Antipodes Bound

Margaret Nelson Hamilton was born in Londonderry in 1852. She was the oldest child of Margaret Graham Hamilton. On June 10, 1884, at age 32, she married Robert Newton Gordon. Soon after their marriage they left Ireland for New Zealand where they settled in the city of Dunedin in the southern reaches of the South Island. A year later their oldest son, George Stephenson Gordon was born in Dunedin. Four more sons followed. The youngest, Robert Hamilton Gordon being born in 1907, when his mother was 55 years old.

Dunedin and Environs

Dunedin

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is situated at the head of Otago Harbour. From the time of its foundation in 1848, the city has spread slowly over the low-lying flats and nearby hills and across the isthmus to the slopes of the Otago Peninsula.

The Otago Peninsula is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula runs parallel to the mainland for 20 km, with a maximum width of 9 km. It is joined to the mainland at the south-west end by a narrow isthmus about 1.5 km wide.

 

 

George Stephenson Gordon

George Stephenson Gordon

In 1912 George Gordon, at the age of 27, married Agnes Bertha Kinnear in New Zealand.  Soon after they left for Australia. George was working as an engineer in 1914 in the then town of Colac in the State of Victoria. George's first three children were born in Victoria; Donald in 1913, Hilda in 1916 and Phyllis in 1918.

Two months after Phyllis's birth, George's brother 2nd Lt Aldwyn Remington Gordon was killed in France during WW I. George and his family returned to New Zealand where his two youngest sons were born; Wallace in 1921 and Rodney in 1928.

According to his granddaughter Marissa, George Stephenson designed and manufactured the 'Gordon Vacuum Brake' - a popular milking machine - of which he sold many to Ireland.  He had a shop set up in Auckland selling these also.  He had various other patents - strangely one for a hairbrush too!

George died at age 79 in Auckland on New Zealand's North Island in 1964 .

George's Children

Donald K Gordon

George's first born was Donald Kinnear Gordon. He was listed as married and working as an engineer according to the 1946-54 Auckland, NZ electoral roles. Donald had a relatively short life, dying in Auckland at age 43 in 1958. Donald was survived by a wife (Gladys) and two daughters whose names remain private. Donald's next siblings were two sisters; Hilda Bertha Gordon (1916) and Phyllis Leslie Gordon (1918).

Hilda Gordon

Hilda moved to the United States in 1953 at the age of 37, crossing the Canadian border at Niagara Falls. She was already married to Judson Titchen at that time. She became a resident of Wyalusing, PA where she died in 2005 at age 89. She had two daughters (Roslyn and Jackie) who still live in Pennsylvania. 

Phyllis Gordon

Phyllis married Frederick Day before 1940 and they settled in the Auckland area. Frederick listed his occupation as a plasterer in the Auckland Electoral rolls for 1949. Frederick died in 1968. Phyllis in 2006.

They had four sons and two daughters. Graham Ronald Day (1940) married and had 3 sons and a daughter. He died in Auckland in 2012.  In 1981 Phyllis and her son Colin Gordon Day (1948), a painter who never married, plus the two other sons, John Frederick Day (toolmaker) and Rodney Paul Day (carpenter) were living at the same address on the North Island in Waikato, Matamata NZ. The men were all working in construction. Colin died from cancer in Hamilton, NZ in 2002. Rodney married and had one son. John married with no children. Of the two daughters, Alison married and had one daughter, Lynette married and had two daughters and a son.

Wallace McGregor Gordon

Wallace McGregor Gordon had 4 sons and lived 85 years, dying in Auckland in 2006. In 1940 at the beginning of the second World War he was a rope maker at Fort Takapuna Artillery Yard in Devonport. At the end of the war he was assigned to an armed infantry brigade. 

For more than 40 years (until at least 1981) Wallace lived in his parent's former home in Remuera, Auckland. [Looks like a nice home and a good neighborhood on Google maps.] By 1954 he was sharing the home with his wife Norah Gordon. During that period he listed various occupations in the Auckland Electorial roles, including shoemaker, laborer and roofer. Norah and Wallace had four sons. By 1978 a student, Stephen Paul Gordon (presumably one of his sons) had joined the household. 

Rodney Keith Gordon

The youngest of George's children was Rodney Keith Gordon, born in Auckland in 1928. Rodney missed the war since he was age 12 when it started. After the war he worked in various construction occupations, like tile maker, laborer, and filter hand (whatever that is?). He lived during those years in various parts of Auckland until at least 1981. He may have worked in Melbourne, Australia part of that time. He and his wife Zenaida raised three daughters (Marissa, Myra and Vilma) and had three grandsons at the time of his death. His obituary indicates that he was a very popular fellow. He died in 2016.

 

World War I - Aldwyn and Leslie Gordon

Aldwyn Remington Gordon

Two of Margaret Gordon's five sons ultimately died from their experience fighting in Europe during World War I.  The first being George's brother Aldwyn who died of wounds received fighting in France on August 26, 1918.

