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Searching for my Irish ancestors, Gribbin and Graham, early 1800s and before

I'm hoping to find a volunteer that can help me locate and identify my Irish ancestors; I have all I can locate in the USA.

My great great grandfather, Robert S. Gribbin (B: April 18, 1829 Ireland, D: July 8, 1899 Philadelphia, PA). Immigrated to America about July 9, 1849. He had one known brother, John Gribbin (B: about 1834 Ireland, D: May 18, 1866 Brooklyn, NY).

Robert S. Gribbin married Nancy Agnes Graham August 27, 1855 in Philadelphia, Pa. at Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Nancy Agnes Graham (B: February 13, 1833 Ireland, D: July 30, 1903 Philadelphia, Pa). Daughter of Andrew Graham (B: 1808 Ireland, D: June 4, 1884 Philadelphia, Pa) and Mary Hanna (Hanna may be middle name or maiden name) (B: 1809 Ireland, D:December 13, 1891). One other daughter born in Ireland, Elizabeth Graham (B: 1837 Ireland, D: December 26, 1855 Philadelphia, Pa). The next child was born September 1840 in Philadelphia, Pa; thus, immigration would have taken place between 1837 and 1840.

I have no information on county location for the Gribbin or Graham families. Would greatly appreciate any assistance or being directed towards possible record locations.

Kindest regards,

Kay Gribbin

dkaygribbin

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You can use this site to see where a particular surname was most common in Ireland in the mid 1850s. In the case of Gribbin, the counties of Londonderry/Derry, Antrim & Down leap out. Graham is likewise very common in those same 3 counties. So that’s your likely search area.

https://www.johngrenham.com/surnames/

Gribbin was mostly a Catholic name, going by the 1901 census of Ireland, whereas Graham was mostly Protestant ie Church of Ireland or Presbyterian. Tradition in Ireland was to marry in the bride’s church. If they did the same in Philadelphia then you can probably assume that the Graham family were Presbyterian. That also points to Ulster as their origins (being the part of Ireland where most Presbyterians lived). Presbyterianism was brought to Ireland by Scots settlers in the 1600s, so the Grahams will likely be of Scots origins. As will the Hannas, I suspect.

Finding a marriage and births in the 1830s will be difficult. It’s long before the start of statutory registration (1864) and you need to rely on church records, not all of which have survived and not all of which are on-line. The most comprehensive set of church records for Ulster are in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast but without some idea of where in that part of Ireland the families lived it’s a needle in a haystack. Try the rootsireland site (subscription). They have a good selection of Irish baptisms and marriages.

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

 

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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