iredell Counties, North Carolina

Grahams of Rowan & Iredell Counties, North Carolina

by Robert L Graham

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Overview

The book has a lot of historical content along with some poetry and humor. The main part is falily history including some of the sescenants of James Gram born in Scotland in 1670 along with documentation on the descendants

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781468575538
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication date: 08/08/2012
Pages: 472
Product dimensions: 8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.95(d)

Read an Excerpt

Grahams of Rowan & Iredell Counties, North Carolina


By Robert L. Graham III

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Robert L. Graham
All right reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4685-7553-8


Chapter One

OUR ANCIENT SIRES

by Edgar A. Guest


Now when you think your task is hard and working hours are long,
Remember, in the ancient days, they died who were not strong,
They had to build their walls and roof and hew the wood for fire,
They had to catch and kill their meat and spin for warm attire.

They dipped the water from a well; no rest from toil they knew,
With aching backs and blistered hands they paid for all they grew,
And though thru years were cruel things and would no mercy give;
The men and women braved them through and though it good to live.

Now you have but one task to do that asks six hours a day,
And yet you whimper it's too hard; too long to work to stay.
For you've forgot those ancient sires who toiled their whole lives through,
And never thought their hours too long; their tasks too much to do.


MY FOREBEARERS


To all of you, my forebearers here I give thanks
While there yet remain the time for giving,___
Thanks for the fact that through you I now live,
And I know the boundless joy there is in living.
Author unknown


WHERE IS THE HEART

Where is the heart that doth not keep
Within it's inner most core.
Some fond memories hidden deep
of days that are no more.
Author unknown


KITH AND KIN

If you could see your ancestors
All stnding in a row.
Would you be proud of them or not
Or don't you really know?
Some strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees
And some of them you know, do not
Particularly please.

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them perhaps
You wouldn't care to know
But theres another question, which
Require a different view,
If you could meet your ancestors
Would they be proud of you?
Author unknown

Historical Information

"What they did never blinded them to the meaning of what they were doing"

Graham

Originally Graeme - savage, gloomy. The family descended, it is supposed from Graeme, a general in the army of Fergus II, year 404.

Graham

Name & Place

Graham is a Scottish name, derived from the manor of Greagham ( Grey Home ) which is mentioned in the Doomesday Book. The Scottish Grahams were first established in the lowlands, and are popularly associated with Montrose in Angus.

Origins

We are indebted to Nellie Lowry Graham, The Clan Graham Society Genealogist, who wrote the following::

Scholars have long debated whence came the people and the name Graham. Some say the Grahams are descendants of the Graeme who commanded the armies of Fergus II in 404 AD. Others are equally convinced that they are of Norman descent, while others claim a Flemish or even Danish descent. Even the early officers of Clan Graham Society could not agree, with first President Harry L. Graham holding to a Norman connection although the first Society Genealogist J.. Kenneth Graham was in the Pictish Scot (Graeme) camp. Which is correct? We will examine the writings of these and other scholars and allow you to draw your own conclusions.

Harry L. Graham and researcher Thomas Dickson Graham of Clearwater, Florida, wrote in: From Whence the Montrose Grahams (1979):

"William de Graham was the youngest son of William de Tancarville of Danish descent, and Matilda d'Arques, direct descendent of three Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings. The father was a Baron of Normandy, and went to England with William the Conqueror in 1066, and for his services received a great barony in Lincolnshire called Grantham. He also had great properties in Normandy. Eventually, he turned his Norman properties over to his eldest son, Rabel, and moved to England where he later became Treasurer for King Henry I and Justice of England." William de Graham was born about the time of the Norman invasion, whether in Normandy or in England is unknown, probably Normandy. As soon as he was old enough, he became Seneshal (business manager) for his father at the Barony of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. He took the name William de Grantham which was soon shortened to William Graham (sometimes written Graeme). The book, The Norman people says:"In all the early records of England, Graham means Grantham in Lincoln; and William de Graham settled in Scotland in the time of King David I, (1124-1153) and obtained Abercom and Dalkeith.

"The English branches of the de Tancarville were generally named by Chamberlain. The banner of the Chamberlains of Lincoln bore three escallops, which also appear in the arms of de Graham or de Grantham, originally from Lincoln. Sir John Graham of Dundaff carried a banner with three golden escallps on a field of Black. The same three golden escallops area part of the Montrose Coat of Arms.) From this family descended the fame Marquis of Montrose and the brave Viscount of Dundee; also Sir James Graham of Netherby, the eminent statesman.

