Clan Family 53 (formerly Clan Family (Temporary)503(CFT 503)

This family came from Co Down Ireland to Ayr, Ayrshire just after 1847. The ancestors of this family may have gone to Ireland from Scotland some time before (several years or several generations) and so the move to Ayr may have been a return.

The earliest ancestor for which we have documentary proof is a Samuel McMurtrie born between 1790 and 1800 or possibly between 1780 and 1790. This Samuel married an Elizabeth Allan and was living in Ireland in 1821 and was working as a farm laborer. He may have been born there or he may have been born in Scotland. Out of 1500 parish register entries in Scotland between 1660 and 1853, there are only two mentions of a Samuel - one a boy born in 1847 and died in 1853 in Dailly and the other born in 1784, son of Robert and Agnes Watson McMurtrie, in Maybole. This latter Samuel could possibly have been the Samuel who married Elizabeth Allan.

It was in Ireland that Samuel, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Allan, was born about 1821. This Samuel married on 13 July 1847 in Co. Down, Ireland to a Susan Duncan and then almost immediately came to the town of Ayr, in Ayrshire. Samuel worked as a gardener. He died a widower at 19 John St, Ayr on 20 June 1907. Samuel and Susan had at least 5 children - one was a Thomas McMurtrie born in 1843 in Ireland, who married a Martha Storie at 122 Allison St, Newton, Ayr in April 1865, and died in 1908 in Maryhill. Next was Susanna born in 1848; next was John born around 1851 in ST Quivox; next was David, born around 1853, married 21 Sept 1882 at 11 Russell St, Newton, Ayr to Margaret Voss (or Vass). David was a journeyman slater.Last was Andrew born Aug 5, 1861, Elba St, Ayr and died 1863, Allison St, Ayr. The family lived on Alison St, Newton.

Some of David's descendants still live in Ayr and Irvine (Cameron McM b 1915, Michael David b 1952). David's children included John 1883, Ayr; Andrew Voss b 1885, married 1913 to Mary Jane Wight or Wright (born 1886) and died 1964; David b 1886 Ayr, died 1958 Ayr; William Vass bo 1890 d 1928; Margaret; Elizabeth. Daivd had a son Cameron b 1915, married 1942 Ayr to ______ Glass. Their children were Michael David b 1952, m 1976 to _____ Beattie), children: Lindsay Clair b 1977 Irvine; and Pamela Ann b 1953.

Thomas and Martha Storie McM have descendants in Glasgow. Thomas died in 1908 in Maryhill. He had a son Samuel born in 1868 in Ayr. There are very few Samuels born in Scotland in this era. There is also a Samuel, who married in Barrhead, outside of Glasgow in 1889, who is the right age to be the Samuel born in Ayr in 1868. Samuel died in Hillhead in 1943.

Their children, all born in Maryhill, appear to have been: Martha Storie McM, b 1889, Thomas McM b 1891, Samuel b 1895 and Elizabeth Alice b 1900.

Thomas born 1891 died in 1963. His children included: Samuel b 1918 Inchinnan, and Richard Grady b 1923 Inchinnan. Richard Grady married _____ Ramsay in 1948 and had a son Colin Richard in Renfrew in 1958.

Samuel b 1895 had a daughter Betty or Elizabeth.