History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 93

William de Graham fought with the forces of King Henry I (1100-1135), son of William
the Conqueror, at Laigle in 1116 and in 1119 at the Battle of Bremule. He commanded
the English forces in the Battle of Bourgtesraude in 1124. He was in Scotland in 1125
when he witnessed a charter for the gift of land from King David I at Holyrood House.
William de Graham married a daughter or a sister of Odon Stigand, dapifer (meaning
steward), an attendant at the Court of Duke William, later the Conqueror. They had
these children:
1. Rabel, who was his successor at Grantham
2. Peter, who went to Scotland;
3. John, who went to Scotland; and possibly
4. Alan, mentioned by Stewart in his book, The Grahams.
William de Graham died about 1128. Future Grahams dropped the "de" from their
name as it no longer had any meaning, since they were no longer "of" or "from"
Graham. Graham then became the surname for all future generations.

Society Officers Divided
Besides the above authorities, Society President Harry L. Graham found many
references to the people of Tancarville in the definitive biography of William the
Conqueror by David C. Douglas, and in the 13th edition of the Encyclopedia
Britannica.
So convinced was he of his Norman research that President Graham added this note
at the end: "This does not clear up the origin of the name ‘Graham’ and its derivation
among the Pictish Scots."
Society Genealogist J. Kenneth Graham wrote his thesis on the origins of the
Grahams in 1981, advancing his theory of a Pictish Scot connection. This research, a
synopsis of which follows, included a needling note to President Graham: "You can be
a Norman if you wish, and I will stay a Pict descendant of one who was there with
Fergus, and helped pull down a part of the Roman Wall in the early days."
"I hold that our family line descends from the early Pict people in what is now known
as Scotland. The Picts were there long before the year one; and though we may have
intermarried with the incoming Scots, and occasionally took a wife from Denmark, our
name and main line blood came down from the original natives of old Caledonia, and
not from Normandy."

From Or and Sable by Louisa Grace Graeme:
"No facts of William de Græme’s ancestry have reached us; tradition alone records
that he sprung from a renowned "Graym," who was the father-in-law of Fergus II, King
of the Scots, and had come over with that monarch from Denmark. "Graym" is said to
have married a Princess of the House of Denmark, and their offspring became the
wife of Fergus. He also commanded the king’s army, during which period he attacked
and demolished the wall of Antoninus, built across Scotland from the Firth of Forth to
that of the Clyde, which marked the northern limit of the country conquered by the
Romans.

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