Evidence From The Falaise Roll

The Falaise Roll (a list of those who assisted William the Conqueror) says: William de Chamberlain de Tancarville, had a son, William (de Grantham) de Graham, from whom descended the Famous Marquis of Montrose, Viscount of Dundee and the Graham Family."

The Encyclopedia Britannica, 13th edition, says under Grantham: "Although there is no authentic evidence of Roman occupation, Grantham (Graham, Granham in Doomesday Book) from its situate on the Ervine Street, is supposed to have been a Roman station. Grantham in Lincolnshire, England was situated ... on the River Witham - 105 miles north by west from London.

William de Graham fought with the forces of King Henry I (1100-1135), son of William the Conqueror, at Laigle in 1116 and 1119 at the Battle of Bremule. He commanded the English forces in the Battle of Bourgtesraude in 1124. He was in Scotland in 1125 when he witnessed a charter for the gift of land from King David I at Holyrood House. William de Graham married a daughter or sister of Odon Stigand, dapifer (meaning Stewart), an attendant at the Court of Duke William, later the Conqueror,. They had these children:

1. Rabel, who was his successor at Grantham

2. Peter, who went to Scotland;

3. John, who went to Scotland; and possibly

4. Alan, mentioned by Stewart in his book, The Grahams.

William de Graham died about 1128. Future Grahams dropped the 'de' from their name as it no longer had any meaning, since they were no longer "of " or "from" Graham. Graham then became the surname for all future generations.

Society Officers Divided

Besides the above authorities, Society President Harry L. Graham found many references to the people of Tancarville in the definitive biography of William the Conqueror by David C. Douglas, and in the 13th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

So convinced was he of his Norman research that President Graham added this note at the end: "This does not clear up the origin if the name 'Graham and it derivations among the Pictish Scots."

Society Genealogist J. Kenneth Graham wrote his thesis on the origin of the Grahams in 1981, advancing his theory of a Pictish Scot connection. This research, a synopsis which follows, including a needling note to President Graham: "You can be a Norman if you wish, and I will stay a Pict descendant of one who was there with Fergus, and helped pull down a part of the Roman wall in the early days."

"I hold that our family line descends from the early Pict people in what is now known as Scotland. The Picts were there long before the year one; and though we may have intermarried with the incoming Scots, and occasionally took a wife from Denmark, our name and main blood line came down from the original natives of old Caldonia, and not from Normandy."

From Or and Sable by Louise Grace Graeme:

"No facts of William de Graeme's ancestry has reached us; tradition alone records that he sprung from a renowned "Graym" who was the father in law of Fergus II, King of Scots, and had come over with that monarch from Denmark. "Graym" is said to have married a Princess of the House of Denmark, and their offspring became the wife of Fergus. He also commanded the king's army, during which period he attacked and demolished the wall of Antoninus, built across Scotland from the Firth of Forth to that of Forth of Clyde, which marked the northern limit of the country conquered by the Romans."

"After the death of King Fergus, "Graym" became the guardian to the young King Eugene (his grandson), and when he had restored the religion, law and order to the state, he resigned his guardianship and placed the government of the kingdom in Eugene's hands as soon as that monarch reached full age. "whether every descendant of the Montrose family accepts this tradition we must leave to their own decision, but it would seem that the characteristics and records of the family point rather to the Scandinavian than Norman Descent, which is the other alternative of William de Graeme's origin."

A Mysterious (And Debatable) Inscription

For those who accept the former, a very interesting account of the building of the wall of Antoninus, showing its date and progress, may be found in Mr. Gillespie's edition of the History of Sterligshire, to which I am indebted for the following: "When Falkirk parish Church (which was built by Malcolm Cnmore) was razed in 1011 a white marble slab" was discovered amongst the foundations, about a foot square in size. It bears two inscriptions - one relating to the foundation of the monastery in 1057, and the other to the memory of the Thane who broke down the graet wall. The latter runs as follows:

FVNLRATVS HIC ROB GRAHAM ILLE EVERVS VALL SEVERVS A.C.D. 15 FERGYSIVS II R. SCO

From the existence of this slab, it seems that the tradition must have been accepted as fact in the year 1057. That the remains of this wall in that district are called to this day "Graham's Dyke" cannot be disputed. (* Metropolitan Museum Edinburgh: This is thought by some to be a forgery.)

