McMurtrie | McMurtry History
Ireland
Earliest Appearance
The earliest record of McMurtrys in
Ireland is the 1630 Muster Roll for North Antrim. We find
two John McMurterys, a Thomas McMourtry and a Gillaspy McMyrirty
all in Dunluce listed as
the Earl of Antrim’s British Tenants. In 1620 James I
created Randall MacDonnell the 1st Earl of Antrim and this
Scottish Catholic peer proceeded to populate his Antrim lands in
Dunluce with Scottish Protestant lowlanders.
Interestingly, Alexander McMoretery is listed in Cary as one of
the Earl of Antrim's British Tenants on his Native lands.
The Earl set aside his lands in Cary for Scottish Highlanders.
The picture above is Dunluce Castle.
In 1637 John McMurtry
leased some land in Co. Antrim for 20 years. A generation
later, in 1667, an Archibald McMurthy is mentioned in a Co.
Antrim deed. In 1669, the Hearth Money Roll Index lists a John
McMurtrey in the Scotch Quarter of Carrickfergus and a Gilbert
McMurtry in Ballypollard.
There are
also 5 McMurtys listed in various parts of Antrim and it is hard
to know when a McMurty is a McMurty and when McMurty is a
misspelling of McMurtry.
Since the McMurtrys were Protestants, not Catholics, it is
likely that they had immigrated from Scotland as a result of
British efforts to colonize northern Ireland with Scottish and
English settlers. Queen Elizabeth sent an army of 16,000
soldiers to quell a revolt led by Hugh O'Neill, an Irish
chieftain, between 1595 and 1603. By the end of this war, most
of the lands in Country Antrim were parcelled out to the
Macdonnells, a Scottish clan, and to Arthur Chichester, a
wealthy Englishman. In 1608, King James confiscated another
2,000,000 acres of Irish land in western and southern Ulster;
the armies of Cromwell confiscated another 8,000,000 acres; in
the 1690s, William of Orange confiscated another 1,000,000
acres. By 1715, there were 200,000 Presbyterians in Ulster,
constituting 33 percent of the population. Hence, the McMurtrys
were part of a sizeable ethnic and religious minority.
Another possibility for the appearance of the McMurtry name in
Ireland is that it developed from its Gaelic root of
Muicheartagh on the Island of Bute in the early 1500s, and that
it came to Ireland and to other parts of Scotland with the
emigration from the Island of Bute that began around 1540.
In the 1700s and early 1800s, there are a dozen or so isolated
references to McMurtrys. But, except for the Matthew McMurtry of
Island Magee whose descendants we have traced down to the
present day, we have not been able to connect these individuals
to the current generation. The references include: Andrew
McMurtry of Dunagor in 1731, Thomas McMurtrie in Dublin in 1754,
a Thomas McMurtry of Ballywilliam in 1758, Thomas' son John
McMurtry in Ballywilliam, Comber,Co Down in 1782, James McMurtry
in Kilroot, Co Antrim in 1809, Mathew McMurtry of Island Magee
in 1813, Margaret McMoutray of Ballyclare in 1827, John McMurtry
of Belfast 1836, Alexander McMortrey of Cluntifinan in 1838.
The Family in the 1800s
We can get a picture of the family in the mid-1800s by
synthesizing various records - the Tithes (a tax imposed between
1826 and 1838), Griffith's Evaluation (a Tax imposed in the
1860s), the Civil Registration of Marriages (begun in 1845), and
Deaths and Births (begun in 1864), and miscellaneous wills and
census records in the Hamilton papers in the Public Record
Office. This shows the McMurtrys clustered heavily in the
southeast corner of Co Antrim, the eastern end of Co Londonderry
near the Antrim border, and in a few locations in County Down.
In Co Antrim, we see McMurtrys in southeast Antrim in the
parishes of Island Magee, Larne, Glynn, Raloo, Kilroot,
Templecorran, Carrickfergus, Ballynure, Ballylinny. In Co
Londonderry, we see them in Coleraine (Boghill), Aghadowey (Drumsteeple,
Crossmakeever, and Lisnamuck), Agivey (Ree), Mascoquin (Ballyness,
Curragh, Castleroe, Letterloan and Coolyvenny). In County Down,
there are references to Newtownards.
