Synthesis of CF 202, CF 209 and CF 115:
Connecting the Families of
William McMurtry of Co Carlow, Ireland and Bowmanville, Ontario Canada (CF 202)
Thomas McMurtry of Co Antrim, Co Down, Co Tipperary and the USA (CF 115)
Samuel McMurtry of Co Carlow and Dublin Ireland (CF 209)
 
Research in the families of Ireland (including DNA analysis and research in the Bowmanville Museum in Ontario) has enabled us to link several McMurtry families to a common ancestor.  It links
 the families of William McMurtry b 1780 CF 202 of Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada; Samuel McMurtry CF 209 of Carlow and Dublin, Ireland (whose descendants live in Dublin and South Africa), 
and the various branches of CF 115 including George Gibson McMurtry the founder of a steel company and the company town of Vandergrift Pennsyvlania and John Gibson McMurtry whose son founded
 the McMurtry hardware store chain in Denver Colorado.
 
We have shown that William McMurtry b 1780 (a miller, who emigrated to Canada from Co Carlow in the 1820s) was a brother of Thomas McMurtry b 1790 (a miller in Co Tipperary and later
 moved back to Co Down) who had several children who migrated to America in the 1850s and 1880s. Also, these brothers were uncles to a family that lived in Co Carlow in the 1840s some of whom 
migrated to Ontario and some of whom remained in Ireland. This latter family has descendants in Dublin and in South Africa.
 
A typewritten manuscript on the origins of the family asserted that this family of McMurtrys had come to Ireland from Dumbartonshire in Scotland and gave detailed names and dates for these Scottish
ancestors. The manuscript was sent to a professional genealogy firm hired by a wife of George Gibson McMurtry sometime in the first years of the 1900, but search of the public records has failed 
to confirm any of this early genealogy. It is possible that this detailed genealogy was a fabrication or a confusion with other families. 
 
The article claimed that the family we know of was descended from a Thomas McMurtry b 25 April 1760 who married Mary Nichol, daughter of William Nichol and Mary Tillson. No such birth or 
marriage has been located in Scottish records. The article also indicated the couple had several children: William b 1780, Alexander, Thomas b 1790, a Mary and a Jane.   The dates for William and 
	Thomas are considered authentic and the existence of a third brother has been independently confirmed.
 
Letters found in the Bowmanville Ontario Museum by Andrew McMurtry disclosed that William b 1780 who had come to Canada had nephews and nieces living in Co Carlow. They are assumed 
to be children of a third brother who, if the article is correct in that detail, would be the Alexander McMurtry for whom no dates are known.
 
Following is an outline of the family that shows the three brothers and their progeny.
 
William (CF 202) b 20 Jun 1780, emigrated to Canada, returned to Comber, nr Belfast on a visit
 John McMurtry 1804, b. 14 February 1804 at Milford, Co Carlow, IRL, m. Elizabeth Frank, 
 1830, d. 2 October 1900 at Perrytown,Ontario, CAN
 Ann McMurtry 1808, b. 1808, m. --- White, ca. 1833, m. James Stephens, ca. 1843, d. 12 
 September 1895
 William McMurtry 1811, b. 22 March 1811 at Milford, Co Carlow, IRL, m. Jane Stephens, 
 ca. 1834, d. 22 March  1890 at  Bowmanville, Ontario, CAN
 James McMurtry 1814, b. 1814, m. Emiline Hind, ca. 1850, d. 20 August 1886 
 Jane McMurtry 1815, b. 1815, m. William Holden, ca. 1840, d.1860
 Ellen McMurtry 1816, b. 1816, m. James McClellan, ca. 1851, d. 8 November 1881
 Samuel McMurtry 1819, b. 1819 at Ireland, m. Florence M ---, ca. 1849, m. Emiline Jenkins, 
  1859, d. 18 January 1881 at Bowmanville, Ontario, CAN
 Thomas McMurtry 1820, b. ca. 1820, m. Lizzie McMurtry, ca. 1850
 Margaret McMurtry 1821, b. ca. 1821, m. John Hewitt, ca.1846
 Mary McMurtry 1824, b. 1824, m. Jonathan Stephens, 24 May 1848, d. 24 February 1898
 
Alexander (probable father of following)
 Samuel (CF 209) abt 1815, was in Co Carlow by 1836, md 15 April 1844, d 17 Dec 1891   Dublin
 Elizabeth 1810-1892 md Thomas McMurtry in Ontario
 Ellen 1825-1890 Ontario
 John 1822 -1850 Ontario
 Martha b 1815 md Thomas Harper Ontario
 
Mary
Jane 
Thomas (CF 115-116) 9 July 1790 md 1821 Nancy Gibson b 1796 Co Down
 Samuel 1822 
 Thomas 1823-1824
 William b 1825 d 1850
 John Gibson b 1826 md Mary Anne Mulvey 1857 Peoria IL, d 1901 Chicago, IL
 Jane b 1828 md John William McRoberts 25 June 1853, Comber Co Down
 Thomas b 1832 md Johanna Lowe 1879 Belfast d 13 Dec 1893 Chicago IL
 Alexander Campbell b 1835 Co Monaghan md Mary A Jane O’Reilly 13 Jan 1867  
 Chicago IL, d 15 Jan 1918 Chicago, IL
 James b 1836 Co Tipperary
 George Gibson b 29 May 1837 Co Tipperary md Clara Lathrop 1870 d 5 Aug 1915 Atlantic 
 City NJ
 
 
(Warning: The description of the article below may be a fabrication or confusion. No confirmation of its claims has been found in the public records of Scotland as yet.) 
 
The wife of George Gibson McMurtry hired a professional genealogy firm to research the family in Ireland. They were given a typewritten manuscript and attempted to confirm its findings but could not 
find any records supporting the lineages described in the manuscript. The manuscript presumably was passed down within the family but its whereabouts is unknown at this time.
 
The manuscript claimed that the McMurtrys adopted the name but were originally descendants of a Mure or McMure family in Dumbartonshire. The first McMurtry in this supposed family was:
 
Alexander McMurtry, leased lands in Ardochbeg & Kellochy, Dumbartonshire 1695, 1698 md Jonat McFadden 1694
 
 Robert McMurtry, r Ardochbeg, Kellochy, Dumbartonshire born early 1700s md Agnes 
 Gowan/Govan 1722/1724
 
 Alexander McMurtry md Katrin Rowan 14 or 16 July 175x
 
 Alexander McMurtry b 2 Jun 1763, went to Carrickfergus abt 1782, md 
 Elizabeth Lyndon about 1804
 Thomas b 26 April 1760 md Mary Nichol, dau of Wm Nichol and Mary
  Tillson 
Thomas was listed as the father of William b 1780 et al.
 
See elsewhere on this website for a copy of the actual chart.