McMurtries of Maybole, Kirkmichael and Grennoch

Clan Family No. 7

The progenitors of this family were Thomas McMurtrie, a weaver in Kirkland of Maybole Parish, and his wife Margaret Gemmell.

It is possible that he was the Thomas b 1747, son of Thomas McM (merchant in Maybole) and Mary Maxwell based on it being 33 years between his birth and the birth of his first child. Similary, this Thomas Sr. could be the Thomas b 1718, son of James McM, smith in Maybole based on it being 26 years between his birth and the birth of his first child. However, there is no proof of this – it just fits the dates.

Thomas and Margaret also lived in Genoch and Ladycross in Maybole Parish. Their eight children were: Jane born in 1780, Janet born in 1781, John born 1785, William born 1786, Thomas born 1795, Agnes born 1797, David born 1801, Helen b 1804, and Allan born 1805.

Children

William

William married Margaret Linch in Maybole in 1815; Thomas married Jean Hunter in Kirkmichael in 1826; David married Margaret Smith in Kilmarnock in 1838. Much of the family appears to have moved over to Crosshill in Kirkmichael where Janet died in 1856, William in 1858, Agnes in 1873, Thomas in 1881.

William was a weaver and appears to have married a second time to Mary Galloway from Ireland. William's son John witnessed his death certificate and it appears this is the same John that married Agnes McChlery and died in Aberdalgie in 1899. Descendants live in Glasgow and Dundee.

Thomas

Thomas was a cotton weaver He and Jean Hunter's family was a large one - one that scattered all over the world. They have descendants in Brisbane, Montreal, and Virginia, USA though only a few are left in Scotland, namely around Glasgow.

Thomas and Jean's son David, born 1835, was a baker in Crosshill, Kirkmichael. He married Euphemia Neill in 1861 and after her death married Janet Fleck. David's sons Thomas b 1863, David born 1869, James born 1876, and David b 1864 all went to Queensland in Australia. David's son John b 1866 moved to Dundee from where his son John Stewart b 1897 migrated to Montreal and his son Robert b 1899 migrated to Australia. David's son William b 1867 moved to Greenoch, where he worked as a master plumber, and from whence his son William b 1892 moved to Bothwell, near Glasgow and his son John b 1896 migrated to New York. David's son George Boyd b 1871 moved to Partick, Glasgow.

Helen

Helen remained single and died in Crosshill in 1880. She lived with her older sister Jane b 1780 in 1841 and next door to her brother William and her sister Janet McMurtrie Gray and her husband and son Thomas b 1823. In 1861, her grandnephew Gilbert b 1853 lived with her and they lived next door to her brother William, his wife and older children and next door to her widowed sister Janet McMurtrie Gray b 1781.