McMurtrie/try Arrival In America (Prior to 1800)

The earliest record of a McMurtry in America is the 1718 will of John McMurtry, a minister at "Cainhoy", South Carolina. John's sister Jane McMurtry lived in Dromore, County Down, Ireland. The will directed that his 16 yr old daughter Mary be sent to her grandfather Robert Porter in near Belfast. So, this family did not "take root" in America.

The next family of McM. to appear in America grew to be the largest McM. family in the world with over 2000 descendants! This was the family of Joseph, Thomas, and Robert McMurtrie (CF 110) who arrived in New Jersey around 1735 presumably from Northern Ireland. Joseph settled near what became Belvedere, Warren County; Robert settled in Hardwick Twp. a few miles to the north; and Thomas settled in Somerset County, 25 miles to the east. Some of Joseph's descendants stayed in New Jersey, but by 1800 most had moved on to Pennsylvania and Kentucky. One branch of Robert's descendants appears to have moved to Toronto, then to Ohio and Indiana. Some of Thomas' descendants stayed in NJ; others moved to Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

About the same time, an Alexander McMurtry settled in Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon Co. NJ a few miles from Joseph's home in Warren County. This Alexander was there at least from 1747 and seems to have died about 1761. His children appear to be: a daughter Bridgit who married Abel Everett 1781, a son Hugh McMurtrie (CF 112) who migrated to Northumberland/ Union Co PA around 1791, a son Alexander McMurtry (CF 108) who settled in Orange Co NY by 1790.

Meanwhile, another Alexander McMurtry died and his wife married James Young in 1751 in Augusta Co., Virginia. Her son Samuel McMurtry born 1744 went to Abbeville, South Carolina in 1763 and her son John McMurtry born 1738 went to Kentucky in 1780. These brothers were progenitors of a large family (CF 111) that continued to move west with the movement of the frontier.

Next came a family with Scottish, rather than Scotch-Irish roots. In 1751/2, David McMurtrie b 1721 Dalmellington, Ayrshire, Scotland (CF 113/CF 19) arrived in Philadelphia in business with a Thomas McJannet in London. In 1759, David's nephew William came over from Scotland to join him in his merchantile business. In 1765, David and William joined other colonial merchants in signing non-importation agreements - essentially an economic boycott protesting the Stamp Act, a very unpopular tax on business and one of a string of unpopular British actions which resulted in the American Revolution.

In the southern colonies, a William McMurtrey (CF 117) appears in Laurens Co., South Carolina, apparently having come over from Ireland in 1772. His fellow travelers left a record of the travail of their sea voyage. This family spread westward to Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah and Idaho.

Ref: ArrivAmr.993 Sept 93, Rev 12/2008