52 Ancestors - #14 Patrick GRAHAM

In Search of our Missing Uncle Patrick

Did you ever have a relative tell you about someone that you just couldn't prove was real? or maybe your family believes are related to someone famous! I do! He is my Grandmother's fabled Uncle Patrick.

When I first asked my Grandparents about their parents, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, I was  11 years old and had just started secondary school (For those of you not familiar with Secondary schools it is a school for children aged 11 to 16/18, kind of like combining Middle school and High School).  In the first month we were issued homework by three separate teachers to produce family trees. At the time I knew my Parents and Grandparents generations but nothing further back.  My parents gave me the information they remembered but my Grandparents were the goldmine.

My Grandmother recalled that her father had a brother called Patrick and a sister, Lil. She also remembered her mother writing to an Aunt Rose who was from her father's family. At the time I did not know how to go about researching my tree properly and relied solely on the information provided by my family.

Recreation of my Grandmother's branch of my original tree that was submitted to the teachers.

My Great Grandfather was from Ireland and until recently there have been few Irish records available online, therefore this line was sat on the back burner for many years.  In 2011 I decided that I would have a look at what was available online. A general internet search lead me to a number of sites that claimed to have Irish records. One of these was RootsIreland.ie at the time it was pay to view although now it is credit based. I quickly signed up for a free account and plumbed in what I knew about my Great Grandfather.  I had learnt that when my Great Grandfather married in England he signed himself as Jack William GRAHAM and gave his father's name as John GRAHAM, unfortunately English marriage certificates do not list the mothers' names.

I went to the search box and selected the record type Birth/Baptism then entered;  Name: John GRAHAM, Birth: 1899 +/- 0 Fermanagh.  My Grandmother remembered that her father had always said his birthday on 1 May 1899 so this is where I would begin. The search returned two results: John GRAHAM and John Robert GRAHAM.  Since the person I was looking for had signed himself as Jack William I felt it was unlikely that he would have been given the middle name of Robert as a child.  I then added the father's name into the search and found that both results remained.  I bit the bullet, requested to see the record and paid the fee; when the image appeared on my screen I felt as if I had just struck gold! I saw John GRAHAM born 1 May 1899 in Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Ireland just where my Grandmother would expect him to be with parents John GRAHAM, Private 1st Batt RIF and Eleanor Jane McCARDLE. Heading back to the search box I typed in just the parents names along with birth 1899 +/- 20 in Fermanagh - sadly no results. Next I tried just the parents surnames with the same time and place in hopes that something would be available.  Now I had three results; John, Francis and Anne. Ordering the 2 new record reveals that Francis and Anne were born in Derrylin, a town not far from Enniskillen, their father John was a labourer and their mother was Ellen.  I realised that in the 8 years between the first 2 births John must have left the army and that Ellen could be a diminutive of Eleanor.

As time passed I located the 1911 Ireland Census online and soon found an entry for John and Ellen GRAHAM and their four children: John, Delia, Lillie and Anne. John was listed as a soldier pensioner.  The census also showed that Ellen had had five children but one had sadly died. As their was no Francis on the census I concluded that he must have been the child to have died but also Patrick must have been born after 1911. My search had been carried out for births between 1879 and 1919, surely Patrick wouldn't have been born after 1919 ans why had Delia and Lillie not shown up?  Opening the image for the census answered one question - Delia and Lillie had been born in Scotland and therefore their births would have been recorded there and not in Ireland.  This just left Patrick.

Revised branch post 1911 census and birth entries being located

Over the years I have looked as various sources for Irish records and have seen no sign of Patrick Graham.  I had stated to believe that the Uncle Patrick that my Grandmother knew of was not her Uncle but her Granduncle.When the General Records Office of Northern Ireland launched a service to search their Civil Registration Records earlier this year I once again tried to search for the children of John and Ellen. I was still only getting the same three results.  I soon found that life has a way of hiding things from you until you least expect to find them.

Having given up looking for Patrick I turned my attention to looking for the marriages and deaths of Delia, Liilie and Anne.  I came across a death entry for a Delia GRAHAM who would have been the right age for my Great Grandaunt. Having purchased the image I not only found that this was my Delia but that the informant was her brother Patrick.  Delia died in 1923, this narrowed my search for Patrick to 1911-1923, but why had all my earlier searched failed to find him?  I concluded that one of the names must have been misspelt, most likely Ellen's.  This was now my starting point.  I tried the variants of McCardle that I had seen then the wildcard McA* all to no avail. in the end I used the nothing ventured nothing gained logic and tried McC* as a wildcard for the mothers name. This gave me one hit.  The birth record was for Patrick GRAHAM born December 1911 in Derrylin, Fermanagh, Ireland to John Graham a Labourer and Ellen McCarrol.  I compared Patrick's birth entry to those of Francis and Anne, I am now sure that he is their brother despite the discrepancy on the mother's maiden name.

In conclusion, my Grandmother was right that her father had a brother Patrick. He was born in December 1911, two years after Anne and two years before his father's death.

You can read about Patrick's parents John Graham and Ellen McCARDLE by clicking on their names.

52 Ancestors - #12 Ellen McCardle

The Facts

Ellen is my Maternal Grandmother's Paternal Grandmother (my 2nd Great Grandmother and number 29 on my Ahnentefel chart). Born in May 1876 in Knockninny, Fermanagh, Ireland to Andrew McCardle and Anne Sweeny.  I have been able to identify that Ellen had 5 sisters and one brother from the birth and baptism records, although there may have been others that are still waiting to be found.

