Was Nancy Watson the wife of John Graham?
Since I have been vague in my own statements regarding this subject I decided to dig out the letter that is the source of the "tradition" that John Graham, who died in 1798 in Washington Co., Ky. had a wife named Nancy Watson.It is often stated as fact even though John Graham's widow's name was MARY.On 16 Dec 1907 John F. Graham of Carrollton, Mo responded to an inquiry regarding the Graham ancestry by his cousin, Miss Bessie Merrick.He was a great-grandson of John Graham and stated that John Graham "was born in Scotland and raised in Ireland.""His wife was Nancy Watson.""Moved to America about the Revolutionary War settled in Stanton Augusta Co Vir.Moved to Ky in 1800..."Not surprisingly much of this is a little off.All evidence points to even John's oldest children, born in the early 1760's, being born in Virginia.The move to Kentucky took place in 1787.Also, some evidence suggests that John Graham was married more than once.There is a long span in the ages of the children and a suit among his heirs has suggested to some attorneys that the oldest children may have been by a different wife.John F. Graham, author of the letter, was born circa 1828 in Boone Co., Mo.His father, also named John Graham, had married Elizabeth Freeman in Boone Co in 1821.This elder John was a son of William Graham whose birth date is often given as ca 1777, presumably based on census, as he lived until 1862.Some evidence suggests William's birth was a slight bit earlier--perhaps as early as 1774.John Graham's widow, Mary, seems to have been his wife for many years.In 1797 she gave consent for "my daughter Nancy" to marry.Nancy's birth is usually given as 18 May 1779.Of course, even a step-mother might sign such a consent,so all the evidence leaves uncertainty in the matter,but the SOURCE of the written tradition for "Nancy Watson" is probably this letter written in 1907 and mentioned without details in the oft quoted "Frank Tull Manuscript."Frank Tull gave it to me about 1961.