The second was Lance Corporal Leslie Graham Gordon who left Wellington, NZ with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for England in May 1916. He succumbed some 15 years later (1933) at age 40 from the effects of poison gas received on the fighting front. Although Leslie married Helen Elizabeth Nelson in 1924, neither brother had any children.

 

Margaret's Two Youngest Sons

Margaret Nelson Hamilton's last two children were sons; Gordon Clanmore McDonald Gordon (1897) and Robert Hamilton Gordon (1907). Gordon spent his whole life in New Zealand, living in various places before he settled in Auckland. He started out as a clerk in 1919, then was a traveling salesman and was a clerk again by 1957. He died in Auckland in 1963.

In contrast, Robert moved to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in his twenties. There in 1936 he listed his occupation as an evangelist.  He appears to have spent most of his Australian life saving souls in Sydney and its suburbs. In 1971 he died in St Leonards, a suburb of Sydney.

Both men married. One Family Tree indicates possible children, but does not identify them. The unknown offspring are six (3 girls and 3 boys) for Gordon and two boys for Robert.

End of the Story?

The story of the Gordon descendants in New Zealand ends our story of the Anna Love family diaspora from Ireland. Given that New Zealand is about as far away from Ireland that you can get in this world, it is probably a fitting ending to our story.

Nevertheless, should new information of significance be revealed on the web, future additions to the story may well appear.

Hamilton Bonanza

Location of Robert Hamilton 45 Foyle St merchant house in Londonderry

Margaret Graham, born in 1820, was the oldest of the two Graham sisters who remained in Ireland.  On June 13, 1849 she married Robert Hamilton in Castlederg, Ireland. Two daughters (Elizabeth Donnell and Margaret Gordon) and a son (Robert Hamilton, Jr) survived infancy.

The parents lived on Foyle Street in Londonderry, Ireland for the rest of their lives. The historic Derry map on the left above shows the 45 Foyle Street location of the Hamilton family home, merchant house and business.  As can be seen in the map, the location was near the Derry Bridge and between the old city wall and the River Foyle.

Subsequently, according to a 1910 town directory,  that address was the location of P. Sweeney's restaurant. Today, the location, thanks to "urban renewal", has been swept clear of historic structures and is the site of a tourist center.

Robert Hamilton's Estate

Robert Hamilton Sr. was 76 years old when he passed away in 1893. His wife Margaret Graham Hamilton, daughters Elizabeth and Margaret and son Robert, Jr inherited his estate. The Irish records estimated the value of the estate as £18,700. Taking into account changing values over time, this is the equivalent to £2.25 million in pounds today or $2.47 million in dollars. However it is measured, Robert Hamilton built up quite an estate over his lifetime.

The estate bequeathed to his wife and children included the house and business located at 45 Foyle Street in Londonderry plus a home and farm called Castle Farm in County Donegal.

"The Castle" in Newtown Cunningham

A December 1901 For Sale notice stated the farm contained 140 acres of land "in the highest state of cultivation" about six miles east by road from Londonderry and a five minute walk from the railroad station in Newtowncunningham. According to the 1901 Census the house contained brick or stone walls, 15 windows in the front, and 19 rooms. 

No present day record or photo could be found for a Castle Farm. However, Wikipedia does mention for Newtown Cunningham: "The village's architecture includes stately Anglo-Irish "big houses", now known as the Manse and the Castle, which reflect the village's colonial and Presbyterian history."  

Until a better alternative arises, I am assuming this building pictured above is "The Castle"  of the Castle Farm mentioned in Robert's will.

 

Robert Hamilton Sr's Will

Winding up the estate

Robert Hamilton Sr's five page will is an excellent example of micromanaging from beyond the grave. Given all the asides and process directives included to assure his wishes were implemented into the future, it is a difficult document to understand.

My simplified take on the will is that the estate was bequeathed to his family as follows:

• Castle Farm to Robert Jr. subject to his continuing payments on the mortgage.
• Family Trust established under the direction of Robert Jr and two non-family businessmen to own and manage the Foyle Street business for the benefit of Robert Jr and to assure sufficient funds for the other bequests.
• £500, first choice on home furniture and a £100 annual income to his wife Margaret for the rest of her life.
• £2000 (equivalent to £252,000 today) each to daughters Margaret Gordon and Elizabeth Donnell.

In May 1897, following the death of his mother Margaret in April of that year,  Robert Jr announced in in a Statutory Notice to Creditors (shown here) that he was no longer interested in running his father's business and would wind up its business and affairs. Said Notice indicates that after July 1897 the remaining assets of Robert Hamilton Sr were to be distributed amongst the "Parties entitled thereto".

