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GRAHAM and McCORMICK in Castlederg area

TyroneUrney (Tyrone)

My 2x great grandfather was Thomas Graham (whose father and mother may have been Robert Graham and Margaret Hamilton). Thomas was born in 1819, married ELIZABETH McCORMICK in 1848, probably having met in Risbean. He may have been an honor guard in the royal navy.He died in 1863 and is buried in Castlederg. Thomas and Elizabeth had 9 children, 3 children who died young and are also buried in Castlederg. All of the 9 children were born in Risbean. They had a small farm in Risbean, which Elizabeth sold after Thomas died.

(Ellen b. 1849, Rebecca died young, Margaret b. 1851, Elizabeth b. 1853, Robert b. 1855, Calhoun b. 1857, twins Annie and Jane (died young) b. 1862, John died young.)

After Thomas' death, his parents sent Elizabeth and 6 children to America, since they considered that Thomas had married a girl socially beneath them. His parents allegedly came from a long line of Scottish chiefs. Thomas may have had 3 or 4 brothers: Robert?, James, Andrew, and John.

ELIZABETH McCORMICK was born in 1829 and died in 1907 in Missouri, USA.Less is known about Elizabeth's parents. She was probably born in England. Family came to Ireland before 1848 for an unknown reason. One marriage source lists her father's first name as Colhoun, whereas family narrative says Robert?? Family lore also says the family was third cousins of Queen Victoria, and the mother was a governess in the royal household. But we all know about the truth of these allegations!

Elizabeth's sibliings were: Ellen b. 1832, Mary Anne b. 1834, unnamed daughter, James, John, and Samuel.

I will be visiting Ireland from 5/15-6/1 with several friends. We will be in the Castlederg area 5/30. Are there any Graham or McCormick families still in the area? Any suggestions on finding the cemetery where Thomas and children were buried?

Thanks!!!

IrelandXO member

21 replies

Kathleen,

You say that you are not certain of Thomas Graham’s father’s name. You should be able to get that from his marriage certificate. He was married on 5.12.1848. The marriage was registered in Strabane. You can view the original certificate on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.

Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church which should be on the certificate (unless it was a Registry Office marriage). That church may be the place to look for her baptism and that of any siblings. Her father’s name and occupation should also be shown on the marriage certificate.

Post a copy or the key details from the certificate on this site, and I’ll see if I can assist with further research.

I haven’t been able to find a townland named Risbean in Co. Tyrone. What’s your source for that information, and what’s Thomas’s townland on the 1848 marriage certificate?

I’d say you are probably right to treat the information about the possible relationship to Queen Victoria with a degree of caution. Queen Victoria’s family is  well documented and it would be a fairly straightforward matter to check if there was a cousin named McCormick. If the McCormick was related, they’d be most unlikely to have been employed as a governess. A relation wouldn’t be given a servant’s job. A McCormick ancestor may well have worked in that role but I very much doubt they’d also be the Queen’s cousin. That'd be infra dig. But as I say that’s easily checked. McCormick is a fairly common Scottish name and I’d guess the family originated in Scotland, like the Grahams, and probably settled in the Tyrone area in the 1600s.  (There’s about 200 McCormick households in Tyrone in Griffiths Valuation for 1859, including quite a few in Urney.). Mac Lysaght is a recognised authority on names in Ireland and according to him, most of the McCormicks in Tyrone originated in Scotland. See: https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=McCormack

Looking at the 1901 census for Tyrone there were 585 Grahams and 209 McCormick/McCormack (most of whom were RC). Quite a few of both names in the Castlederg area. The current phone book has 3 Grahams listed in Castlederg (postcode BT81). There are also McCormicks but they all are ex-directory. (As are half the population these days).

 

 

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Elwyn, Thank you so much. I have requested copy of marriage certificate. Will share information when received. Kathleen

 

 

IrelandXO member

 

Kathleen,

You don’t need to order a copy. You can view it immediately on-line for £2.50, which is a lot less than ordering a full paper copy.

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Kathleen, 

 

By any chance have you done a DNA test? I have matches with people who, I think, have connections with the Urney area and one of these matches is descended from a Hamilton. This person thinks we are related along that line. If you have done the DNA test and we match you might help us figure it out. Do you have a gedmatch number? My gedmatch numbers are as follows:

 

Katie: A726836

Eveylyn: A095479

Iginio: A437990

Mary: A018784

Natalia: 181574

Please let me know what you think.

 

Iginio Fitzpatrick

 

 

 

Iginio

Thanks, Iginio. I have had DNA testing done (mtDNA and autosomal), but don't know gedmatch numbers. Haven't had time to thoroughly investigate results on the website.

 

Thanks, Elwyn.

 

 

IrelandXO member

I have McCormick and Hamilton Ancestors which maybe common surnames however my ancestors John Hamilton + Rebecca Rankin and their daughter Ellen Hamilton married John McCormick who also had a daughter Ellen.  Unfortunately none of your DNA kit numbers show matches to mine in Gedmatch. 

IrelandXO member

Hello, I have done extensive work on these McCormicks and Grahams and I have 2 original files written many decades ago. I would love to share one of them, if you would like.