In May 1899, Ellen gave birth to her first child, John.  If you were to look at John's birth certificate you would be forgiven for thinking that Ellen was married to John's father (also called John). However, the marriage did not occur until September 1899. The marriage certificate records that Ellen was a spinster and a servant while her husband John GRAHAM was a Soldier and a bachelor. Within a month Ellen would have to wave her husband farewell and send him off to ward in South Africa.  I cannot imagine the fear she must have felt watching her husband go to war so far away with a five month old baby in her arms, not knowing if or when she would see him again.  Her fear and dread would have increased when reports arrived by Christmas that the Battle of Colenso had claimed many lives, injured others and that John was among the missing.  Fortunately he was located and returned home to recover from injuries in February 1900 then discharged at Christmas.

Ellen and her infant son were not recorded on the 1901 census, however her husband was recorded at home. I can only resume that she was travelling on census night and was missed.  Before long the whole family was on the move and Ellen went from Army wife to Labourer's Wife.  Between 1903 and 1905 - give or take about a year either way) Ellen and her family were living in Maryhill, an area of Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland; where the next two children were born. In Scotland, birth certificates record the marriage date of the parents although this is very useful, sadly the date is was recorded incorrectly of the birth certificates of Ellen's daughters.

The 1911 census records Ellen, her husband and 4 children in the townland of Corratrasna in Fermanagh, Ireland, and that their was a fifth child that had died.  A year later, tragedy struck when John (the husband) fell from a bridge and drowned in the river below. Ellen would eventually remarry in 1920 to Patrick Fitzpatrick.

The Oral History

The oral history and memories that my Grandmother, Ellen's Granddaughter, has recounted to me are:

1. The existence of an Uncle Patrick
   My Grandmother has always been adamant that the Uncle Patrick that her mother use to write to in Ireland was her father's brother, making him Ellen's son. Until recently I was convinced that Patrick was her father's uncle (as Ellen's brother was Patrick) as I had been unable to locate a birth or baptism for a Patrick Graham with the mother's maiden name is McCardle or a variant of McCardle. Now I must admit that my Grandmother was correct and as I eat my slice of humble pie, I hear you ask how I found this. This is a story of another time but in a nut shell includes finding a death record that listed Patrick as a sibling to Ellen's children and a hut for a birth certificate that had a spelling error.
2. Ellen died twice.
   Yes, you did read that correctly. My Grandmother recalls being told that Ellen died twice. The story is that Ellen died and was laid out in her coffin on the dining table. Then on the day of the funeral, the family heard knocking and set about to investigate what was causing it.  Imagine their shock and horror when they realised that the knocking was coming from inside the coffin.  They quickly opened the coffin to find that Ellen was alive and well, although probably scared and shocked to wake up in a coffin.  My Grandmother does not know when Ellen 'died' or even in this event occurred before or after her second marriage. 

As I write this entry, I have to date failed to find a death certificate  or either this false death or her later real death nor a newspaper report of the miracle of a dead woman being resurrected.

Researching British Isles Roots: Civil Registration - Part 3 (Ireland)

What is Civil Registration?

• Civil Registration is the process of recording Births, Marriages and Deaths that are created and maintained by government. There records are also known as Vital Records.

When did Civil Registration begin?

• 1 January 1845 for Non-Catholic Marriages
• 1 January 1864 for all

Where can I locate Civil Registration records?

• Records are available from the Registrars employed by local Councils. 
• NiDirect allows you to purchase certificates for Northern Ireland online
• hse allows the purchase of certificates online for the whole of Ireland up to December 1921 and for the Republic of Ireland from January 1922.
• The General Register Office in Roscommon accept postal requests for certificates

What type of certificate do I need?

• Standardised certificates have been issued since 2003 and are the equivalent to the old long form certificates.
• Photocapies of the registers are available as research copies (not certified) by postal request to the General Register Office in Roscommon.

What information is recorded on Civil Registration Records?

Birth

• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Names of the child
• Gender
• Father's name (May be left blank if not married to the mother)
• Father’s occupation
• Mother's name
• Mother’s maiden names
• Informants signature
• Informants  description
• Informants  address
• Date of registration
• Registrars signature

Marriage

• Date of Marriage
• Location of Marriage
• Groom's name
• Groom's age (may be given as Full or Minor)
• Groom's condition (bachelor, widower, divorcee)
• Groom's occupation
• Groom's usual residence
• Groom's Father's name
• Groom's Father's occupation
• Bride's name (including all prior surnames)
• Bride's age (may be given as Full or Minor)
• Bride's condition (spinster, widow, divorcee)
• Bride's occupation
• Bride's usual residence
• Bride's Father's names
• Bride's Father's occupations
• Signature of groom
• Signature of bride
• Signature of 2 or more witnesses
• 
  
• Signature of officiant

Death

• Full Name
• Gender
• Age or Date of Birth
• Occupation
• Date and place of Death
• Cause of death
• Condition as to Marriage
• Informants signature, description and address
• Date of Registration
• Signature of Registrar

Further Reading and Information

• NI Direct
• Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
• HSE
• The General Register Office
• Researching British Isles Roots: Civil Registration - Part 1 (England and Wales)
• Researching British Isels Roots: Civil Registration - Part 2 (Scotland)