Robert Hamilton Jr's Death

 

Robert Hamilton Jr  Death Certificate

Following the liquidation of the Foyle Street business and property, Robert Hamilton Jr and his wife Maggie McCandless Hamilton moved to the Castle Farm in Donegal.  In 1901 the farm was sold. Robert and his wife then disappeared from the record until 1918. That year a death certificate documents his death as a widower in Memphis, Tennessee. There is no record of any children.

Elizabeth Lucy Hamilton Donnell

Elizabeth Lucy Hamilton, Robert, Jr's sister, was the youngest child of Margaret Graham and Robert Hamilton.

William Donnell

In 1883, at age 25, she married a 41 year old Londonderry ship agent named William Donnell. She was his second wife.

The first wife, named Louisa Augusta Marshall, died in 1881, leaving William with four young children, the youngest about a year old.

William Donnell died on Dec 9, 1925. Elizabeth Hamilton lived until 1938, enabling her to help raise all of William Donnell's children. 

Elizabeth and William had an additional two children between them; Aileen Grahame Gwynne Donnell (1886) and Eric Douglas Donnell (1888).

Aileen married Alfred Gardiner in Londonderry in 1910.  They gave birth to three daughters (Oonagh, Brenda and Kathleen) in their first 10 years of marriage.  Aileen and Alfred died in Bristol, England in 1945 and 1959, respectfully.

Eric Douglas Donnell married Olive Margaret Ramsden-Tagore in 1918 in Cuckfield, Sussex, England. They had two children: Leslie Eve and Desmond.


Margaret Nelson Hamilton


Margaret Graham Hamilton's other daughter was Margaret Nelson Hamilton. She married Robert Gordon and her story is told in the next post: Antipodes Bound.

A Story of Wills

A last will can sometimes be the only available source for what life was really like in the past life of a family at a certain time and place. The wills associated with the Pollock family are excellent examples of such revelation.

Descendants of Sarah Graham Pollock

Sarah Jane Graham was born in 1840 when her mother was about age 50. She was the youngest of the Graham sisters. Sarah married Andrew Pollock in 1858, when she was 18 years old. They had four children, 3 sons and a daughter. Their names and birth dates were as follows: William (1859), James Graham (1860), Andrew John (1868) and Bessie (1870).

The Wills

 

Sarah died in Londonderry, Ireland on Novermber 17, 1894 when she was 54 years old. She wrote her will in February of that same year, and had it witnessed by Margaret and Robert Hamilton her sister and brother-in-law. The will left all her meager assets (£20) to her daughter Bessie who was 24 years old at the time of her mother's death.

Will of Sarah Graham Pollock

Sarah's husband Andrew Pollock died at age 67 on July 4, 1898 in Castlederg near the farm he worked in Ballyfolliard Townland. Probably this is the Graham's Town location mentioned in his sister-in-law Ellen Graham's will.

In Andrew's will he left to his three surviving children (William had died in 1882) the following: James Graham (one shilling [a shilling was worth 1/20th of a pound]), Andrew John (one shilling), Bessie (one hundred pounds sterling, his watch and gold chain, and all his furniture, household goods and effects). The remainder of his estate, including the proceeds from sale of the farm, he left to his brother John James Pollock. His brother and another man were appointed to sell the farm, its implements and machinery with son Andrew John given first chance of buying "same at such valuation as may."

Will of Andrew Pollock

James and Bessie Pollock

Location of Castlederg and the former Graham's Town

Both James Graham Pollock and Bessie Pollock lived in Londonderry for the rest of their short lives.  On May 14, 1901, Bessie Pollock died at age 30 in Londonderry. She was unmarried and childless, willing an estate of £196 to her brother James. James died in Londonderry in December of 1901.

Eleven years before his death James had married Lucy Thompson. He and Lucy had five children, four girls and a boy, and lived at 17 Abercorn Road in Londonderry.

Bessie, the oldest daughter, and Sarah, the youngest, never married. Lucy married John Canning Mitchell in 1927. Rebecca married Joseph Caskey Williamson in 1926. The only son William married Annie Jane Boyd in 1926. No record was found of grandchildren.

Andrew John Pollock

An Andrew John Pollock, born in 1868,  is found in the 1901 and 1911 Irish Censuses to be living in the Artigarvan Townland in Leckpatrick Parish. Leckpatrick Parish adjoins Ardstraw Parish where the Ballyfolliard Townland, Graham's Town and the former family farm were located.

Artigarvan is about 14 miles from Castlederg where Andrew John Pollock was born and his father died. The former location of Graham's Town is between the two places, about 3 miles from Castlederg. Given the same name, year of birth and location of residence it is pretty definite that this man is our Andrew John Pollock. No record can be found of his death.

Children of Andrew John Pollock

Robert Pollock - 1918

Andrew John Pollock married Minnie Barnhill in December of 1894. The 1901 and 1911 Irish Censuses indicate that they were parents of 11 children born between 1896 and 1910.  There were 5 sons and 6 daughters.

