The Need for Graham Crackers

By Bob Ferris

I think at times that the above is what I need.  Folks who can "crack" the mysteries of our two Grahams—James and Richard—two men who arrived in the Colonies in separate centuries as if dropped from thin Scottish air.  Interestingly, they were both rumored to be connected to notable men in ways that seemed perhaps impossible.  But still the rumors persisted and for a lot of good and bad reasons. Let's start with one un-cracked and finish with the one that is confusing but more certain. 

James Graham sailed from Great Britain on the Blossom with newly appointed Governor Edmund Andros in 1678 at the time when England took possession of the Dutch Colony renaming it New York.  James was a mover and shaker quickly becoming an Alderman, the first recorder of New York City, and serving in the legislature in addition to being Attorney General under differing political configurations.  He also liked his "cyder" evidently and was famously stabbed and nearly killed by Captain Jarvis Baxter after they imbibed.  In short, he had a big footprint in the colonies but a surprisingly clouded past in Scotland.  

From A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the US

The written record on James varies.  Some sources just jump to him being the son or grandson of James Graham the Marquis of Montrose and then move on.  Other sources acknowledge this has been claimed and then offer up a close relation hypothesis because of his having the family seal.  None of these approaches gains virtue through actual evidence but only because of repetition. Many sources give John Graham as his father and Isabella (Isobella or Isabel) as this mother.  His purported mother's maiden name is given variously as Auchinleck, Affleck or Affick which are related in a fashion.  I just do not know for certain.

Auchinleck House in the area where this Isabella would have lived. The house was build a century later.

James Graham Marquis of Montrose did have a son named John but that son died in 1645 at the age of 15 before our James was born.  James of Montrose did have other sons but they were either well documented as not being our guy's father or too young to have a child in the 1650-1656 period in question. I thank the kind and responsive folks at the 1st Marquis of Montrose Society in Scotland and the Clan Graham Society on this side of the pond for helping me sort possibilities and rule out those that are obviously incorrect.  Much appreciated.

This is a mystery and one that is hard to abandon because of the oft repeated myths and the story of the seal which no one seems to know about anymore.  The connection makes sense and more tendrils of clues emerge because the lands held in New Jersey by Gov. Lewis Morris and Isabella Graham Morris were called Monmouth in honor of the Morris roots in Wales but within those lands is also the town of Montrose, New Jersey a head nod to the Grahams.  So the mystery remains and the clues tug at us.

Richard Graham is another ancestor that needed cracking.  At first glance he seems, like James Graham, a Lowland Scot who appeared or was born in North America fully-hatched with unclear roots.  He, like ancestor Patrick Ramsay's son Andrew who married Richard's daughter Catherine (see above), was associated with Dumfries, Virginia named after the same in Scotland.  Dumfries was founded by John Graham who was born in 1711 but John is not Richard's father as he did not seem to have a son named Richard although John did appear to have connections with the Grahams of Montrose.

Patrick Ramsay was a merchant tied through his father Andrew Ramsay to the so-called tobacco lords of Glasgow.   Graham was a merchant as well first associated with the firm of Morris and Nicholson out of Philadelphia that had Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence and financier of the American Revolution, as a controlling partner.  Graham dealt in tobacco also but was more of a land speculator occasionally connected to the likes of George Washington (1),  Thomas Jefferson (1) and George Mason IV (Richard's son George married the widow of George Mason V).  In the letter cited to Thomas Jefferson, Richard writes that he has connections to the Marquis of Graham (6th Marquis of Montrose) but does not define those.  It all confuses.

From here written by George Mason Graham Stafford grandson of George Mason Graham.

In terms of purported links to great ancestors, I was given a genealogy at one point that claimed Richard was related to the Grahams of Norton-Conyers in Northern Yorkshire.  Since this felt like a stretch and no documentation was given I was dubious.  That was until I found the above account that linked our Richard through his grandson George Mason Graham to Reginald Graham, the second Baronet of Norton-Conyers.  There are Richard Grahams in this line, however, the dates appeared to not line up.   The Sir Reginald in question died in 1728 which makes it unlikely he fathered a child ca. 1755 and our Richard Graham lived with the Dumfries crowd and claimed an association with Montrose.

From here.

Then I found the above hint and was able to backtrack and find that Reginald Graham, second Baronet, did indeed have a son named Richard (1,2) who married a woman named Cordelia Chaloner in Cumberland County, England. I was also able to find numerous mentions of their two sons Richard and Reginald Graham in Dumfries, Virginia so I continued to look and then located a reference to a Reginald Graham who died in 1782 and whose estate was administered by George Graham, William Carr and Richard Graham.  Though not absolutely certain, this is a much more solid place than where I started.

Norton-Conyers Manor home of the Grahams since 1624 and supposedly the inspiration for Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre. 

Accepting this lineage opens a large door in our line that travels to Sir Richard Graham, the first Baronet of Norton-Conyers and to his father Sir Richard Graham (1) of Esk.  It even leads us to Fergus Graham of Plomp.  But there it re-enters the murk as evidence gets thin when trying to document links with the likes of Mathias (Matthew) Graham or John of the Bright Sword.  It seems appropriate though as these Grahams lived for centuries in the borderlands between Scotland and England which included Cumberland and also an area know as the Debatable Land.  Debatable, indeed.

Perhaps I look at this in a backwards manner for both James and Richard.  Maybe they are the roots themselves?  In the critical two centuries of this nation's transformation from colonies to country and then the protection of that entity through three wars these two dropped many important acorns (see below). It is interesting in this that when the children of William Walton Morris and George Douglas Ramsay married during the Civil War they brought together the Montrose and Menteith elements of the Clan Graham again.  It is always nice when symmetry is obtained.

Partial List of James and Elizabeth Graham's Descendants:
Isabella Graham Morris, First Lady of New Jersey
Robert Hunter Morris, Governor of Pennsylvania
Lewis Morris III, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Gouverneur Morris, Writer of much of the US Constitution
General Staats Long Morris, British General serving in India and then Governor of the Quebec Garrison
Honorable Richard Morris, Chief Justice New York Supreme Court
Lewis Richard Morris, US Congressman
General William Walton Morris, Civil War General

Partial List of Richard and Jane Graham's Descendants:
Captain George Graham, Calvary Captain in the War of 1812 and Acting Secretary of War under James Madison.
John Graham, Diplomat
George Mason Graham, West Point Graduate and the Father of Louisiana State University
General George Douglas Ramsay, Chief of Ordinance for the Union during Civil War
Admiral Francis Ramsay, Civil War Ship Captain and Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation