Rev. 23 March 2007, Gen. 331
DESCENDANTS OF ROBERT GRAVES AND MARY ------ OF DEIGHTON AND SKELTON, YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND
GENERATION 1
Robert Graves (1) was born about 1771[1], probably in Skelton, North Yorkshire, England[2]. He married Mary ‑‑‑‑‑‑. She was born about 1766. He was a farmer. They were listed in the 1841 census for Deighton, civil parish of Esrick, Yorkshire, with his brother Thomas, 75, and son Robert, 20, living with them. The fact that Thomas was his brother was inferred from the 1851 census where Thomas, uncle, was living with his nephew Robert Graves.
Children - Graves
+2. Robert Graves, b.c. 1818-1821, m. Emma Ann ‑‑‑‑‑‑.
GENERATION 2
CHILDREN OF ROBERT GRAVES (1) AND MARY ------
Robert Graves (2) was born about 1818-1821 in Skelton, Yorkshire, England[3]. He married Emma Ann ‑‑‑‑‑‑. She was born about 1820 in Bishop Wilton, Yorkshire. He was in the 1841 census, and they were in the 1851, 1861, and 1871 censuses, all for Deighton, Yorkshire. All their children were born in Deighton. Full names of the children were given in the 1861 census. Robert’s uncle Thomas was living with them in 1851. Robert was a farmer with up to 7 servants plus other labourers on the farm, and he had 136 to 270 acres of farm.
Children - Graves
3. Ann (“Annie”) Wadington Graves, b.c. 1849.
4. Emily Graves, b.c. 1850.
5. Sarah Mary Graves, b.c. 1854. Not in the 1871 census.
+6. Robert Quarton Wilkinson Graves, b. Sept. 1855, m. Mary Maria Bramley, c. 1883, d. 1901.
7. John Wadington Graves, b.c. 1857.
8. Hessay Wilkington Graves, b.c. 1858. There is a place called Hessay just west of York that he may have been named for.
9. Emma Ann Graves, b.c. 1860, probably died before 1871.
GENERATION 3
CHILDREN OF ROBERT GRAVES (2) AND EMMA ANN ------
Robert Quarton Wilkinson Graves (6) was born in Sept. 1855 in Skelton (near York), Yorkshire, England[4], and died in 1901 in Olean, Cattaraugus Co., NY. He married Mary Maria Bramley about 1883. She was born in May 1857 in Selby, Yorkshire, England, and died in Silver Creek, NY. They were in Toronto, Canada by 1886 when their son, Thomas Ashley Graves, was born.
They were in the 1900 census for Olean, Cattaraugus Co., NY. At that time, he was a hotel keeper. Both he and Mary were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1873. Their son, Thomas, became a U.S. citizen in 1887. Their other two children were both born in PA.
It is possible that this Graves family is related to that of John Graves, farmer, who married Susanna Hinsley in 1820, and lived in Carlton, subdistrict of Snaith, Yorkshire (genealogy 113). Among other children, they had James Graves, born 14 May 1826 in Carlton, married Marianne (shortened to Maria) Bramley on 6 Feb. 1849 at Snaith. She was daughter of Capt. Thomas Bramley (mariner and coal merchant) and Maria Miller, and sister of Thomas Bramley, Jr., who married Hannah Ramskill Greaves in 1849 at Knottingley, Yorkshire. Hannah’s parents were William Greaves and Sarah Burland (genealogy 114), married in Pontefract, Yorkshire. James and Maria Graves emigrated to Australia after 1857, and at least two of their children went to the U.S.
The map of part of Yorkshire on the next page shows how close Pontefract, Knottingley, Snaith, Carlton, Selby and York are to each other. Pontefract (located at A3 on the map) is only about 12 miles from Snaith (at C3), Selby is only about 7 miles north of Snaith, and York is only about 19 miles north of Snaith. (R‑1)
Children - Graves
10. Beatrice Graves, b. 1885, d. 1903.
+11. Thomas Ashley Graves, b. 22 July 1886, m. Esther Brittain, 22 Nov. 1921, d. 18 Feb. 1971.
+12. Franklin W. Graves, b. 27 Aug. 1889, m. Marjorie Thornton.
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[1] His date of birth estimated from age 70 in 1841 census.
[2] This is probably the Skelton that is just a little northwest of York. He was apparently not living in 1851, so his place of birth was not recorded in census records, but his brother Thomas was listed in 1851, and his birthplace was given as Skelton, as was that of Robert’s son robert.
[3] All census records give his place of birth as Skelton. The 1841 census gives his age as 20 (born about 1821), it is 32 in 1851, 43 in 1861, and 53 in 1871 (b.c. 1818).
[4]According to information from Mrs. Esther Brittain Graves.