In the never ending search for the
parents of my Robert Graham born 20 Aug 1818 in Mississippi, who married Ruth
Smith sometime before 1838, and died 10 Feb 1890 in Rapides Parish, Louisiana,
this week I am looking at the Robert Graham born sometime before 1770 in North
Carolina, who married Christian Keahey, and died Feb 1825 in Hinds County,
Mississippi. It is certain that this Robert Graham also had a son named Robert Graham, but which Robert Graham was this?
Farmer's history of the Graham Family:
Previous researchers have provided
an undocumented list of children for Robert and Christian Graham. The
best known is the list compiled by James Morris Farmer in The History of the
Graham Family for the Graham Family Reunion 1979. Farmer does a great job of providing
background information and sources on the Grahams. However, like most family
historians of his time, he does not tell us how he determined the different
family relationships. The list of children for Robert and Christian
Graham from Farmer is:
- John Graham
- Charles Graham
- Anthony Graham
- unknown son from 1820 census
- Reuben Graham
- Sarah Graham
- Archibald Graham
- George Jackson Graham
- Robert Graham - wife Charlotte Pennington
I left off the spouses for the
children, with the exception of Robert Graham's wife. It is the Robert’s wife's name that helps to
distinguish between the 2 Robert Graham living in Scott County, Mississippi in
1840. See my previous blog for more on this discussion.
Graham children's guardianship order:
The probate records for Robert
Graham Sr. who died in 1825, supplies the names of his minor children as of
March 1827. The following record was
transcribed by me on 15 July 2013.
Hinds County Probate Court
March
Term 1827
“Pleas
and Proceedings had before the Hon. Jno W. N. A Smith Judge of the Probate for
Hinds County the 4th Monday of March 1827”
[deleted section not applying to
Robert Graham]
"Ordered
that John Graham be appointed Guardian of the person and property of Reuben
Graham and Sarah
Graham Archibald Graham Christian Graham George Jackson Graham and Robert
Graham Minors
and heirs of Robert Graham deceased he having given bond and took the oath
according to law."
With
this list, we can say with certainty that at least the following were children of
Robert Graham:
- Reuben Graham
- Sarah Graham
- Archibald Graham
- Christian Graham
- George Jackson Graham
- Robert Graham
We
already knew, from her 1836 deed of gift, that Jackson Graham and Robert Graham
were the 2 youngest sons of Christiana Graham (See my blog, Christian Graham’s
Deed of Gift).
Jackson
Graham and George Jackson Graham are one and the same; he continued to use both
names off and on throughout his life.
Robert Grayham probate distribution of property:
It
would be nice to think that the names of the minor children appear in
chronological order, since the 2 youngest are already in chronological order.
And, it would be great to assume that John Graham was indeed the oldest
son of Robert Graham, but there is nothing in writing to confirm this.
The next piece of evidence also
comes from the probate court. The following is my transcript of the division of
Robert Grayham's property from the Hinds
County Mississippi. Probate Court Records, Inventory books, v 1 1822-1836:
December
the 3rd day of 1827
This
is to certify to the Honorable Orphans Court of Hines County that we the
under[?]
commissioners
legally appointed by the authority of the aforesaid Orphans Court have
properly
discharged our duty as commissioners to make decisions in the Estate of Robert
Gra[?]
deceased
the divisions states as follows. We allot to the widow of the Late Robert
Grayham
One
negro woman named Dinah appraised to 500 dollars and also 215.821/2 which
[illegible]
715.841/2
which is one third of the Estate which she [illegible] as Dower to have and for
her use
during
the term of her natural life.
Christian
Grayham R widow received
" "
$715 [off the edge of the
page]
Margaret
Keahey
do "
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
John
Grayham
do
"
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
Charles
Grayham
do
" "
143 [off the edge of the page]
Anthony
Grayham
do
"
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
Reuben
Grayham
do
"
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
Sarah
Grayham
do
"
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
Christian
Grayham
do
" "
143 [off the edge of the page]
Archibald
Grayham
do
"
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
George
J. Grayham do
"
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
Robert
Grayham
do
"
"
143 [off the edge of the page]
We
do also certify that one negro girl named Mary appraised to $400 was equally divided
amongst the five minor heirs I.E. Sarah Grayham, Archibald Grayham Christian
Grayham George J Grayham and Robert Grayham one fifth part of said girl allotted
to each and that the balance in money difference to make the above amount of
[illegible] which
negro Girl is to remain in the hands of John Grayham Guardian of said minor inheritants
we set our signatures
Dempsey Smith
Alijah Genty
Henry Long
Transcribed
17 July 2013 by Norah Glover
At this time, there are only 5 minor
children, as Reuben apparently reached adulthood after the March 1827
guardianship order. With this division of property, we learn that
Christian Grayham was indeed Robert's widow, and the additional names
of Margaret Keahey (a married daughter?), John, Charles, and Anthony. They all received the same identical shares of the Robert's estate as did Reuben and the
5 minor children. It is likely that all of these named inheritants were the
children of Robert and Christian Graham, but still we cannot say that this with absolute certainty. Also, the order of
Christian and Archibald differ on the 2 documents putting the exact order of
the children in doubt.
The names on this disposition of
property list are to those on Farmer's list, with the addition of
Margaret and Christian. Margaret Keahey is a bit problematic as
Keahey was also the mother Christian Graham's maiden name, but marriage to a Keahey cousin was
not out of the question. It will take more research to resolve the relationship
of Margaret to the rest of the family.
The spelling of the name
Graham/Grayham differs between the 2 documents.
The name Graham is often spelled Grayham throughout official records in
Mississippi. But there is no doubt that these names belong to the same
family members.
While this all helps to determine
the names of Robert and Christian Graham's children, it still does not resolve
the problem of which Robert Graham living in Scott County, Mississippi in 1840
was the son of Robert and Christian Graham. Additional research and analysis
of the available records and information is needed.
As always I invite comments and additional insight.
Sources:
Farmer,
James Morris, The History of the Graham Family for the Graham Family Reunion
1979. Raleigh, N.C.
Hinds
County Mississippi. Probate Court Records, 1822-1875. Hinds County,
Mississippi, US/CAN Film 878735. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Hinds
County Mississippi. Probate Court Records, Inventory books, v 1 1822-1836.
Hinds County, Mississippi. US/CAN Film 878746. Family History Library, Salt
Lake City, Utah.