The oldest child was Robert, born in 1896. He died in French Flanders from the effect of wounds suffered in battle during World War 1. Beside Robert, three of the remaining sons never married. Samuel, the only exception, married Letitia Townsley in 1933.

Among the daughters,  four never married. The two exceptions were Elizabeth and Margaret. Elizabeth married Alfred Roy in 1920. Margaret married Albert A. Hamilton in 1937 in Los Angeles, California.

Margaret and Albert seemed to travel together for some years in Canada and California. According to Albert's Naturalization form completed on March 5, 1936, he was married to the former Margaret Pollock and had a child named Margaret born in Aug 1, 1926.

To add confusion to this post, California Marriage Records indicate the marriage of Albert and Margaret occured on Apr 13, 1937 in Los Angeles, California.  Perhaps this was an attempt to facilitate the nationalization of both Margaret's as American citizens. Given the large families, it is strange that Margaret, the younger, appears to the only surviving Pollock descendant.

Thus ends the Pollock story unless new information becomes available.

Those Left Behind

Portion of the 1889 Will of Ellen Graham of Philadelphia

My last posting for this blog was in March 2017. At that time, I thought my story of grandmother Anna Love Graham and her family's migration to America had ended. I had no inkling that there was another story yet to tell; the lives of Graham relatives who did not join the passage across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the 19th Century.

Ellen's Will

My attitude changed when a new record crucial to the telling of this diaspora story came online. That record was the 1889 will of Ellen Graham, Anna's spinster great aunt who had lived in Philadelphia since 1850.

Old Derry Bridge

The will revealed a surprisingly large estate for a women at the end of the 19th Century who had worked as a dressmaker most of her life. It also revealed the names of three new family members of whose existence I had been completely ignorant and who had never left Ireland.

Two of those persons she identified as Ellen's sisters. Their names were Margaret Hamilton, resident in Londonderry, Ireland, and Sarah Pollock, resident in Graham's Town, Ireland. The third person was listed as William Ramsay, son of Eliza Graham deceased, and residing near Derry Bridge, Ireland.

Londonderry, today called Derry, is one of the largest cities in Northern, Ireland.  Derry Bridge is in Derry and is a modern structure spanning the River Foyle. The Derry Bridge neighborhood in Ellen's will is probably the area adjoining the previous bridge structure in the City of Derry.

Ardstraw Parish showing Listymore and Ballfolliard Townlands

Graham's Town no longer exists as an official population place in Ireland. However, it is shown on old Ulster maps as being located in the border area of Listymore and Ballyfolliard Townlands in Ardstraw Parish in County Tyrone. [See my prevous posting on 'Ancestral Irish Origins' for more detail about this area important to the 'Love' ancestors of Anna Love Graham.]

Eliza and the Ramsay Mystery

Who was Eliza Graham (deceased) with a son William Ramsay who was bequeathed $200?  My first guess was that she was a sister of Ellen's who had died leaving a son born out of wedlock. Or he could be the surviving son of an aunt who had died. There are a number of other logical possibilities. With this sketchy evidence, I made an attempt to further learn William's relationship to the family.

Bridge Street in old Derry

When was he born? Assuming he was the son of a sister, and knowing that all the children of Ellen's siblings were born between 1840 and 1870, I assumed a birth year within that range. Too many William Ramsays born in Ireland during this period. Tried mother's last name to narrow it down, but came up empty. Unless new information becomes available, William Ramsay living near Derry Bridge will remain a mystery.

Wills

The Hamilton and Pollock stories are enlivened through wills. The next posting discusses the contents of some of these end of life documents and their significant impact on the lives of descendants listed as heirs.

New Life in America

Fannie Lockhart King, Anna's cousin and daughter of
Sarah Killen - probably on wedding day - circa 1913

Anna's ancestors left Ireland for America for two reasons: to escape poverty and to live in a land that offered greater opportunity. As one would expect, success in finding and taking advantage of opportunities in America varied greatly among these new Irish-Americans. Here we look at just a sample of their lives.

Beyond the second generation their story melded with the rest of the American population. The first and second generations still carried much of the culture of the old country. For the later generations family history became entwined with life in America and origins from elsewhere in the world.

The two main areas of settlement by this group of Scot-Irish immigrants were Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Schuyler County, New York. There new lives in America will be examined in this same dual manner.

Did they find happiness here? Fulfilling lives? Were they better off than if they stayed in Ireland? No conclusions will be drawn on these subjective terms - just the facts to the extent they can be found.

Occupation can be an indicator of success in America. Our new Americans experienced the full spectrum of occupation from the most rewarding to the lowest level of servitude.  As might be expected in those times, farming was the most common occupation among the men. However, success in farming varied greatly.

Keeping house was crucial to family success before the onset of modern appliances and was entered most frequently on census forms for the wife's occupation. Nevertheless, as an occupation it does not help much with comparison among families.

