According to the 1850 census, Jackson Parish, Louisiana Wm J. Greyham was 7 years old and he was born in Louisiana. In fact, he was the first of Robert and Ruth's children to be born in Louisiana, which is important to know to try and pin down the year when the family moved from Mississippi to Louisiana.
Christiana E. age 8 was most likely born in 1842, and we know from William Jackson Graham's death records that he was born on 29 Oct 1843, which means that the family moved sometime in 1842 or before the end of Oct 1843.
His death certificate also states that he was born in Jackson Parish, Louisiana. The informant of the information on the death certificate was H. R. Graham (Hadley Robert Graham), one of William's sons.
However, Jackson Parish was not formed until 1845, so William could not have been born in Jackson Parish in 1843. Jackson Parish was created 27 February 1845 from Claiborne, Ouachita, and Union Parishes (1). Obviously, William Jackson Graham was born in one of these other parishes, but which one?
As a side note, William's younger sister Julia Ann also thought to be born in Jackson Parish was actually born 22 Feb 1845 which was just 5 days before the Jackson Parish was formed.
A quick online search of the BLM GLO for all land patents acquired by any Robert Graham turned up only 3 in Jackson Parish and 1 in Rapides Parish that could have been our Robert Graham. While these records do place the Robert Graham family in Jackson and Rapides Parishes at specific times, they do not help with the birthplace of either William Jackson or Julia Ann Graham.
On the 1850 Jackson Parish census Robert Graham is listed with real estate valued at $250. This would have been property he acquired prior to the earliest land patent in 1851. It is not know when he acquired this earlier property or in which parish -- Jackson or if before 27 Feb 1845, which parish.
The next steps will be to see if there are any courthouse records for Robert Graham in Jackson Parish and in any of the 3 prior Parishes (Claiborne, Ouachita, or Union) or perhaps church records of William and Julia Ann's baptisms.
More about William Jackson Graham in upcoming blog posts.
1. Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Jackson_Parish,_Louisiana