James Bowne's' assertion is that the whole tradition is "absurd fiction" is scarcely argumentive, and certainly not proof, especially as he appears unable to to give any reason for the name Dyke bears: the etymology, he says, "has confounded antiquarians and puzzled philologists" which he throws great doubt on its being derived from "Grym", which signifies strength, in the British and Welsh languages of the period.

In an old black-letter book in the library at Innerpaffray, Perthshire, (the title page of which is very quaintly ornamented and bears the date 1577 as the tear of printing), is the most detailed account of "Grym" that I have hereto come across.

The book is a history of Scotland, dedicated to the Lord Robert Dunley, Earl of Lycester, Baron of Denbigh, Knight of the Garter, etc. The author is one Raphael Holmshead. The following are extracts: "The Scots and Picts being informed (of the building of the wall) they assembled together, and under the leading of a noble man called Graym, they set upon the Brytagnes (who were building the Dyke from Abercom to Dumbarton by order of the Romans, making it of 'turfe', sustained with certain posts of timber passing athwart the border) as they were buie in working the same, and slue not only a great number of labours and souldiours, which were to set to labour to defend the work, but also entering into the British borders fetched from thence a great bootie of Cattaile and other riches, etc. "This Graym, who as I sayde was chief of the enterprys, was borne in Denmark (as some bode opinion) in the tyme of the Scottish men's banishment, and had a Scottish man to his father descended of a noble house, and a Danish lady to his mother; he himself also married a noble woman of that nation, and had by him a daughter, whom Fergus by the perswasione of the King of Denmark took to wyfe, and had issue by hir (before his coming into Scotland) three sons Eugunius, Dongarus and Constantuos, of whom hereafter mention will be made.

"Others affryme that this Grayme was Briton born, and throe hate of the Romans for their cruel government he fledde forth his native country, and continued ever after amongst the Scottes, first in Denmark and then in Albion."

'The Leadership of Graym'

The author goes on to relate that whilst the Britons were busy sending "ambassadors" to Rome to consult about their defenses, the Picts and Scots advanced under the leadership of "Graym". He was chief in repulsing the "Bretagnes, and razed down the wall of Abercom, not leaving one piece thereon, so that only a few tokens are left to this day of that huge and wonderful work; it is called now in these days Grams Dyke, because that Grayme ye have heard was not only the chief in repulsing the Bretagnes from the same, but also at this time in the razing of it he was the greatest doer."

Mr. Gillespie's History of Sterlingshire tells us that this wall runs along from Castle Cary parallel with Bonny water. After clearing Seabog Wood, it passes on to Chapel Hill, where a small Catellum stood on the north side of the ditch. It is between this point and Eli Hill that the wall bears the local name of "Graham's Dyke" from the tradition that it was at this spot "Graym" brole trough the military cordon defending it.

For my purposes, the years 1225-39, with their indisputable proof of the tenure of the Graeme on Scotch soil, are sufficient. Certainly at this period, William de Grame was a person of assured position and wealth and established (as many of his descendants were to be also in the confidence and friendship of his king).

The first time the spelling of the name is written Graham is in Cambuskenneth charters in 1361. Hereto, it has been spelt Grame or Graym.

George Graham born in 1669, the Bishop of Orkney and Zetland had a large illustrious tree of his descent which was presented by him in 1177 to Stuart Thriepland in consequence of their relationship through the monk's mother, Ann Smyth. This tree is elaborately drawn out and shows 22 quarterings on either side. Here and there are some blanks are left; it is illuminated on parchment folded into a morocco leather cover, and was drawn up to show his descent - a necessary qualification before being made Father Superior of the Capuchins. This tree is later on proved of some use in the "service" of the eighth laird to the Earldom of Montrose in 1770. On the left of the tree Father Graeme traces his descntback to Graeme the father in law of King Eugene, son of King Fergus, whose storming of the Roman wall in 407 A.D. has given the place near Falkirk the name of Graeme's Dyke, which it holds to this day. The center tablet states that "This is five and forty branches of the stems of which the four brothers James, Patrick, Robert and William Graeme are all heritably descended both from the father's and mother's side."

Norman, Pictish or Danish?