Of course none of this says anything about happiness. Surviving the diseases so common in those days may have provided more time to experience life - whether you found those years to be happy is something else.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mary Graham Forbes, Anna's great aunt.

In the 1840s, Graham family members were the first to settle in Philadelphia. Three of the sisters (Ellen, Jane and Matilda) remained unmarried and worked as dress makers in that city, living together according to the Census at the same address on Summer street for many years. Their brother James Graham was missing from the records until his death when the address of his sisters on Summer Street was noted.

One sister, Mary Forbes, was widowed young leaving no children. She moved back from Schuyler County, where she and her husband farmed, and lived with her sisters working as a dress maker. Subsequently, she returned to Schuyler County before 1900 where she lived with her niece Eliza until her death in 1905 at 91.

Ann 'Nancy' Graham Killen was the only one of the five Graham sisters to have children.

Sarah & William Lockhart, circa 1910. Sarah
was Anna's Aunt

The Killen children, starting with Eliza, began to leave Ireland toward the end of the American Civil War. Ann crossed the ocean in 1874 after her three oldest daughters had left Ireland, and much later in life than her siblings. All of her children married and all but Eliza ultimately settled in Philadelphia. After working in various Philadelphia homes as a housekeeper, in 1900 the 75 year old Ann Killen was living with daughter Margaret Getty. 

Sarah Killen married a William Lockhart, a carpet and then towel manufacturer, with Sarah keeping house. They had three children. Toward the end of their life they moved in with daughter Fannie who was married to Bart King who is discussed below. Son Andrew Lockhart volunteered in the Spanish-American War. He was employed in civilian life as a Turkish towel manufacturer and later as an accountant with the Pennsylvania Railroad. The other son, Isaac Garfield worked as a road builder and his wife was a shop saleslady. 

Bart King, circa 1897

King House circa 1925

Fannie and the Cricket Star - If entry in wikipedia is an indicator of impact on the world, at least one couple did quite well. Fannie Lockhart spent 50 years as the wife of Bart King, the cricket star. Although listed as sportsman in occupation, this is not what is entered in the census forms. The story is that various wealthy benefactors interested in cricket offered Bart jobs whose income would enable him to contribute his skills to the game of cricket with no fear for his financial well being. Looking at the picture of their house, which still stands in Philadelphia, I would say he did quite well. My dad told the story of visiting Bart and Fannie in Philadelphia with his parents right after graduating from college in 1925. Bart had an event that night and invited them along. The event was a bridge game at the home of the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. According to my father, the wine served was quite good!

Matilda Killen took passage to America in 1868, the same year as Sarah. In 1878 she married a man named Jacob Seiders, who was a disabled Union Civil War veteran. Following the marriage, they left for California's Bay Area where a daughter Blanche and son William were born in 1881 and 1883, respectfully. They returned east in 1889 when Jacob's health condition deteriorated and he entered residence in the National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Virginia. He died in 1894 leaving Matilda a widow with two children. By 1900 her children had left home and she was working as a servant in Philadelphia. Her daughter married an insurance adjuster with whom she had two children. After four years in the Navy, the son ultimately became a merchant. By 1920 Matilda was no longer a servant and owned her home in Philadelphia, the former home of the Graham sisters.

Margaret Killen married John Getty after arriving in Philadelphia in 1881. They had two children (Robert and Anna), born in California in 1890 and 1892. After returning from California, her husband died in Philadelphia in September 1896. Following John's death, Margaret worked as a carpet weaver in Philadelphia.  A row house at 2134 Monmouth Street. remained the Getty home into the late 1920s. The two children remaining single with Robert working as a druggist and Anna as a bookkeeper. In 1926 Anna married Fred Bleacher, an accountant for an electrical company. They had a daughter. By 1930 Margaret had moved into the new home of her bachelor son Robert on Seventh Street. Robert finally married by 1934, when his son Robert Jr. was born to his wife Anna Halvorsen.

John Killen in the 1890s.
Not my image of a carpet weaver

Carpet Weavers - Carpet weavers were among the skilled workers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Philadelphia's thousands of modest scale firms linked together through contracts and trade in elaborate ways that made the city a vast workshop. Carpet makers purchased yarn from one firm, had it dyed at a second, bought pattern designs from a third, punched cards to control the weaving process (Jacquard) from a fourth. Wages were high and, although work was cyclical, job opportunities grew. Hundreds became proprietors, "commencing on their own account" in small partnerships, renting "rooms with power" in mills purposely built for hosting a dozen or more newly started enterprises.

John Killen was the youngest child, only son and the last of the Killen children to leave for America. He married a Sarah Lockhart (probably a sister or other relative of his sister Sarah's husband) in 1890 and was employed as a carpet weaver. John was not living with his wife and daughter in 1900 and 1910 when she was listed as family head in the census. In 1910 John was working as a night watchman when he suffered a "fractured skull due to being accidentally struck by a barrel" His wife Sarah was employed as a carpet weaver in a mill.

