It’s been a busy day — went through my usual morning routine, began reading up on Strategic Planning and Budgeting for the next section of my CMA study programme, sent a follow-up email about the CFO job at OCCRP (I haven’t heard anything for a couple of weeks), attended a 2-hour webinar on tax issues pertaining to charities in Ireland sponsored by The Wheel (a nonprofit support organisation), caught up with my friend B in California over the phone, and finally this evening had a check-in call with one of the facilitators from my DBT programme about emotional regulation skills. I haven’t managed to get out, although the weather turned out grey as forecasted so I’m glad I got some steps in yesterday.
There were only 359 new cases of COVID-19 reported today in Ireland, which is the lowest figure since mid-December. The vaccine rollout is still going slowly, with the over-85 group just now getting their first shots this week.
I recently did some digging in the National Archives of Ireland to see what information might be available about the Graham family before they emigrated to the U.S. Records from the censuses of Ireland in 1901 and 1911 are publicly available, with even digital scans of the original forms online. My family is from County Monaghan, which is a county in the Republic of Ireland bordering Northern Ireland. I had visited the family farm during our big family trip in 2007, and I knew the closest town is Ballybay where we had stayed. In searching the records by family name and county, I was surprised to see not only multiple Grahams but also multiple Hugh Grahams, although I recognized my grandfather’s name listed as Hugh W. Graham. Apparently, the family farm is located in a rural area south of Ballybay known as Corbrack.
Location of the family farm:
The census form for 1911 listed my great-grandfather as head-of-household at age 46 (younger than I am now!), and my grandfather at age 11 along with his brothers and sisters — all of these family members left Ireland about 10 years later during the Irish War of Independence in 1921.
There was also some new information that I had never seen or heard about… for one, my great-great grandfather Thomas Graham was listed as a widower at age 74 on the 1911 form, which means he was born in 1837 (!). He also appears on the 1901 form as a widower, which means my great-great grandmother must have died in her 60s or younger. The form also lists the name of a 17 year old girl with a different surname who apparently was employed as a household servant. However, what’s most interesting is that the form lists two slightly younger brothers of my great-grandfather whom I had never heard about – Thos (short for Thomas, named after his father, my great-great grandfather) and James. What more, the form indicates they were both illiterate and designates them as “Idiots” in a column labeled “Specified Illnesses.” The historical meaning of the word “idiot” would be “mentally disabled.” So what happened to them when the rest of the family emigrated to America, presuming they were still alive in 1921? This mystery may never be solved.
A digital copy of the 1911 census form, which appears to be completed and signed in my great-grandfather’s hand:
Until next time….
