Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

De Graeme, which would indicate a local
origin. The descendants of this progenitor
form one of the largest and most
distinguished families in Scotland. They
possess the dukedom, marquisates, and
earldom of Montrose ; marquisate of
Graham and Buchanan ; earldoms of
Airth, Kincardine, Monteith, and Strathern
; viscountcies of Dundas, Dundee and
Preston ; lordships of Aberuthven, Kil-
point, etc ; barony of Esk, etc.
The American families of the name descend
from several unrelated progenitors.
Connecticut and Massachusetts boast
many distinguished Graham families.
Tradition has it that the Grahams of Connecticut
descend from three brothers. One
of the first of the name to settle within
the limits of the colony was Benjamin
Graham, of Hartford. Several members
of the family rendered valiant service during
the American Revolution. Mrs. Emily
J. (Welton) Frisbie, widow of the late
Edward L. Frisbie, of Waterbury, Connecticut
(see Frisbie VI), descends ma-
ternally from the Graham family.
(I) Jesse Graham, great-grandfather of
Mrs. Frisbie, was born in 1761, and was
but fifteen years of age on the outbreak
of the American Revolution. He enlisted
as a drummer-boy, however, and his name
appears on the payroll of the Fourth Connecticut
Regiment, Colonel Zebulon Butler
commanding, as having received pay
from January i, 1781, to December 31,
1781. His name again appears on the
Census of Pensions, as returned under
Act for Taking the Sixth Census in 1840,
at which time he was a resident of Chath-
am, in Middlesex County, and was seventy-nine
years old. Jesse Graham was
a farmer and well-known resident of
Chatham for several decades. He mar-
ried, and among his children was Cyrus,
mentioned below.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
61
(II) Cyrus Graham, son of Jesse
Graham, was a well-known resident of
West Hartford, Connecticut. He married
Fanny Curtis, and they were the parents
of Mary, mentioned below.
(HI) Mary Graham, daughter of Cyrus
and Fannie (Curtis) Graham, was born
May 18, 1817, and died February 13, 1892.
She married, December 22, 1840, George
Wales Welton, of Waterbury, Connecti-
cut (see Welton VI).
(IV) Emily J. Welton, daughter of
George Wales and Mary (Graham) Welton,
became the wife of the late Edward
Laurens Frisbie, of Waterbury (see Fris-
bie VI).
(The Wakelee Line).
Arms—Argent, on a cross sable five lions ram-
pant or.
Crest—A lion rampant or, in the dexter paw a
tulip gules slipped vert.
The origin of this surname is seen in
the Anglo-Saxon waecan or tvaeccan,
meaning to watch. This took a diminu-
tive form in the eighth century in the
early Teutonic as Wachilo, which became
Wakley, Weekly, Wakelin, and Wakelen.
Wakley and Weekly appear in Devonshire
and Kent, respectively. Waklyn,
Wakelyn and Wakelen appear in Derbyshire
and Northampton. Hugh Waklyn,
of Eden in Devonshire, lived in the fif-
teenth century and in Sutton Hundred in
Northamptonshire. Thomas Wakelin appears
as early as 1375. Thomas Wakely,
of Devonshire, was a member of Parliament
for Navan, in that shire in 1585.
(I) Henry Wakelyn or Wakelee, as the
name was afterwards written, held land
in Hartford, Connecticut, and was one of
the first settlers of Stratford, appearing
there before 1650. He held home lot No.
15 on Main Street in Stratford. His wife
was a widow when she married him, as
Henry Wakelyn was administrator to the