Mother's name reveals more

The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is very useful for finding births, marriages and deaths (BMDs). It's the Mormon site and you have to be rather careful. About half the names have been properly researched but half have been added by individuals, so it's always wise to find the original records to check what's been put on the IGI. In looking at the site sometimes 'more is less' - the less information you put in, the more you get out. Until this week I'd never thought of putting 'McIlhag*' into the box for the name of 'mother/spouse', and nothing anywhere else. I tried it to search for births and found two more people for my family tree, Arthur Graham born June 1913 and Lillian Graham born June 1915.

My records show me that Agnes McIlhagga, daughter of my Great-grandfather Crawford, had married William Graham in 1895. She was the younger sister of my Grandfather William. Now his two nearest siblings Elizabeth and Thomas had been born in Greenock, Scotland, but the remaining three, Crawford, Agnes and John were born on Merseyside, so clearly at a point between the birth of Thomas (March 1868) and Crawford (July 1870) the whole family with parents Crawford and Elizabeth (nee Smith) had moved south. In 1898 twenty-one year old Agnes married twenty-five year old house painter William Graham at St. Mary's Church, Kirkdale, in the parish of Walton-on-the-Hill, in the West Derby District. They appear to have waited fifteen years before Arthur was born, and then Lillian two years later, though of course I may yet find other family. I know that Agnes (my Great-Aunt) died five years before I was born, but their children (my 1st Cousins once removed) may have been alive for much of my life. I wonder if they were? Did they marry and have children? I must start searching!

PS. Equally interesting results were shown when I put McIlhag* into the spouse/mother box on the IGI when I looked for marriages - but this time, no surprises!