Cumbria Family History Society

I am reasonably well down the records but have come to a stop. Trying to find a Thomas Graham who was born in Wigton in 1825 to a William and Ann/Annas Graham. He appears in the 1871 census in Carlisle District, Buckabank Parish, Loaning married to Isabella. Cant find him at all in the 1841, 1851, 1861 censuses for the area?
Equally according to census records his father William was born in Uldale in 1799/1801. He appears in the census of 1841,1851, 1861in the Penrith registration District, Dacre Parish, Blencowe. He is recorded as a Blacksmith. Cant find anything else on him. Any help would be gratefully received. Thank you. Riddell Graham   

According to the 1871 census, he had children born in Scotland around 1849-1853.
 
1851 Census for Glasgow St. David CP, Lanarkshire. (Transcription on Ancestry - better look it up on ScotlandsPeople.)
Parish 644/1, ED 19, p. 6, sch. 24
Address: 272 Buchanan St. Back Land.
Thomas GRAHAM, Head, age 28, Railway Gate Keeper, born Wigton
Isabella GRAHAM, wife, age 27, born Wigton
Mary Ann GRAHAM, daughter, age 6, born England
Jane GRAHAM, daughter, age 2, born Thankerton, Lanarkshire
Euphemia M. GRAHAM, daughter, age 3 months, born Glasgow, Lanarkshire
 
Also, embarrassingly, from Scottish Indexes  https://www.scottishindexes.com/prisontranscript.aspx?prisonid=370101702 

Name Thomas Graham

OccupationRailway Porter[/t][/color] ResidenceLanark[/t][/color] Year Jailed1852[/t][/color] Age28[/t][/color] Estimated Birth Year1824[/t][/color] BirthplaceCarlisle[/t][/color] SexM[/t][/color] PrisonLanark[/t][/color] CountyLanarkshire[/t][/color] NRS ReferenceHH21/37/1 p. 17[/t][/color] No guarantee this is your Thomas GRAHAM, but worth looking into. Also, worth looking up one of the relevant children's birth on ScotlandsPeople - will give you the marriage date and place of the parents. As well as Isabella's maiden name.   I suspect Euphemia morphed into Fanny between 1851 and 1871.   There is a possible marriage here:   11 Nov 1845 Wetheral, Cumberland: Thomas GRAHAM & Isabelle HETHERINGTON. Civil Registration index has them in December Quarter 1845 in Carlisle District (which covers Wetheral) as Thomas GRAHAM and Isabella HETHRINGTON. (Vol. 25, p. 63). Marriage certificate will confirm Thomas's father and give you Isabella's father.   In the 1861 census, the family is at Cummersdale Mill in Cummersdale near Carlisle. Thomas (age 36, Cotton Spinner, born Wigton), Isabella (age 36, Cotton Reeler, born CUL, Bowness), and children Mary Ann (age 16, Cotton Reeler, born Carlisle), Jane (age 14, Cotton Piecer, born Scotland), Fanny M. (age 12, Scholar, born Scotland), John (age 10, Scholar, born Scotland), Thomas (age 7, Scholar, born Carlisle), Margaret (age 5, Scholar, born Carlisle), Isabella (3) and Elizabeth (1), both born Carlisle.   Finding Thomas in 1841 will be difficult as we don't know where he was and what his occupation was at the time, and no birth places are given, and we know he was not with his father.

Actually, not sure whether the Thomas GRAHAM / Isabella HETHERINGTON marriage is the right one. Here is the marriage notice from the Carlisle Journal of Saturday 15 Nov 1845:

 At Wetheral, on the 11th instant, by the Rev. Mr. ROBINSON, Mr. Thomas GRAHAM, of Wheelbarrow Hall, joiner, to Miss Isabella HETHERINGTON, of the same place.
 
Thomas may have worked for the railways and in the cotton industry, but no evidence he ever learnt to be a joiner.
 
