CF 001

This is the family of John McMurtrie of Park, Dailly who md 1744 Agnes Ferguson of Ballymore, Barr. John is also the ancestor of Alexander David McMurtrie who founded the MacMurtrie Clan Family Records in 1938.

Past historians have assumed John was born in Barr of a Barr father and grandfather, but closer examination of the records shows that John was living in northern Dailly Parish when he married in 1744 and was probably born in southern Dailly.

Previously John's lineage was stated as:

David b 1660

• William b 1690
  • John b 1718 md 1744 Agnes Ferguson
  • Agnes b 1720
  • Anna b 1722
  • William b 1725 md Jean Forgie 1761
  • Gilbert b 1728

  However, the tombstone gives John's age as 70 when he died in 1784, hence a birth date of 1714. Further, when he married in 1744, he was living in Park in northern Dailly and it was Agnes Ferguson who was living in Ballymore/Bellimore in Barr Parish. Also, John of Park had a daughter Christian b 1740; so he appears to have been married before his marriage to Agnes.

  This John may have been:

  John b 1714 son of Matthew of Pinkhill, Dailly or

  John b 1714 son of David in Bankhead, Dailly.

  We can't tell which of these is the John who md Agnes Ferguson, but in either case we have a southern Dailly birth, with a northern Dailly marriage and then a movement to Barr.

  A possible clue to John's identity comes from the fact that James b 1712 son of David of Craghead, and possibly brother to John b 1714, son of David, has children in southern Dailly, moved to northern Dailly, then moved to Barr by 1745, just around the time that John moved to Barr. Also, this James had a daughter Christian b 1744, just as John of Park had a daughter Christian in 1740.

  However, David of Bankhead has a son John in 1726, suggesting that John b 1714 died young. Unless there are 2 David McMurtries in Bankhead, we would have to conclude that John b 1714 was son of Matthew. And we would conclude that the parallel movements and daughter-naming of James b 1712 is just geographic coincidence.

  See "McMurtries of Barr" and "McMurtries of Dailly" for more details.

  Ancestors and Descendants of CF 001