Margaretta Crawford

Unsuccessful claimant for compensation for the ownership of enslaved persons on Three Mile River estate in Westmoreland, Jamaica, as guardian of her son. Possibly the same person as Miss Margaret Graham, daughter of Captain John Graham of the 42nd Regiment and heir-at-law of John Graham of Gartur.

1. Three Mile River was previously owned by John Graham of Gartur (q.v., died 1818) and the compensation for this estate was awarded to his widow Matilda Graham née Erskine (q.v.) for arrears of £5000 for an unpaid annuity. The basis for the claim of Margaretta Crawford is unclear. She may be the Margaret Graham who was listed as proprietor of Three Mile River in the Jamaica Almanac of 1824. A letter from John Graham's attorney James Colquhoun Grant to Archibald Crawfuird of 24 Forth Street, Edinburgh, outlining the financial affairs of the estate, adds, 'We are very sensible that in the present distressed times Miss Graham must have derived very little if any advantage from her succession.' Archibald Crawfuird was a Writer to the Signet (Scottish solicitor) who was listed at 24 Forth Street, Edinburgh from 1817-1820 and 20 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, 1821-1823. In the Slave Registers of 1834, the enslaved persons on Three Mile River were registered by William Glen as attorney to James Graham Crawfuird of Gartur. This is probably the same James [or John] Graham Crawfuird, youngest son on Archibald Crawfuird, W.S., who died at Three Mile River, 09/05/1840.

T71/871 Westmoreland claim no. 291 (Three Mile River). T71/1209 Counterclaim of Matilda Erskine otherwise Graham of Gartur in Scotland, widow of John Graham of Gartur.

1. General Register Office for Scotland, CC21/6/100. Jamaica Almanac (1824). http://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/Hanletter.htm [accessed 30/07/2012]. David Dobson, Scots in the West Indies 1707-1857 (2 Vols., Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1998/2006) Vol. 2, p. 22. Post Office Directories, 1817/18, 1819/20, 1821/22 and 1822/23. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database on-line]. General Register Office for Scotland, OPR Deaths 685/1 990 402. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/crawford.htm [accessed 30/07/2012].