The earliest record of the McMurtrys in Ireland occurs in 1637 when a John McMurtry leased some land in Co. Antrim for 20 years. A generation later, in 1667, an Archibald McMurthy is mentioned in an Co. Antrim deed, and in 1669, the Hearth Money Roll Index lists a John McMurtrey in the Scotch Quarter of Carrickfergus and a Gilbert McMurtry in Ballypollard. There are also 5 McMurtys listed in various parts of Antrim and it is hard to know when a McMurty is a McMurty and when McMurty is a misspelling of McMurtry.
Since the McMurtrys were Protestants, not Catholics, it is likely that they had immigrated from Scotland as a result of British efforts to colonize northern Ireland with Scottish and English settlers. Queen Elizabeth sent an army of 16,000 soldiers to quell a revolt led by Hugh O'Neill, an Irish chieftain, between 1595 and 1603. By the end of this war, most of the lands in Country Antrim were parcelled out to the Macdonnells, a Scottish clan, and to Arthur Chichester, a wealthy Englishman. In 1608, King James confiscated another 2,000,000 acres of Irish land in western and southern Ulster; the armies of Cromwell confiscated another 8,000,000 acres; in the 1690s, William of Orange confiscated antoher 1,000,000 acres. By 1715, there were 200,000 Presbyterians in Ulster, constituting 33 percent of the population. Hence, the McMurtrys were part of a sizeable ethnic and religious minority.
Another possibility for the appearance of the McMurtry name in Ireland is that it developed from its Gaelic root of Muicheartagh on the Island of Bute in the early 1500s, and that it came to Ireland and to other parts of Scotland with the emigration from the Island of Bute that began around 1540.
In the 1700s and early 1800s, there are a dozen or so isolated references to McMurtrys. But, except for the Matthew McMurtry of Island Magee whose descendants we have traced down to the present day, we have not been able to connect these individuals to the current generation. The references include: Andrew McMurtry of Dunagor in 1731, Thomas McMurtrie in Dublin in 1754, a Thomas McMurtry of Ballywilliam in 1758, Thomas' son John McMurtry in Ballywilliam, Comber,Co Down in 1782, James McMurtry in Kilroot, Co Antrim in 1809, Mathew McMurtry of Island Magee in 1813, Margaret McMoutray of Ballyclare in 1827, John McMurtry of Belfast 1836, Alexander McMortrey of Cluntifinan in 1838.
We can get a picture of the family in the mid-1800s by synthesizing various records - the Tithes (a tax imposed between 1826 and 1838), Griffith's Evaluation (a Tax imposed in the 1860s), the Civil Registration of Marriages (begun in 1845), and Deaths and Births (begun in 1864), and miscellaneous wills and census records in the Hamilton papers in the Public Record Office. This shows the McMurtrys clustered heavily in the southeast corner of Co Antrim, the eastern end of Co Londonderry near the Antrim border, and in a few locations in County Down.
In Co Antrim, we see McMurtrys in southeast Antrim in the parishes of Island Magee, Larne, Glynn, Raloo, Kilroot, Templecorran, Carrickfergus, Ballynure, Ballylinny. In Co Londonderry, we see them in Coleraine (Boghill), Aghadowey (Drumsteeple, Crossmakeever, and Lisnamuck), Agivey (Ree), Mascoquin (Ballyness, Curragh, Castleroe, Letterloan and Coolyvenny). In County Down, there are references to Newtownards.
The largest of these families are three: one located on Island Magee, one located in Raloo, and one in Ballylinny. For each of these families, some members migrated abroad and some remained at home.
As of 1993, there are about 31 present day families that can trace their ancestry back to the early Irish families prior to the mid-1800s. Of these, about 2/3 are predominantly Irish resident, and 1/3 are predominantly American, Australian, or Canadian resident.
There are about 50 McMurtrys listed in the 1990 Irish phone books. They reside mainly in Co Antrim, a smaller number live in Co Londonderry, a few in Co Down and a few in Dublin.
Migrations from Ireland over the centuries has resulted in most McMurtrys living abroad.
During the 1700s, a number of McMurtry families arrived in America who were said to be "Scotch Irish", though we have no documentary evidence of their family connection in Irish records.
Around or shortly after 1735, three brothers, Joseph, Robert and Thomas McMurtry came to Sussex and Somerset County, New Jersey. A contemporary of these brothers is an Alexander McMurtry known to be in nearby Hunterdon County, New Jersey by 1747. Two hundred miles to the southwest, in Augusta Co., Virginia, a different Alexander McMurtry, left two orphan sons, Samuel and John, born in the late 1740s. A third Alexander McMurtry, born about 1755, appears in Orange County, New York, just across the line from Sussex County, New Jersey, in 1790.
Several hundred miles to the south, a William McMurtrey came to South Carolina in 1777 from northern Ireland and some of his fellow travelers left a record of the travail of the ship passage.
Another set of migrations occured in period after 1820, but this time with a Canadian destination. A William McMurtry, a miller by profession, in 1822 secured a letter of commendation from a mill owner in Milford, County Carlow, Ireland to whom William had been apprenticed. William was commended for his knowledge of the grinding and dressing of corn in all its branches. William subsequently shows up in Bowmanville, Durham County, Ontario. Meanwhile, two brothers, James and John McMurtry arrived in South March Township, near present day Ottawa, Ontario in the 1820s. John's death certificate says he was from Co. Tyrone. Three nieces of William - Lizzie, Martha, and Ellen McMurtry - were said to have come to Cobourg which lies between Bowmanville and Percy Twp and Lizzie married Thomas McMurtry, a son of the Bowmanville William. Martha's death certificate says she was from Co. Carlow. Before 1851, another Thomas McMurtry born 1818 had settled in Percy Township, Northampton County, Ontario, about 21 miles from Bowmanville. Descendants believe he was from Coleraine.
Not all emigrants during this period went to Canada. In 1828, a Thomas McMurtray of the Ballylinny, Co Antrim family went to Missouri, USA and his nephew Matthew McMurtry went to Illinois. In 1841, another Thomas McMurtry married in New Brunswick, Canada, went back to Ireland, then settled in Illinois, USA after 1859. About 1845, Randall McMurtry of Island Magee migrated to London and from there his descendants went on to Australia and eventually New Zealand. Some of the Raloo family (brothers William, Andrew and James) migrated to New York state around 1850. A John McMurtry born 1805 and wife Ann Diensmore of Kilrea, Co Tyrone, came to New Brunswick about 1847, and descendants settled in Nova Scotia. Around 1850, three brothers - George Gibson, John Gibson, and Alexander - sons of Thomas and Nancy Gibson McMurtry, Co Antrim settled in Chicago, Illinois and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A Samuel McMurtry, who shows up in Co. Carlow around 1845, may have been the Samuel, son of Thomas and Nancy Gibson McMurtry. A fifth brother, Thomas, migrated to America also, but at a much later date.
A James McMurtry sailed from Carrickfergus and arrived in Melbourne, Australia in 1851.
A Thomas McMurtry and his wife Jane McGonigle appear in Philadephia in 1850.
A James and Isabella Carr McMurtry arrived in Philadelphia about 1860.
An Archilbald and John McMurtry appear in Philadelphia in 1850.
Ref: IrishMcM.htm Aug 1993