Other sources and scholars had opinions and theories on the origins and we present some of them to help in your decision to be Norman, Pictish or Danish descent:

From Calns and Families of Scotland, page 95:"According to Buchanan of Auchmar, an ancestor of this family was appointed Regent or Governor of Scotland, during the minority of Eugenius, the successor of Kink Fergus; and being engaged in war with the Britons, he had an army over the wall of Agricola from which circumstances this wall has ever since entertained the name of Graham's Dyke. In the year 1125, William de Graham is witness to the foundation charter of Hoylrood House. After which the family appears as Grantees in many charters, and are incidentally mentioned in others, so that thenceforth their history appears pretty clear and credible. A Sir Patrick was created Baron Graham in 1455; W illiam, third lord, was killed at the Battle of Flodden; and his grandson, Robert, fell at the Battle of Pinkie."

Dictionary of National Biographies, Vol. 6, page 51, another book on the peerage says: "The name has always been written interchangeably with Graeme, the Scottish Orthography. The earliest traceable ancestor (for we reject, of course, the fifth century hero, Graeme) is William de Graham, who settled in Scotland early in the 12th century. The surname, therefore, is clearly local and from its termination undoubtedly English. The only place in S. Britain of the name, which we find , is Graham near Kesteven, in Lincolnshire." The place meant is the well known town of Grantham, which is found as "Graham" in Medival records.

The Book of Surnames by Robert Bell, page 81: "the name is territorial in origin from Grantham in Lincolnshire, a place noted in the Domesday Book, as both Grantham and Graham. The de Grahams were of Anglo-Norman family who settled in Scotland in the early 12th Century. The first of the name on record is William de Graham who witnessed the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey in 1128. He was later granted the lands of Abercom and Dalkeith in Midlothian by David I. From that time the Grahams played a very important part in the affairs of Scotland."

A Vote for the Anglo-Saxons

In the Clan Graham News, Vol. 2 No. 5 , July 1984, an article entitled "Who are the Grahams?" states that "Until recently the origins of the Grahams and their ancestors before they went to Scotland in the year 1026 was obscure. We know know that the family ancestry of the Grahams is traced to the ancient Anglo-Saxon Kinks of England through King Alfred the Great and the Norwegians who settled the Orkney Islands and became the original Vikings under Rollo the Great. They occupied the western Districts of France in 911 A.D. and became the historic Normans. "Matilda, a descendant of King Alfred, married William, the youngest son of Duke Richard I of Normandy. Duke Richard II was the father of Duke William I, the Conqueror. Matilda's daughter, and a cousin of Duke William I, married Gerold de Tankerville. Their youngest son, William de Tankerville, was a first cousin of William the Conqueror. His family were the hereditary Chamberlains of the Dukes of Normandy and prominent in Norman history.. They served with Duke William at Hastings and were rewarded with the Great Barony of Graham in Lincolnshire. The name 'de of Graham originated here. Years later in Scotland the 'de' was dropped and thus the surname became "Graham

William de Graham, who was an English Baron and famous soldier, accompanied Kind David I, also a Norman, to Scotland and, as first Justicar of Scotland witnessed the charters of Holyrood Abbey (1126) and the chapel (1128). He was given the baronies of Dalkeith and Lothian, south of Edinburgh. From this family came all the future Grahams who comprised the 'Great Historic Family of Grahams" in Scotland, the Grahams of Montrose and Monteith being the most prominent.

"Twice they married into the royal family. From them came many notable men, including Sir John de Graham, right hand man to the Great Wallace, killed in the Battle of Falkirk in 1298; the Great Marquis, religious leader, poet but above all, the most distinguished soldier of his time. He was martyred in 1650.

Evidence of Flemish Origin

The last theory we present to you on the origins was first present in an article by Claire Brooks and published in the official newsletter of the Clan Graham Association (UK) in 1998. In it she forceably advances the possibility of Flemish beginnings. The late Roger Graham, then chairman of the association introduced the article as" ... as masterly piece of original historical research, drawing together the many and various strands of the story, producing this lucid and readable account."

(Continues...)



Excerpted from Grahams of Rowan & Iredell Counties, North Carolina by Robert L. Graham III Copyright © 2012 by Robert L. Graham. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Contents

Edgar A. Guest & other poems....................1
Historical Information....................3
The Battles of Scotland....................33
Scotland Maps....................36
Pennsylvania Maps....................38
North Carolina Maps....................41
Outline Descendant Tree of James Graham....................53
Register Report of James Graham....................108
Bibliography....................418
Humor....................420
Index....................422
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