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John & Sarah's first son was James. There's a good chance that was John's father's name.

https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

for GRAHAM marriages 1763-1800, one was a James Graham to Ann Bagley in Halifax County 1788.

The others were
Graham, John & Scott, Mary - Halifax County 1772
Graham, William & Cameron, Mary - Halifax County 1800
Graham, William & Fitzpatrick, Hannah - Halifax County 1775

None of them looks likely (too early, too late).

There's nothing to say that John's parents did marry in NS. But again, this is a reference you may want to keep note of.

You can see the original documents at that site if you do that search. The marriage bond for James Graham gives no information beyond the names.

I do have Ancestry but hadn't searched the IGI. The children seem to have added their mother's maiden name Armstrong as their second name. I think I have got as far as possible finding out about John Graham. I was very interested to know about Nunavut and Haafon. Thank you for all the information. Gwen

Note that in the 1841 census, the children are all shown as born in Kent.

In 1851, wife Sarah is shown as born in Bristol. So John and Sarah pretty certainly married in England. The children still in the household in 1851 are all shown as born in Woolwich, Kent.

So it seems sure that John was back in England at least as a young man.

I'd get a child's marriage certificate and see what it says for his occupation, as Catherine said.

Hi Gwen, I got your PM, but I don't see a message in your thread as you referred to. You need to click the purple Reply button at the top to add a post here.

Anyhow, no, he wasn't born in Haafon. ;) Do read through again!

He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in what is now Canada. According to that 1851 census. "Nu Haafon" is the moronic transcription of what the handwritten page actually says.

Do you have access to Ancestry? If not, you can send me an email address by private message (reply to my other message again in your inbox) and I'll send you a copy of the image.

You say: "Is it possible to find out what he did in Canada before coming to England."

Again, do read through what I put in this thread again.

He was very, very probably born in Halifax to a father who was in the British military. The father could have been English, Scottish or Irish -- as could the mother.

One thing that happened quite often, for example, was for an English soldier to be posted in Ireland and marry an Irish woman, then be posted to Canada and have children there.

John probably didn't do anything in Nova Scotia. Most likely his father was posted back to England, and so John returned to England as a child.

All this is just guesswork at the moment, but that is a common pattern. It would have been very unusual the other way around -- say, for someone whose parents and grandparents were born in Nova Scotia to up and move to England.


I'm still curious where you got "Nunavut". ;) Oh, I know. the "Nu" in 1851; NU is the postal abbreviation for Nunavut. Heh.

I see you've read my PM, Gwen. Any thoughts?

Other possibly interesting Grahams in 1851


Name: Elizabeth Graham
Age: 56
Estimated birth year: abt 1795
Relation: Head - widowed, shareholder
Where born: NS B Subject, Halifax

Civil Parish: Cheltenham
Town: Cheltenham
County/Island: Gloucestershire


Name: Charles Graham
Age: 56
Estimated birth year: abt 1795
Relation: Head - widowed, private tutor
Where born: Canada (by 1851 it might have been referred to as Canada)

Civil Parish: Kensington
Ecclesiastical parish: St John
County/Island: Middlesex



Oh, interesting. In the 1841, an Ancestry user has added Elizabeth Graham's birthplace to the census record:

Name: Elizabeth Graham
Age: 40
Estimated birth year: abt 1801
(no husband present)
Where born: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
"1861 census has same address, same name and states nova scotia as place of birth"


I suspect that the person who added that, whose username includes "Yorkshire", was looking for Grahams from another Halifax. ;) But it could be worth a contact!


Have PMed Gwen to return ...

Well ... Halifan? ;) Unfortunately we don't have another "x" by the same census worker to compare!


Keep in mind, Gwen, that when John was born, there was no "Canada". Nova Scotia was a British colony.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia

... American Revolution

Throughout the war, American privateers devastated the maritime economy by raiding many of the coastal communities. There were constant attacks by American privateers, such as the Raid on Lunenburg (1782), numerous raids on Liverpool, Nova Scotia (October 1776, March 1777, September, 1777, May 1778, September 1780) and a raid on Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia (1781).

American Privateers also raided Canso, Nova Scotia (1775). In 1779, American privateers returned to Canso and destroyed the fisheries, which were worth £50,000 a year to Britain.

To guard against such attacks, the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was garrisoned at forts around the Atlantic Canada. Fort Edward (Nova Scotia) in Windsor, Nova Scotia was the Regiment's headquarters to prevent a possible American land assault on Halifax from the Bay of Fundy. There was an American attack on Nova Scotia by land, the Battle of Fort Cumberland.

In 1781, as a result of the Franco-American alliance against Great Britain, there was also a naval engagement with a French fleet at Sydney, Nova Scotia, near Spanish River, Cape Breton.

In 1784 the western, mainland portion of the colony was separated and became the province of New Brunswick, and the territory in Maine entered the control of the newly independent American state of Massachusetts. Cape Breton Island became a separate colony in 1784 only to be returned to Nova Scotia in 1820.

--------------------------------------------


I would very much expect that John's father was in the British military (and could have been Scottish or Irish) when John was born there. His wife might have gone with him when he was posted, or perhaps more likely he married there.

