Bbramsayl@aol.com
L or 1
 ID: I519256139
 Name: Bernard GRAHAM
 Given Name: Bernard
 Surname: Graham
 Sex: M
 Birth: Abt 1768 in Donegal, Ireland
 Death: Sep 13-Oct 7, 1818 in Unity Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA
 Note:
Fortunately, my fourth great-grandfather left a will which identifies his proper forename as well
as that of his wife, two daughters and another son. Previously, the only other record I could find
about the progenitor of this branch of the Graham family in Westmoreland County, PA was in
John W. Jordan, ed., History of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania: Genealogical Memoirs,
Vol. II. New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906. Jordan states: "The family
of which Israel M. Graham, of Ligonier, is a representative, was founded in this country by
Barney Graham, who came about 1804 from Donegal, Ireland, being of Scotch-Irish descent. He
was a farmer, a man of limited education and a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Graham
brought with him to the United States his wife and the following children: William, George,
Richard, Robert, and two daughters. The first home of the family was in Greensburg,
Pennsylvania, where they remained about a year, and then settled in Unity township,
Westmoreland county." (p. 312)
Bernard's will, filed on September 13, 1818, refers to his wife, Jane, daughters Mary Ann and
Mary, and another son, James, who is not listed in the above account. (A transcription of
Bernard's will and a more comprehensive genealogy of this Graham family is available in the
"Related Files" section of my web site at:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/e/c/Barbara--BeckRamsay/index.html)
In addition to the omitted forenames, Jordan offers conflicting information as to when the family
arrived in America. The quoted passage states that the family came here in about 1804. In the
same book, in a separate sketch of Barney's son George, it is said that George was 16 years old
when the family arrived, so that would make the date 1808. A third account, detailed under the
notes of Barney's son Richard, states the family came here in 1810. We may never know in what
year the Grahams arrived because there is a dearth of Irish passenger records for the period 18041810. The most comprehensive record I have found--Irish Passenger Lists, 1803-1806, compiled
by Brian Mitchell--does not include any Graham named Barney or Bernard. Mitchell notes that
even when Irish passenger lists are available, the stated place of residence of the passengers may
or may not have been where they actually lived because sometimes people, prior to their
immigration, were required to take up residence near the port from which they intended to sail.
Ultimately, there may be no way to determine if Barney actually lived in Donegal or in what year
the Grahams left. There is no listing of a Bernard or Barney Graham living in Westmoreland
County in 1810, according to the US Census: hence, it is likely that the family arrived after the
census was taken, or, they were lived with someone else who was listed as the head of the
household.
In another matter, that of Barney being a Presbyterian, an article at Rootsweb explains: "The
term Scotch-Irish is uniquely American. Some historian and genealogists prefer the term Ulster
Scots, which more accurately reflect this group. The term Scotch-Irish is ambiguous because it
does not mean people of mixed Scottish and Irish ancestry as the name seems to imply, but refers
to the descendants of the Presbyterians from lowland Scotland who settled in Ulster-northernmost province of Ireland in the 17th century--and subsequently emigrated from there to
America. By the time of the first migration to America, many of these Ulster Scots had lived in
Ireland for four generations or more, and had become quite a different people from their Scottish
forebears." (www.rootsweb.com) Of Barney's traceable descendants who attended church, those
I found were either Lutherans or Methodists.
Finally, the dates of birth attributed to Barney, his wife and daughters are speculative, an
unsatisfactory but unavoidable state of affairs given the absence of any other information. The
date of death of Jane G
Marriage 1 Jane UNKNOWN b: Abt 1771 in Donegal, Ireland

Married: Abt 1789 in Donegal, Ireland
Children
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
William GRAHAM b: 1790 in Donegal, Ireland
George GRAHAM b: 1792 in Donegal, Ireland
Mary Ann GRAHAM b: Abt 1794 in Donegal, Ireland
Richard GRAHAM b: 21 Dec 1795 in Donegal, Ireland
Mary GRAHAM b: Abt 1800 in Donegal, Ireland
Robert GRAHAM b: 1804 in Donegal, Ireland
James GRAHAM b: 1798 in Donegal, Ireland