Jennie Killen, circa 1907

Of their two children, only the daughter Sarah Jane "Jennie" Killen survived. One of Anna Love Graham's fondest memories was of the summer Jennie spent at the family's farm in Schuyler County. Jennie eventually married and according to a family story had a son who attended Girard College in Philadelphia.

Schuyler County, New York

Schuyler County is about 250 miles from Philadelphia. Today the interstate highway system connects them. In 1842, when Isaac Graham and his wife Sarah settled in the county, there was not even a railroad connecting the two places.

Isaac farmed his whole life in America. He and Sarah produced six children born in Schuyler County; four boys and two girls. Daughter Eliza never married and died in 1900 in the Willard State Hospital in Seneca County, NY. Daughter Margaret married a John McDermott and had two children. Her husband had various jobs including a fruit farmer, carpenter with a company that made bins and a railroad switchman. All four sons were farmers for their entire lives. The sons were named Joseph, James, William and Robert. Joseph would eventually become Eliza Killen's second husband, and Anna Love's stepfather.

In 1862 the family of Samuel Love and Mary McClintock settled in Schuyler County. Samuel being Isaac Graham's brother-in-law. All of their six children (three of each sex) were born in Ireland. Samuel farmed in the Town of Reading. Their children and grandchildren's lives are described below:

Samuel Love's three daughters were named Matilda, Eliza and Margaret. Matilda died unmarried at age 34. Both Eliza and Margaret married farmers. Eliza had two sons with Daniel Hughey, Joseph and Amasa, who also were farmers in their short lives. Margaret and her husband John Stewart had five children, two boys and three girls. Son Donald died young on the farm. Son John started out in farming, but by 1930 was working as a service manager for an auto distributing company in New Jersey. Margaret's three daughters were Mary, Anna and Blanche. Mary and Anna both married farmers. Blanche was working as a stenographer at a crane and hoist company in 1920.

Andrew Love family - Effie Jane and Andrew sitting. Standing
left to right: William, David, Hebe, Andrew & Mary Amelia.

Andrew Love was Samuel Love's second oldest son and a farmer his entire life. He married Effie Jane Wasson, a cousin of Thomas Watson (Watson's father changed the spelling of the last name) founder of IBM. They had five children (three boys and two girls). Sons David and Andrew were farmers. Andrew's wife Lola was a high school teacher. Son William Thomas worked in sales for the National Cash Register company. Andrew's daughters Mary Amelia and Hebe Bell both married farmers, Walter Ellison and Irving Wilbur, respectively. (Hebe Bell Love Ellison was best friends with her cousin Anna Love Graham. They roomed together at Starkey Seminary where they received their high school education. Starkey was a boarding school in Yates County which adjoins Schuyler County to the north on the west side of Seneca Lake.)

Samuel's son John T. Love never married, finding work as a farmer when he was younger. Anna took in her Uncle John and gave him a place to stay during the 1920s when he was older and could no longer work.

Sam and Nell Love in buggy with mother Eliza standing in front of their house
Circa 1912

William Love, Samuel's oldest son, married Eliza Jane Killen (mother of Anna Love Graham) in 1871. William's first wife, Anna Caldwell, had died along with their infant child. William Love died of spinal meningitis in the year 1885. He was only 41 years old.

Two of  Eliza and William's four children survived; Sam and Anna. Son Sam Love became a farmer and also the assessor for the Town of Dix. He and his wife Nell Buck had two children. Anna's story is told in the first post of this blog. 

An Epidemic Tragedy

This story of the Irish Diaspora, as illustrated by the lives of one extended family, began with the Great Famine in Ireland. The story ends with another tragedy that had an even more devastating impact on family members. 

I first became aware of the tragedy when I noticed that a lot of these ancestors were dying in 1919 - most of them young and in the prime of their lives. It seemed more than coincidence and I wondered if there was a common cause to these deaths. As luck would have it, I discovered the answer in a digitized local newspaper - The Telegram in Elmira, NY. The newspaper provided information not found on the gravestones; the immediate cause of the deaths. 

0bituaries of 1919 Pandemic victims

The first to occur was the death of Clayton Graham on March 3, 1919 at the age of 26. Clayton was the son of Isaac Graham's son James. Next to follow were Donald (age 24) and James Stewart (age 64) on the 10th and 12th of March 1919, respectively. Donald and James were the son and husband of Samuel Love's daughter Margaret. Finally this March of sorrow brought the deaths of two brothers Joseph (age 32) and Amasa Hughey (age 34). They were the sons and only children of Eliza Hughey, also the daughter of Samuel Love. They died March 3 and March 17 of 1919. Pneumonia was the immediate cause of death in all five victims.