If the family had been settled in Nova Scotia, it's very unlikely that John would have emigrated to England.

Hi Janey,
Yes I agree it could very well be Halifax, although the last letter does look like an 'n'.................
.........but the first word doesn't seem to be Nova Scotia although it would seem to be the best bet.
Why didn't they print everything out, it would make our lives much easier.

Catherine, have you looked at the 1851 image, and don't you agree it says HALIFAX?

It doesn't say Yorkshire, so the only other available Halifax would be in Nova Scotia, I think. ;)

"Unlikely in the extreme" was understatement, btw.

Nunavut simply didn't exist. It's a modern political creation. (It was formerly a part of the Northwest Territories, NWT.)


http://www.bfcoalition.ca/english/history.asp

Nunavut, meaning "Our land" in Inuktitut, is the newest of Canada's 3 territories. Nunavut came into being on April 1, 1999 as a result of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. It is the largest of the three territories occupying 1/5th of Canada's land mass or 2,093,190 sq. km. Nunavut is divided into 3 regions; Kitikmeot, Kivalliq, Baffin. Iqaluit is the capital and largest of the 26 communities that make up Nunavut. Originally named Frobisher Bay Iqaluit is located on Baffin Island the fifth largest island in the world.


Nunavik,on the other hand, is a locality in Quebec.

http://www.nunavik-travelguide.com/

Nunavik is located north of the 55th parallel in the Arctic area of Quebec, on a large and barely inhabited virgin territory. Some 11,000 Inuit, Cree, Naskapis and Quebeckers share a 507,000-km2 territory in 13 Nordic villages and 1 Cree village. Nunavik is bordered by water and by natural frontiers: the Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north and the Ungava Bay to the east. As for its terrestrial borders, Quebec is to the south (with the James Bay and Duplessis regions) and Newfoundland and Labrador is to the east.



I just don't think any Europeans were born there in the 18th century.

I'm very curious where this idea came from!


Halifax, Nova Scotia, was the site of British military garrisons for decades, right up until after Confederation in 1867.

just in case you don't have this:-

JAMES ARNASTRONG GRAHAM - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 25 JUN 1823
Gender: Male Christening: 13 JUL 1823 Saint Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, Kent, England

ROBERT GRAHAM - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 04 DEC 1825
Gender: Male Christening: 01 JAN 1826 Saint Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, Kent, England

GEORGE WILLIAM GRAHAM - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 14 JUN 1830
Gender: Male Christening: 11 JUL 1830 Saint Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, Kent, England

SARAH SUSANNAH GRAHAM - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 29 SEP 1832
Gender: Female Christening: 28 OCT 1832 Saint Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, Kent, England

CATHERINE ARMSTRONG GRAHAM - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 13 OCT 1835
Gender: Female Christening: 08 NOV 1835 Saint Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, Kent, England

Sometimes the death cert. will give the place of birth of the person who has died, so maybe worth buying that to see what it says.

https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

Nova Scotia vital records searches

But births start only in 1863.

Marriages start in 1763, so you could have a browse. There are three male Graham marriages 1772, 1775 and 1788.

There'd be nothing to connect them with your Graham immediately, but it's a source to keep in mind for further research.

The marriage cert. of one of his children will give you his occupation in England.
Still looking for immigration record!

Gwen, are you looking at some other record? (You said 1786, that census is 1785.) (I was referring to the 1851 Catherine posted before she edited to add the 1841, which is a rounded age in any event.)

I think it unlikely in the extreme that someone would have been identified in 1851 as being born in Nunavut.

The 1851 census record actually seems to say Halifax, and the bit before it could conceivably be Nova Scotia.

His occupation seems to be Pensioner and I'm not sure what the rest is -- Lab something, then possibly arsenal? -- but I'd surmise naval or military.

1851 for ref:-

Name: John Graham
Age: 66
Estimated birth year: abt 1785
Relation: Head
Spouse's name: Sarah Graham
Gender: Male
Where born: Nu, Haafon

Civil Parish: Plumstead
County/Island: Kent
Country: England

Street address:

Occupation: Pensioner ?

Registration district: Lewisham
Sub-registration district: Plumstead
ED, institution, or vessel: 2a
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 106
Household Members:
Name Age
John Graham 66
Sarah Graham 56 born: Bristol, Somerset
George Graham 21 born: Woolwich, Kent
Sarah Graham 18
Charline Graham 15
Thomas Fan 21- visitor born: Huckney, Middlesex


1841
Name: John Graham
Age: 55
Estimated birth year: abt 1786
Gender: Male

Civil Parish: Plumstead
Hundred: Lessness
County/Island: Kent
Country: England

Street address:

Occupation: Labourer

Registration district: Lewisham
Sub-registration district: Plumstead
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
John Graham 55
John Graham 18
Sarah Graham 50
Sarah Graham 8
Robt Graham 18
George Graham 10
Catherine Graham 5
Jos Graham 20

I have found John Graham who was born in Nunavut, Canada in 1786. He married Sarah Armstrong from Bristol in Cumberland. I would like to know when he travelled from Canada to the UK and if possible his occupation there. Is there anyone with John in their family tree who could help. Gwen Bragg