The largest of these families are three: one located on Island
Magee, one located in Raloo, and one in Ballylinny. For each of
these families, some members migrated abroad and some remained
at home.
McMurtrys In Ireland Today
As of 1993, there are about 31 present day families that can
trace their ancestry back to the early Irish families prior to
the mid-1800s. Of these, about 2/3 are predominantly Irish
resident, and 1/3 are predominantly American, Australian, or
Canadian resident.
There are about 50 McMurtrys listed in the 1990 Irish phone
books. They reside mainly in Co Antrim, a smaller number live in
Co Londonderry, a few in Co Down and a few in Dublin.
Migration Abroad
Migrations from Ireland over the centuries has resulted in most
McMurtrys living abroad.
During the 1700s, a number of McMurtry families arrived in
America who were said to be "Scotch Irish", though we have no
documentary evidence of their family connection in Irish
records.
Around or shortly after 1735, three brothers, Joseph, Robert and
Thomas McMurtry came to Sussex and Somerset County, New Jersey.
A contemporary of these brothers is an Alexander McMurtry known
to be in nearby Hunterdon County, New Jersey by 1747. Two
hundred miles to the southwest, in Augusta Co., Virginia, a
different Alexander McMurtry, left two orphan sons, Samuel and
John, born in the late 1740s. A third Alexander McMurtry, born
about 1755, appears in Orange County, New York, just across the
line from Sussex County, New Jersey, in 1790.
Several hundred miles to the south, a William McMurtrey came to
South Carolina in 1777 from northern Ireland and some of his
fellow travelers left a record of the travail of the ship
passage.
Another set of migrations occured in period after 1820, but this
time with a Canadian destination. A William McMurtry, a miller
by profession, in 1822 secured a letter of commendation from a
mill owner in Milford, County Carlow, Ireland to whom William
had been apprenticed. William was commended for his knowledge of
the grinding and dressing of corn in all its branches. William
subsequently shows up in Bowmanville, Durham County, Ontario.
Meanwhile, two brothers, James and John McMurtry arrived in
South March Township, near present day Ottawa, Ontario in the
1820s. John's death certificate says he was from Co. Tyrone.
Three nieces of William - Lizzie, Martha, and Ellen McMurtry -
were said to have come to Cobourg which lies between Bowmanville
and Percy Twp and Lizzie married Thomas McMurtry, a son of the
Bowmanville William. Martha's death certificate says she was
from Co. Carlow. Before 1851, another Thomas McMurtry born 1818
had settled in Percy Township, Northampton County, Ontario,
about 21 miles from Bowmanville. Descendants believe he was from
Coleraine.
Not all emigrants during this period went to Canada. In 1828, a
Thomas McMurtray of the Ballylinny, Co Antrim family went to
Missouri, USA and his nephew Matthew McMurtry went to Illinois.
In 1841, another Thomas McMurtry married in New Brunswick,
Canada, went back to Ireland, then settled in Illinois, USA
after 1859. About 1845, Randall McMurtry of Island Magee
migrated to London and from there his descendants went on to
Australia and eventually New Zealand. Some of the Raloo family
(brothers William, Andrew and James) migrated to New York state
around 1850. A John McMurtry born 1805 and wife Ann Diensmore of
Kilrea, Co Tyrone, came to New Brunswick about 1847, and
descendants settled in Nova Scotia. Around 1850, three brothers
- George Gibson, John Gibson, and Alexander - sons of Thomas and
Nancy Gibson McMurtry, Co Antrim settled in Chicago, Illinois
and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A
Samuel McMurtry, who shows up in Co. Carlow around 1845, may
have been the Samuel, son of Thomas and Nancy Gibson McMurtry. A
fifth brother, Thomas, migrated to America also, but at a much
later date.
A
James McMurtry sailed from Carrickfergus and arrived in
Melbourne, Australia in 1851.
A
Thomas McMurtry and his wife Jane McGonigle appear in
Philadephia in 1850.
A
James and Isabella Carr McMurtry arrived in Philadelphia about
1860.
An Archilbald and John McMurtry appear in Philadelphia in 1850.
For
much more history, please visit the McMurtrie | McMurtry Clan
Family Records