As may have been guessed by those familiar with the times, all the deaths were related to the Great Pandemic of 1918-1919. This influenza pandemic has been described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and may have killed as many people as the Black Death. This huge death toll was caused by an extremely high infection rate of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms. The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by the influenza.

The unusually severe disease killed between 2 and 20% of those infected, in contrast with the more usual flu epidemic mortality rate of 0.1%. Another unusual feature of this pandemic was that it mostly killed young adults, with 99% of pandemic influenza deaths occurring in people under 65, and more than half in young adults 20 to 40 years old. This is unusual since influenza is normally most deadly to the very young (under age 2) and the very old (over age 70).

These characteristics of the epidemic clearly were present in 1919 as the disease wreaked havoc in these descendants of Irish immigrants.

Ocean Passage

Derry or Londonderry, circa 1913, American Library of Congress

Derry or Londonderry was the closest port for potential emigrants from Ardstraw, County Tyrone, Ireland. It was also the departure port in 1840 for the first of Anna's ancestors to cross the Atlantic Ocean to America.

 

The Trailblazing Grahams

Graham Passage Chart

James, Jane and Matilda Graham, sisters and brother of Ann Graham Killen (Anna's grandmother) are found among the passengers listed on the Ship Manchester out of Philadelphia, Captain S. E. Forman, weight three hundred and seventy nine tons, bound from Londonderry, Ireland for Philadelphia.

Given their names, ages, the fact they are traveling together and the decade they sailed, this passenger record documents the initial 1840 Atlantic Ocean crossingof Anna's ancestors. The passenger list even tells what they brought with them: 1 chest, 1 barrel, 3 boxes, and 3 sets of bedding.

Finding the ships in which the other Graham siblings took passage to America was more problematic than for the pioneer trio.

Ann Graham Killen, who left Ireland later, is discussed in the Killen Passage Chart in the context of her children's emigration. The rest of the Graham siblings left Ireland in the same decade, during the height of the Potato Famine. 

Isaac and his wife Sarah were the first. No passenger listing can be found for Isaac and wife Sarah. However, the timing of their passage is pretty definite given the date of their marriage in Ireland and the birth of their oldest child in America.

Typical habitation in steerage on an immigrant ship

I was hoping I had found Mary on an 1848 passenger list: correct age, Irish origin, destination Philadelphia. The fly in the ointment was that she was accompanied by four Graham children, ages 2 to 10. Oops, wrong one. On the chance she had married in Ireland, I also checked under the Forbes name. No luck there either.

Mary's determined year of passage was based on two items; her residence (married to Robert Forbes and living in Philadelphia) in the 1850 Census and the 1844 immigration date she entered in the 1900 Census. Assuming the 1844 date was correct, this placed her on the ship England arriving in New York City in 1844. My only hesitation is that she is listed 5 years younger than her true age. However, given human nature, people are more likely to 'err' toward youth. 

As for Ellen, there is little to go on. The only thing I can say for sure is that she took ship passage before 1850 because she is in the 1850 Census for Philadelphia and living with her sister Matilda.

Killen Family

The children of Ann Graham Killen left Ireland as they became adults following their father's death in 1862. The first to leave was the oldest, and Anna's future mother, Eliza Jane Killen.

Eliza Killen, Anna's future mother and first of the Killen
family to leave for America

Eliza arrived in New York on the ship Constantine in 1865, the immigration year entered in the 1900 census. The entered age of 18 is correct (within a year). The surname entered (Kelim) is spelled incorrectly, but sort of agrees phonetically. New York and Philadelphia are close, with multiple public transportation connections at the close of the Civil War. The 1870 Census shows her resident in Philadelphia working as a servant with the Hildeburn family. 

Sarah appears to have taken passage on the ship France out of Queenstown, Ireland, arriving in 1868. We know for certain that she was in Philadelphia in 1870 given her presence in that census residing with her three spinster aunts; Ellen, Jane and Matilda Graham. The 1868 Castle Garden Immigration Center entry for Sarah Killen is the only realistic possibility in the decade before the 1870 Census.

As illustration of the frustrations of genealogy research, note the different 'immigration year' responses given for Sarah in the four Censuses starting in 1900: 1870,1859,1870,1865. The 'actual' year seems to split the difference.

Killen Passage Chart

Matilda Killen is the single instance found among my ancestors where rare Irish information on the ship’s departing passengers is available. Matilda Killen from Killstroll, Ardstraw (name of the town the Killens are from in Ireland) came over in 1868 (Sailing date: May 19, 1868) on the ship Stadacona (of the McCorkell line) from Londonderry. The ship was engaged by her Philadelphia relatives on April 22, 1868.

