This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: GRAHAM, GILL, TUNEY (TUNNEY-?), HEISTER, LIVINGSTON(E)
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Hi.2ADI/1750
Message Board Post:
May 31, 2003
Greetings from California:
My name is Ronald "Ronnie" Arthur Graham and I was born in Lafayette, Indiana on
28 Nov 1933. I attended St. Mary's Catholic School for 8 years and Jefferson High
School for four years (1952 Grad). My father and mother were GEORGE JAMES GRAHAM (b. Jan
1900) and DORIS THISE GRAHAM (b. 14 Sep 1897). I'm seeking information on the GRAHAMS
from Mifflin/Mifflintown Pennsylvania. The GRAHAMS were driven out of Mifflin area by the
Johnstown Floods! They settled in Lafayette, Indiana and the Chicago area. My father was
born in Chicago. My mother, DORIS THISE GRAHAM, was born in Dunnington, Indiana. Her
father, HENRY THISE, owned a grocery store there and supported his blabbermouth
daughters--including my mother! Yakkety yak! All they ever did when they got together
was yak and laugh. It is a wonderful memory!
My grandfather was: ARTHUR WELLINGTON GRAHAM, b. 28 Mar 1861 in Mifflintown, d. 5 Jun
1916 in Lafayette, Indiana. He married: MARY ANN "MILLIE" GILL, b. 13 Nov 1862
in Dublin-?, Ireland and died 10 Mar 1945 in Lafayette, Indiana.
ARTHUR WELLINGTON GRAHAM's father, probably born in Mifflintown, Penn, was born on 4
Jul 1833 and his name is: JAMES A. GRAHAM. He married MATILDA HEISTER, b. 24 Apr 1835.
He married twice and I don't know whether Matilda was his first or second wife. He
owned a boat on the Erie Canal and made his living with it. Somebody said he owned a
slave.
JAMES A GRAHAM's father was: JOHN GRAHAM, b. 15 Jun 1793 in Edinburgh, Scotland or
Mifflintown, Penn. The GRAHAMS in Scotland worked in the wool mills. JOHN GRAHAM married
EASTER ---??---- and Easter was born on 1 Feb 1795. They might have been born in
Scotland.
ARTHUR WELLINGTON GRAHAM married MARY ANN GILL on 29 May 1884, probably in Mifflin, Penn.
I have her wedding picture! A cousin lived in Mifflintown named HENRY GRAHAM.
JAMES GILL, born in Dublin, Ireland on 15 Jun 1830 married MARY ANN TUNEY (TUNNEY-?).
Their daughter Mary Ann married ARTHUR WELLINGTON GRAHAM. Arthur and Mary Ann met on the
boat that took them to America.
JAMES and MARY ANN TUNEY (TUNNEY) GILL are buried in St. Joseph's Catholic Church
Cemetary in Dyer, Indiana. Their tombstones are illegible or missing. MARY ANN TUNEY
(TUNNEY-?) was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1828 and died on 2 Apr 1900 in Hammond Indiana,
near Dyer, Indiana.
ARTHUR WELLINGTON GRAHAM had a sister, JENNIE GRAHAM PANNEBAKER (different spellings), who
was over 100 years old in 1945. Jennie (Jenny) was married to the PANNEBAKER at her UNCLE
HENRY GRAHAM's house in Mifflintown. I know nothing else about Henry Graham.
JENNIE GRAHAM PANNEBAKER wrote up the GRAHAM FAMILY HISTORY wherein she traced our GRAHAM
ancestors back to one of the four ladies-in-waiting for Mary Queen of Scots. The
"Four Marys" are historically famous because they were the same age as Mary
Queen of Scots and the five of them were raised and educated as sisters. The names of
these "Four Marys" were Seton, Beaton, Livingston(e) and Fleming. Mary
Livingston married a Royal Graham (Graeme), who owned a castle that still stands in
Scotland, but it was her second marriage. It took me fifteen years to locate her as the
one of the "Four Marys" who is the reason I am here on this earth today. MARY
LIVINGSTON GRAHAM scandalized some of the religious fanatics of the era and her nickname
in court circles was "Lusty Mary". Well, that's the kinda woman I can
admire! I've always admired non-conformists in this increasingly homogenized and
foolishly-fearful America.
I will appreciate any help you can give me. I would really like to get my hands on JENNIE
GRAHAM PANNEBAKER's Family History. It must be around someplace. Maybe in the
Denver, Colorado area where the Pannebaker's settled.
Best wishes and thanks for listening.
rongraham6(a)yahoo.com
Indiana Ron Graham,
America's Foremost Hoosier
8167 Park Ave
Forestville, CA 95436
(707) 887-2856