The+Grahams

=The picture below shows Nana and Papa Graham with their son, Dan (my uncle). It's the only picture I have of my Papa. In fact I don't remember ever seeing him at all. I have vivid memories of Nana Graham - a real character! If there were wedding cakes to be baked, or even wedding outfits to be made - she did it all (and with great style!).=

What happened to the family after that is a bit of a mystery. There is no trace of them anywhere in Scotland on the 1901 census.
===Recently, however, I received an email from Mary R in America who was kind enough to share some information she had discovered about Susan, my nana's mum. The story below was told to her by her mother-in-law, Dorothy - Susan's grandchild.===

===//"Susan Kerr (a widow) left her two children John and Mary (aka Aunt Minnie) with her mother in Scotland. Her intentions were to come over to America (where the streets were paved in gold), make some money and then send for her children. She worked nights at sewing. She met and married Patrick Devaney. She tried to save money to bring over her two children. Susan had more children over here...naming two of them after her two in Scotland...John, Mary (Dorothy's mother), Jimmy and Eleanor. The story goes that when she was 5 months pregnant with twins, she was coming home from work, jumped across a puddle which caused her to lose that pregnancy. Somehow John knew she had been pregnant with twins. That fact came out when Dorothy (Ron's mom) had twins, Donna and Diane in 1960. According to mom's words..."she died in childbirth" after another pregnancy on January 1, 1909. After Susan died Patrick Devaney married Nora. No one ever called her "grandma" but rather Aunt Nora. Mom seems to think the "aunt" title had to do with that fact that she may have been a relative by marriage but is not sure. She said that she was a wonderful woman. She also said that it was after Susan died that Patrick tried to send for Susan's two children in Scotland knowing that was what her goal was. However Susan's mother said that Scotland was their home and so that never happened. Patrick and Nora had children of their own...Marty (the oldest), Joey (2nd), Billy (3rd) and Tommy (the 4th). According to mom "something was wrong with Billy...he was not well". When I questioned her on this she said it was "mental illness". Mom also said that Marty was "just a wonderful and special person". Of course, those four were not blood related to Susan but were half brothers of Susan's children here in America. Mom's recollection of her Uncle John was that he was "a heavy drinker". Uncle Jimmy "died from eating a pork chop". Odd little facts!!!// " ===

===On the 4th of July 1912, Mary (Nana) married John Graham in St Anthony's Chapel in Govan, Glasgow. Mary was 19 and a wool winder, John was 29 and a Riviters Holder-Up (great job description!!). John was living in Port Glasgow, whereas Mary was living at 113 Elder Park Street in Govan. Mary's mum, Susan was deceased at the time of the wedding.===





In the video below, Aunt Marie and cousin Elizabeth chat about what they know about how they met
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===The extract below shows that Mary's grandmother, Helen Kerr, died on the sixteenth of January 1914, aged 60yrs. She died of cancer of the tongue. Mary signed the death certificate and she gives her address as 66 Port Glasgow Road.===

===Helen's husband, Patrick Kerr had passed away 3 years previously on the 25th march 1911. He had chronic bronchitis and cardiac disease. Both certificates show the couple as living at 10 Baker Street, Greenock at the time of their death.===



===Somehow, Mary (Nana) managed to trace her mum's (Susan) relatives in America and decided she wanted to visit them. Dorothy R (Susan's grandaughter) remembers her visit. She knew her as Aunt Minnie. in her recent email to me, Dorothy's daughter-in-law wrote:===

==="//She remembers when Aunt Minnie came over to visit in the 60's..."all by herself". She thought that was so brave of her. She remembered that when they were down at the sea shore with Mary...they would eat off of paper plates...and Aunt Minnie would not let them throw away the paper plates. Instead she insisted on washing them so that they wouldn't be wasted. She said that Aunt Minnie was "a good living soul".// I think the picture below was taken on that visit to America. Nana is seated far right. ===

===I've no idea why Nana moved to Govan as a teenager (as shown in her marraige certificate), but a small clue may be that a Patrick Boag (Mary's brother?) was recorded in the 1901 census as being an 'inmate and scholar' aged 10 in some sort of institution in Calton in Glasgow. Could it be that they ended up in the 'Poorhouse' there after dad James died?===



A closer look. His birthplace is shown as Greenock.
===Patrick did eventually marry. Records show that on the 15th January 1929, Patrick (a Ship Rigger) married Elizabeth Bennett Gauld (27), a Domestic Servant. At this time, Patrick was living at 31 White Street, Govan. He gave his mother's name as Susan Boag (nee Kerr) subsequently Devenie.===

===All did not go well for poor Patrick. He ended up in Hawkhead Mental Hospital and died there on the 22nd September aged 46. The cause of death is given as "General Paralysis of the Insane" Oh dear!!! He still gave his mum's name as Susan Boag (nee Kerr) subsequently Devaney (note the change of spelling of the name Devenie given on his marraige certificate). Curiously, he gave his father's occupation as a Police Constable..... well he did die in a mental hospital - some strange co-incidences though?===



In this video, some family members try to piece together the story of poor Patrick, and wonder why no-one ever knew of him until now.
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Here goes!
===In 1881 the census shows John Graham (born Ireland), a 55 year old widow, living in Port Glasgow with his daughter Margaret (25), his 2 grand daughters (Mary Jane and Esther), another daughter (16), two sons (18&14) and his two brothers, Michael and Henry over from Ireland.===