On both the Ancestry & Immigrant Ships websites, the Stadacoma passage arrived July 13, 1868 in Philadelphia with only one passenger named Killen on the arrival list. It misnames her as “Martha” Killen, but gives her age correctly as 16 which would put her birth year as 1851. We know the correct first name is Matilda because Matilda is the only passenger with the Killen name listed as leaving Ireland on the ship, and the indicated home town in Ireland is Killstroll in Ardstraw 

Ann (Nancy) Graham Killen's crossing time was a mystery given that the entry for immigration year in the 1900 Census was 'unknown'. As the children emigrated singly as money was saved up for passage, it was logical that she waited until her youngest were older, but before 1880 when she was working as a housekeeper in Philadelphia and 1900 when she shows up in the census in the Philadelphia home of her daughter Margaret.

In April 25, 1874, an Anne Killen age 50, born about 1824 in Ireland is shown as a passenger on the ship California arriving in New York City from Moville, Ireland. Also on the ship was a Sarah Killen, age 56, who may have been a sister-in-law. Both listed their occupation as housekeeper. The Castle Garden immigration center in New York City listed Ann Killen arriving April 24, 1874 on the ship California.

 

SS Parthia docked in Londonderry. This was ship of passage for John Killen.

In 1874, only Fannie (age 19 and married to John Hamilton), Margaret age 17 and John 15 of Anne's children remained in Ireland.

Based on the 1880 and 1920 Census, it appears Fannie and John Hamilton immigrated to America in 1879 or 1880.  No supporting passenger lists can be found.

As for Margaret and John Killen, in those days, they would have been considered old enough to look out for themselves. They also had possible income from the property in Kilstrule still leased by Robert Killen according to the Griffith Valuation. Perhaps they stayed with Irish relatives (one possibility being revealed later in my research) until sufficient funds had been gathered to pay for ship passage. The listed passenger names, ages, dates for Margaret and John are close enough to provide confidence that they crossed the Atlantic on the ships British Queen and Parthia in 1881 and 1883, respectively.

 

Joining the Diaspora

As described in the Wretched Ireland post, migration from Ireland was propelled by poverty and the Great Famine of the mid 19^th Century. Beside the 'push' of poverty, a significant attraction for the Irish was the perceived greater opportunity to be found across the ocean in the new lands. America was the primary beneficiary of this 19th Century Irish Diaspora.

Pamphlet advertising the benefits of emigration to North America - Click on image to enlarge

 

Graham

 

Sarah and Isaac Graham

Anna's Irish ancestors began their participation in the great Irish migration at the beginning of the Potato Famine. In 1840, the first to make the trip were the Graham sisters, Jane and Matilda and their brother James. The three of them left on the same ship from Londonderry to Philadelphia,

The second to make the trip were Isaac and Sarah Love Graham, within a year of their marriage in 1842. As seen in the chart at the bottom of the first post, these two people also symbolized the connection between the two main ancestral branches of Anna Love Graham.

It was thought that the rest of the Graham siblings, except one, took ship passage to America before 1850. The one exception being Anna's grandmother, Anne (Nancy) Graham Killen, who remained in Ireland until 1874, decades after her siblings had settled in America. As would be discovered later in in my research, there were two other Graham sisters who decided to remain in Ireland.

Love

 

William Love, Anna's future father arrived in America with his family in 1862

The family of Samuel Love had a harrowing voyage to America. Although I am sure it seemed like a grand adventure to some of the children.

When they departed from County Tyrone, Ireland in 1862 it was as one family on the same ship - Samuel, Mary and all six of their children; ranging from infant Margaret to 18 year old William (Anna's father). 

The vessel on which they came was in passage for between three and four weeks when it was driven from its course by a gale when only a few days out. Instead of landing at New York City as intended, they found harbor in Quabec, Canada. From there they journeyed to New York via the Hudson River. The Civil War was raging at the time and the boat was so crowded with army mules that there was scarcely room for passengers. 

In New York City the family boarded a train. When they arrived in Watkins Glen they were met by Isaac Graham, Samuel’s brother-in-law who had left Ireland about 20 years before. (Source: Watkins Express of Nov. 17, 1982)

 

Killen

 

Robert Killen, the father of the family, never made it to America. He died in Kilstroll, Ardstraw Parish, County Tyrone, Ireland on October 17, 1862. At the time of his death, the children ranged in age from three for the only boy John to Eliza's fourteen. After Robert's death, the children spent the remainder of their childhood in Ireland (perhaps Londonderry), shipping out to America as adults. 

The Killen children sailed individually to America during the 20 years starting in 1865. The first to emigrate from Ireland was Nancy's oldest child Eliza, Anna's future mother, who arrived in New York City from Londonderry July 24, 1865. Her sisters Sarah and Matilda followed in 1868.

Granting of the Estate of Robert Killen per his will

Robert's widow, Anne (Nancy) Graham Killen, left in 1874, two years after she was granted the estate of her husband, an amazing ten years following his death.

The 1880s brought the last of the children, Margaret in 1881 and John, the youngest in 1883 at the age of 25.

More details respecting the Graham and Killen emigration are found in the next posting.