There is another possible marriage in the Carlisle Journal of Saturday 17 May 1845:
 At the Scotch Church, Lowther Street, on the 10th instant, Mr. Thomas GRAHAM, of Botchergate, to Miss Isabella BLAIN, of the same place.
 
In fact, looking in the GRO online index for the birth of Elizabeth GRAHAM in Carlisle District, who was aged 1 in the 1861 census, there was none with mother's maiden surname HETHERINGTON, but there was one in March Quarter 1860 with mother's maiden surname BLAIN. And looking for Isabella (age 3 in 1861), there was an Isabella GRAHAM born in December Quarter 1857 in Carlisle District with mother's maiden surname BLAIN, but none around that time with mother's maiden surname HETHERINGTON.

So the marriage to Isabella BLAIN is the more likely one.

Marriage on FamilySearch: 25 Sep 1834 at Westward, Cumberland: William GRAHAM & Annas DENNISON.

Margaret GRAHAM, their 15-year-old daughter in the 1861 census, born in Blencow: There is a birth for a Margaret GRAHAM with mother's maiden surname DENNISON registered in Penrith District in June Quarter 1846. And there was a baptism at Greystoke on 05 Jul 1846 of Margaret, daughter of William & Annas GRAHAM.

However, if this couple didn't get married until 1834, it is not likely that they were the parents of your Thomas. Their children, who are on the censuses, all have their baptisms on FamilySearch, but no sign of a Thomas.

I even looked for the baptism of a Thomas DENNISON around 1825, in case he was born 10 years before the marriage - the only one that I found on FamilySearch was the son of William & Elizabeth DENNISON in 1828 in Westward. He clearly was not your Thomas.

It is of course possible that William GRAHAM was previously married and widowed and that Thomas was a son from the first marriage. Where does the information come from that your Thomas was the son of William & Annas?

Also, Annas is a variant of Agnes, not of Ann.

There is a family of William & Ann GRAHAM in Carlisle who possibly could be the correct parents for your Thomas. It would imply that they moved from Wigton to Carlisle sometime after Thomas's birth. However, I am not sure why they should have been in Wigton in the first place - this William was born in Hexham, and Ann in Carlisle. Anyway, here they are in the censuses:
 
1841 census for Township of Botchergate, Carlisle
 HO107, Piece 175, Book 5, f. 10, p. 14
Address: Botchergate
Wm. GRAHAM, age 50, BkSmith
Thomas GRAHAM, age 15, Cotton Spinner
Walton GRAHAM, age 12, Factory
Joseph GRAHAM, age 9
George GRAHAM, age 4
Ann GRAHAM, age 50
Margaret GRAHAM, age 6
all born in Cumberland

1851 census for Botchergate Township, Carlisle
HO107, Piece 2429, f. 241, p. 38-39, sch. 180
Address: George Sowerbys Lane
William GRAHAM, Head, married, age 65, Blacksmith, born Northumberland, Hexham
Ann GRAHAM, wife, married, age 55, born Carlisle, Cumberland
Walton GRAHAM, son, unmarried, age 22, Ag. Labourer, born Carlisle, Cumberland
Joseph GRAHAM, son, unmarried, age 19, Blacksmith, born Carlisle, Cumberland
George GRAHAM, son, unmarried, age 14, Ag. Labourer, born Carlisle, Cumberland
Margaret GRAHAM, daughter, unmarried, age 17, born Carlisle, Cumberland

Note that their son Thomas does no longer live with his parents in 1851.

I looked for baptisms of this couple's children, first of all in Wigton - but no guarantee that this is actually the same couple. Mary and Ann GRAHAM had baptised in Wigton: William 25 Dec 1818, John 04 Feb 1821, Thomas 18 Jun 1824. Then no more for parents of those names until 1835 (and that one did not match with the children of the Carlisle couple). All the ones born in Carlisle, who are on the censuses, do not appear on FamilySearch as having been baptised. Now I wonder, if this was indeed the right family, whether they had their children baptised in a non-conformist chapel - particularly as Thomas was married in the Presbyterian Chapel.