===Ten years later, the 1891 census shows Maggie Graham (now 36) living in Rogers Court, Port Glasgow with her two daughters, Mary Jane and Esther, and also a son John aged 8 (my Papa). Note that the middle child, Esther, was born in Ireland.===



The picture below shows Maggie and her son John (my pop)


===In 1899 Margaret was living at 23 Balfour Street when she married Daniel McGrail, a 42 yr old seaman. The records show that she was now a widow who had been married to Henry Mooney. I can find no trace of that marriage (maybe she married him in ireland, though!). She signed with an 'X' mark.===



The picture below is said to be my pop's dad .... but could it be hie stepdad, Daniel McGriel. He certainly looks like he's wearing a seaman's uniform!
===The 1901 census shows Margaret McGrial (or McGriel? - either way, the surname is not McGrail as it was on the marriage certificate above?) as being a 44yr old widow, still living at 23 Balfour St. in Port Glasgow with her 3 children - Mary (24), Esther (22) and John (18).===

===Years ago, my dad's brother, Uncle John, gave Jack and me a photocopy of a 'shares' certificate issued to Daniel McGriel by the Blackfoot Mining and Development Co. Ltd. in Idaho. I'll add a photo of it here soon. The date is clearly 1904 .... so not widowed then?===

===My Papa's mother sounds like some character - but a 'survivor'. She died on the 6th of March 1934 at Highland Avenue, Port Glasgow. She died of natural causes and old age. The death certificate gives her age as 74, however this was later amended to read 81yrs!!===

===One thing that puzzled me in this story is the different details that appear regarding Margaret's mother's name. As mentioned previously, Her mum was on her birth certificate as being Ann (nee McLean). When Margaret married Daniel, she recorded that her mother's details were Elizabeth (nee Craig). And on her death certificate, her mother is noted as being Mary Jane (nee Kerr)!!===

I've also managed to trace Joseph and Michael's birth certificates (Margaret's younger brothers). Both certificates have the mother's name as Jane (nee Kerr):


===There's too much other evidence surrounding these birth certificates for me to doubt that they're all talking about the same mother. I did, however, have a lot of difficulty tracing their mum's death certificate. The one below is the best I can come up with. I'm pretty sure it's her, especially as Margaret's first born is also called Mary Jane. If it is her, she died of [|Typhus Fever]=== ===Everyone else on her Scotland's People page list died of the same thing (not related to typhoid fever!). I think it was common in crowded conditions where lice could spread easily. Was there an epidemic? .... Probably! It's interesting that there were no relatives mentioned in any of these certificates - was she quarantined? She died aged 45 in 1869.===



===There was a big family kitchen (family room) at the back of this large detatched property. There was the 'television room' - only the Boarders used that room (I used to 'peek in' and remember seeing around 4 or 5 men watching the telly). My dad once told me that during WW2 they ate like kings because the 'boarders' were able to get their hands on all sorts of 'rationed' goods - like great cuts of steak, etc.).===

===There was the 'maids room' - yes, she even had some of those, too!! Rosemary and me and my cousin Geraldine used to play in there when we were about maybe 9 or 10? I don't think there were any maids employed by that time, but there was definately maids' outfits in there. It was our 'dressing-up' area - lots of other of Nana's creations, too - great fun for 'wee girls'.===

===There was also a large parlour room with a grand piano. That's where all the family parties took place. I think there were lots! The Grahams were great performers. Some sang, some played the piano, some played the accordion. Cousin Elizabeth played the 'spoons'!===

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===We used to take the subway there. It was harder to visit after we moved to Castlemilk. That meant we had to take a no. 14 bus all the way into town bus, then a subway to Cessnock. From the subway it was a very short walk.===

===I've included a picture of Minnie below. She's the one in the black dress. My mum, Jenny, is in the picture, too. She is second from the left. Aunt Marie is between Jess and my mum. Marie was married to Jim, my dad's brother.===



===The picture below shows my DAD!! I've got no idea why he's dressed as a lady! I do know that his mum, Nana Graham, was very theatrical. He must have been acting in a play. I don't know who the lady is.===



===The house is still there today. It doesn't looked lived in. I'd love a look around! Uncle John, dad's brother owned it. I think he took over the mortgage payments after he came home from WW2. He was a prisoner of war in Germany. My sister, Rosemary, still has some of the letters he wrote from there. He lived in Woodville St with Nana and pop and his two children - Elizabeth and John. There's a picture of them below. My sister Miriam is wearing the patterned costume, then there's Elizabeth and John.===



===After Nana died, the house was sold and all the furniture was aquired by one of these people who offer rediculously small amounts to empty the house. Apparently, a lot of the items were later seen in an antique shop for large amounts of money!! Some things survived, though. In this short video clip taken at my sister Pat's house last Christmas, Nana's dinner gong is heard allerting everyone that 'dinner is served' ... exactly as it used to be used all those years ago! I'm the cameraman - you'd think I would have included a shot of the actual gong (picture to follow!).===

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=The Dinner Gong .... added Christmas 2007 at the Vass household 'Neil and Steph' engagement celebration!!=

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=Below shows how we met Simon? Graham at Miriam's wedding .... Grahams and Hislops meet again :)=

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=The Graham sisters .... Pat, me and Rosemary, visit the Hislop family hotel room at the grandaughter of Nana Peggy's wedding 28/12/07= media type="google" key="6938589059897191229&hl=en-GB" width="400" height="326"