Carol Bennett

Alda, NE

negramma@aol.com

carolbennett918

from rootsireland: Thomas Graham, father Robert of Creduff. Elizabeth McCormick, father Colhoun from Priesst. marriage 12-05-1848, Crew Bridge C.O.I.

carolbennett918

I think the placename is the townland of Lisleen in the parish of Ardstraw. There is a Thomas Graham listed there in Griffiths valuation. The revision books (from PRONI) show that he is gone by 1863 which ties in with his death date. There is no headstone for Grahams in the list for the graveyard at Derg Parish Church. He may still be buried there.

IrelandXO member

I have 2 sets of letters, both about 90 pages, full of bios etc. John McCormick, bc1791-1881, had a son Thomas b 1823-1873, both buried in Iowa, USA. Since other errors have been found in these letters, I probably need to disprove that the above Thomas of Lisleen, is not mixed with others. One set said Risbean, and the other said Fearn. Father Calhoun McCormick is on the 1826 tithe in Fearn. The owner of the set showing Fearn does not know of a Calhoun, but has a Robert. I would love to share the first set of letters as I have permission to do so, but not with the second set. 

 

carolbennett918
carolbennett918

the above McCormick&Graham excerpt is from the late Ali McK. This file is also available on Ancestry where it is public.

carolbennett918

photo courtesy of the late Ali McK. photo of Calhoun Graham and his mother Elizabeth McCormick-Graham circa 1903. probably taken in Crete, NE or Sumner, MO

carolbennett918

Thanks Bob, Carol and Sheena. Arrived in Dublin yesterday.

IrelandXO member

I may be able to give you a clue to the Graham ancestors, which I feel is unlikely to be that stated in the pdf.

Bob Graham - direct link bobgraham@talktalk.net      

IrelandXO member
  • Iginio, I just ran your Gedmatch kit## and with lowered threshold I do match. I also have a strong match on Ancestry going back to John McCormick and Betty Sproule. I am still stumped as to how I tie in, but according to shared matches on Ancestry, it has to be through my 3rd great grandfather John Wilson. 
  • Bob Graham, interesting to see you on the thread. I have discovered more on our project with our Grahams that we discussed a couple years ago. I am finding lots of dna hits with families from Kesh. I probably need to check Ancestry for Graham matches.
  • Gedmatch A652976

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

carolbennett918

I know this post was quite a few years ago. Thomas Graham is my x3 great grandfather (Calhoun being my x2 great grandfather).  I was curious after your trip if you were able to find any more information on his actual death and/or any more information on his Mother and Father?  This is were I have run into a brick wall in my research.

Ryan Graham

rjg978@gmail.com

Hello Kathleen Jones,

Did you ever find out where their graves were? My two times great-grandfather was Andrew Graham (farmer) born about 1831 died in 1918 (88) married Oct 30th 1867 and his father was Robert Graham (Farmer) 1791 to Mar 24, 1876 (85) I have not found a birth certificate yet for Andrew. Do you have one for Thomas? Where was he born? 

 

... I also have a Margaret McCormick of Baravey ( married William Gordon) born 1868ish whose father was John McCormick

Alison 

dungannon14

Alison,

A few comments about birth certificates and burials.

Birth certificates were only introduced in Ireland in 1864. So you won’t find certificates for Andrew (born c 1831) or Thomas (b c 1819). You might find a record of their baptisms if you know precisely which church they were baptised in and if the records still exist. They probably aren’t on-line.

Andrew Graham in Creeduff was Methodist in the 1901 census.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Killen/Creeduff/1723321/

There is a Methodist church in the area (at Augheyarren). It has baptism records from 1822. There’s a copy in PRONI in Belfast. Methodism took a while to become a separate denomination in Ireland (because many Methodists wanted to stay part of the Church of Ireland). Prior to 1822 would-be Methodist families in that area would have used the Church of Ireland (COI) for their baptisms. The COI parish is Termonamongan. Their baptism records start in 1812. Again there’s a copy in PRONI. Personal visit required to view them.

There is a graveyard at Termonamongan COI, and another at Magherakeel but I know that some in that area also used Castlederg COI graveyard. I don’t think the Methodists had a separate graveyard, so they’d likely use COI graveyards.

Both Thomas and Andrew have Creeduff as their residences when they married in 1848  and 1867 respectively:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1848/09345/5383634.pdf

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

Thomas who died in 1863 and lived at Lisleen presumably moved there after his marriage. But he’ll likely have used the family burial plot, reportedly in Castlederg, even though there are plenty of graveyards around Lisleen (which is in the separate parish of Ardstraw).

These were farmers. Farmers don’t move about if they can avoid it. You don’t spend 30 years improving a farm only to move to another one, unless there’s a compelling reason. So it’s likely that both Andrew & Thomas were born on the family farm in Creeduff.

There were 3 Graham farms in Creeduff in the 1826 tithes, showing that Robert was there then. So it seems pretty likely Andrew was born there c 1831 and presumably Thomas too.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/tyrone/tithe-applotment-books/parish-of-termonamongan.php

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

I accidentally posted the files to the wrong thread.

This is Ann Jane Graham's obit and death notice. She married John McCormick, 1852, and they resided in Barravey, outside of Drumquin. Ann Jane was the daughter of Robert Graham and ? of Creeduff. 

Her son, Christopher McCormick married my great grandaunt, Maggie Wood and they settled in western NEbraska.

Carol

carolbennett918

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