McIvor Family History

Graham, Howell, McIvor/McIver, Schnurr, Steen, Williams…& related families


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1st Mystery Photo Identified: Susanna Reynolds Howell

After posting three articles and scores of unknown photos of my Graham and Howell ancestors, I am happy to announce that one of the photos has been identified! Through ancestry.com I met my 3rd cousin, Suzanne Grimes, who has a number of 19th century Howell photos. Her grandmother, Beatrice Howell Johnson, had the foresight to write, “Grandmother Howell wife of Augustus Nolan Howell” on the back of this cabinet card.

May I present Susanna Reynolds Howell, my great-great grandmother:SusanahReynoldsHowell

Susanna’s parents were John and Sarah Mary Reynolds. According to her death certificate, Susanna was born November 17, 1841, in Elkton, Maryland. However, the 1880 and 1890 census records show her birth year as 1844 and place of birth as Delaware. Could it be that she fudged the dates on the census in order to appear to be only 3 months older than her husband (rather than 3 years and 3 months older)? Continue reading

Unidentified Graham & Howell Photos #1

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Occasionally totally awesome and unexpected good fortune occurs while researching family history. This happened to me this past summer, but as you will see, this particular good fortune is both sweet and bitter. Earlier this year I met Mr. Charles Murphy on ancestry.com and we exchanged a few messages. Charles sent me a box of old photos of my Graham and Howell ancestors.  It was an amazing experience to open and look through the approximately 125 photographs including cartes de visite, tintypes and many cabinet cards, most dating to the late 1800’s.

That’s the very “sweet” part. The “bitter” part is that very very few are labeled! I have no idea who they are! Charles said that a number of them had originally been rubber banded together and labeled “Howell” but the rubber band disintegrated over the years and those cards are no longer distinguishable from the others. View the pictures →

This gallery contains 29 photos


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Jonathan James Graham (1865-1927)

Jonathan James Graham W

My great-grandfather, Jonathan James Graham, was born in Charlestown, Cecil County, Maryland, October 22, 1865, the same year the Civil War ended. He was the 5th of 8 children of Francis Dailor Lafayette Graham and Elizabeth A. Rutter. The Grahams of Charlestown were cabinet makers, boat builders, carpenters, undertakers, and duck decoy makers. The 1880 US census lists Jonathan’s father Lafayette as a boat builder and the 1882 Charlestown directory lists him as a carpenter. Continue reading