But as I said, I was just struck by finding a couple called William & Ann GRAHAM with a son of the right age (and the right occupation!), and William being a blacksmith as well. And Thomas married in Carlisle, which also fits.

I think the best way forward will be to get a Scottish birth certificate for one of the children born in Scotland to confirm Isabella's maiden name and the marriage date, then get their marriage certificate.

Unfortunately (my only excuse is that it was late last night!) Scottish Civil Registration did not start until 1855, and by that time Thomas & Isabella were back in England. I had a look on ScotlandsPeople for baptisms of their Scottish born children, but no luck.

Still, the English marriage certificate from 1845 may be helpful.

It seems Thomas and Isabella shifted to Wales by 1881!

1881 census for Llanllwchaiarn CP, Montgomeryshire
RG11, Piece 5487, f. 48, p. 7, sch. 36
Address: 23 Dysart Terrace
Thomas GRAHAM, Head, married, age 56, Woolsorter, born Cumberland, Wigton
Isabella GRAHAM, wife, married, age 56, born Cumberland, Curthwaite
Margaret P. GRAHAM, daughter, unmarried, age 25, Woollen Cloth Weaver, born Cumberland, Carlisle
Bessie GRAHAM, daughter, unmarried, age 20, Woollen Cloth Weaver, born Cumberland, Carlisle
William GRAHAM, son, unmarried, age 17, Wool Warper, born Cumberland, Carlisle
George GRAHAM, son, unmarried, age 15, Wool Warper, born Cumberland, Carlisle
Joseph S. [?] GRAHAM, age 13, Scholar, born Cumberland, Carlisle

Margaret and Joseph did not have middle names at their birth registrations.

And son John lives in the next house:

1881 census for Llanllwchaiarn CP, Montgomeryshire
RG11, Piece 5487, f. 48, p. 7, sch. 38
Address: 22 Dysart Terrace
John GRAHAM, Head, married, age 28, Woollen Spinner, born Scotland
Jane GRAHAM, wife, married, age 32, Wife of Do., born Scotland
Nanny GRAHAM, daughter, age 6, Scholar, born Cumberland, Dalston
Mary E. GRAHAM, daughter, age 1, born Montgomeryshire, Llanllwchaiarn

Birth registration for Mary shows that mother's maiden surname was IRVING. Their next daughter Margaret Isabella Blain GRAHAM was also born in Newtown Registration District. There was a marriage in Carlisle District in December Quarter 1872 matching a John GRAHAM and Jane IRVING.

Yes spot on I have been in touch with the local museum there who have sent me details of a huge woollen mill nearby their house and pictures of the street they lived in. The mill burned down thus their move to Galashiels and more textile manufacture. Galashiels at one stage had 26 mills in the town now sadly none left!

Ah, now I know how you knew Thomas's parents names - from his death certificate (Galashiels, 1887). I note from ScotlandsPeople that his mother's maiden name is given as MALLINSON, which perfectly fits with the marriage of his parents William GRAHAM and Ann MALLINSON in Wigton on 16 Aug 1818. Which means that the William and Annas in Blencow were definitely not his parents, as Annas's maiden name was DENNISON. So at least I got that right!

It all makes sense now. Their Scotland-born daughter Euphemia M. GRAHAM married in Carlisle Registration District in June Quarter 1870 as Frances Mallinson GRAHAM to Thomas Carrick THOMPSON. She was visiting her parents in 1871, as a married woman called Fanny THOMPSON.

Many thanks again for all your help. I mwas clearly heading down the wrong rabbit hole!

If you ever find out whether the imprisoned Thomas GRAHAM in Lanarkshire in 1852 was your Thomas, please let me know! I searched on the BNA website for "Thomas GRAHAM" in the Glasgow newspapers, and although a few came up, none of them was about a criminal conviction. This may well be because the optical character recognition software that "transcribes" these old newspapers isn't up to the job, and mistranscribed names won't come up when you search. Or maybe his offence was so minor that it wasn't worth reporting in the newspapers.