Bushmills - Book of Remembrance - 1914-18
By
Robert Thompson
[robert@riversideroad.freeserve.co.uk]
ISBN 978-0-9537583-2-6
Robert has written many books about those from the towns, villages and countryside of the northern coast of the island of Ireland who perished in the Great War 1914-18 and his latest one - available in Carletons, The Diamond, Bushmills - is a collection of accounts - some quite long, some quite brief - about those who survived; the index contains a list of almost 400 men and women with a connection to Bushmills district. He'd love to hear more about those who have brief accounts or who may have been missed.
This story about Daniel Graham caught my attention:
I don't think I ever met Daniel but I did know some of his family and I've just recently linked up with Paddy, one of his granddaughters; neither of us knew about the existence of the other until the following photo of 'Al' Graham & His Hungarian Band' was posted on Facebook:
Her reaction, "That's my uncle Alex and uncle John" to which I replied, "That makes the two of us second cousins". Alex, on the front left, is playing a piano-accordion and John, on the back right, is playing a button-keyed accordion. Perhaps someone can name the other two.
Alex and John are sons of Daniel Graham of Carnmoon afore mentioned. There have been Grahams at the Whinhill in the townland of Carnmoon for over two hundred years and Daniel is common to the various families that were living there four generations ago. His mother's name, Mrs Samuel McKaig, links him to a particular family. Samuel was her second husband; her maiden name was Mary Jane McKaig of the Islands of Carnmoon and her first husband, Andrew Graham, Daniel's father, is my great-grandfather. Andrew and Mary Jane were married in Bushmills Presbyterian Church on 11 August 1871 and Daniel was born about 1876.
At the time of the 1901 census, Daniel is a servant in The Osborne Family and Commercial Temperance Hotel run by a Donegal lady, Jane Hurst, in Main Street, Portrush. He marries a Portrush girl, Rosetta Adams, in Bushmills Presbyterian Church on 12 October 1904 and by the time of the 1911 census they have three children - Jeannie, Maggie and Daniel - and are living in Causeway Street, Portrush. This is Daniel's signature in the 1912 Ulster Covenant:
The headstone at Ballywillan graveyard contains the following inscription:
Please send any additional information - photo/newspaper scans - to me at the contact address nalilblog@gmail.com. Robert can be contacted by email at the address at the top of the article.
