History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 96

Norman, Pictish or Danish?
Other sources and scholars had opinions and theories on the origins and we present
some of them to help in your decision to be of Norman, Pictish or Danish descent:
From Clans and Families of Scotland, page 95:
"According to Buchanan of Auchmar, an ancestor of this family was appointed Regent
or Governor of Scotland, during the minority of Eugenius, the successor of King
Fergus; and, being engaged in war with the Britons, he led an army over the wall of
Agricola, from which circumstance this wall has ever since retained the name of
Graham’s Dyke. In the year 1125, William de Graham is witness to the foundation
charter of Holyrood House, after which date the family appear as Grantees in many
charters, and are incidentally mentioned in others, so that thenceforward their history
appears pretty clear and credible. A Sir Patrick was created Baron Graham in 1455;
William, third Lord, was killed at the battle of Flodden; and his grandson, Robert, fell at
the battle of Pinkie."
Dictionary of National Biographies, Vol. 6, page 51, another book on peerages says:
"The name has always been written interchangeably with Græme, the Scottish
orthography. The earliest traceable ancestor (for we reject, of course, the fifth-century
hero, Greme) is William de Graham, who settled in Scotland early in the 12th Century.
The surname, therefore, is clearly local and from its termination undoubtedly English.
The only place in S. Britain of the name, which we find, is Graham, near Kesteven, in
Lincolnshire." The place meant is the well-known town of Grantham, which is found as
"Graham" in mediæval records.
The Book of Ulster Surnames by Robert Bell, Page 81: "The name is territorial in
origin from Grantham in Lincolnshire, a place noted in the Domesday Book as both
Grantham and Graham. The de Grahams were an Anglo-Norman family who settled in
Scotland in the early 12th Century. The first of the name on record is William de
Graham who witnessed the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey in 1128. He was
later granted the lands of Abercorn and Dalkieth in Midlothian by David I. From that
time the Grahams played a very important part in the affairs of Scotland."

A Vote for the Anglo-Saxons
In the Clan Graham News, Vol. 2 No. 5, July 1984, an articles entitled Who are the
Grahams? states that "Until recently the origin of the Grahams and their ancestors
before they went to Scotland in the year 1026 was obscure. We now know that the
family ancestry of the Grahams is traced to the ancient Anglo-Saxon Kings of England
through King Alfred the Great and the Norwegians who settled in the Orkney Islands
and became the original Vikings under Rollo the Great. They occupied the western
Districts of France in 911 A.D. and became the historic Normans.
"Matilda, a descendent of King Alfred, married William, the youngest son of Duke
Richard I of Normandy. Duke Richard II was the father of Duke William I, the
Conqueror. Matilda’s daughter, and cousin of Duke William I, married Gerold de
Tankerville. Their youngest son, William de Tankerville, was a first cousin of William
the Conqueror. His family were the hereditary Chamberlains of the dukes of
Normandy and prominent in Norman history. They served with Duke William at
Hastings and were rewarded with the Great Barony of Graham in Lincolnshire. The
name ‘de (of) Graham’ originated here. Years later in Scotland the ‘de’ was dropped
and thus the surname became ‘Graham.’
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