How did the many McM historians come to be interested in their common pastime?
What was the path that led them to link with other historians? What were their special contributions to the study of the family history?
Stimulated by a sketch of family historians written by Sam McMurtry a few years ago, I have expanded on his work and tried to assemble the answers to these questions for many of the family historians alive today.
The historians listed here are: David McMurtry, Otis McMurtry, Douglas McMurtrie, Sam McMurtry, Aileen (McMurtrie) Curry, Randall McMurtry, Bill McLaren, Tommie McMurtry Standberry, and Richard McMurtry.
This section ends with an identification of A.D.'s principal correspondents whose contributions to the family history were enormous.
When David was a teenager, in the late 1930s, possibly a senior in high school, he had often heard his relatives talk of Nancy and Pinkney McMurtry, his great grandparents. He asked his Dad who Nancy's parents were. He said, " James and Ann Bryan McMurtry." He asked who Pinkney's parents were and no one knew, but they knew that Nancy and Pinkney were cousins. Also, when asked about the family connection between Nancy and Pinkney, his aunt Effie said, "There was a dark spot in the woodpile," and David was amused by and curious about this statement.
He did not pursue this interest for some years. After college, he attended summer basic training at West Point. Unfortunately, he contracted pneumonia and dropped out of West point. Since he already had a degree, he decided to not return. He then began his master's work at the University of Kentucky. In June of 1944, he and Mildred were married in her home. Then they moved to Michigan. Just after getting settled in, in the summer of 1945, he received his "Greetings" from Uncle Sam and was drafted into the US Army. They packed up their recently unpacked bags. Mildred returned to Kentucky while David went on to Camp Atterburg, Indiana and soon after was transferred to Camp Lee, outside of Richmond, Virginia. He spent his time there as a court reporter.
He soon became reengaged in the McMurtry genealogy after receiving a letter from his aunt Zelma McMurtry, wife of his uncle Bob. She had taken up family history as a hobby after moving to Ohio. Due to an ailment she was staying home a lot, and needed something to do with her time. Family history turned out to be an ideal pursuit for her. Her letter asked David to go to Richmond and look up some things for her about the McMurtrys in Virginia before they came to Kentucky. He found even more than she was looking for. Also, since he was several years older than most of his peers, and not that interested in the bar-hopping carousing that was the focus of their lives, he began using his Saturday passes to go to Richmond, Washington, D.C. and the local Petersburg library.
During this time, he had gotten into the habit of looking up McMurtrys in phone books. He noticed an Edith McMurtrie (artist) in the Philadelphia directory. Being an artist, he thought, perhaps she might have had an interest in family history. So, he wrote to her. In response, came a very nice letter in which she included A.D. McMurtrie's address in Canada.
David wrote to A.D. sending an outline of David's ancestry back to Pinkney. In February 1946, a letter from A.D. addressed to Corporal McMurtry, arrived at Camp Lee. This letter expressed delight at having been sent such a complete family tree unsolicited and telling David of James McMurtry of Bedford Co., Virginia, his sons William and Joseph who came to Kentucky, and Joseph's son James. A.D. assumed that this James was David's James. David passed A.D.'s address on to Zelma and they both began an ongoing correspondence with A.D. that was to last for years.
David was discharged in the fall of 1946 and in response to an inquiry about a job possibility, he received a telegram from a University of Kentucky professor saying, "Come immediately". He began the next week as an instructor in the business department wearing his Sergeant's stripes - since all his civilian clothes were still in storage.
He visited A.D. for the first time in 1946 and then again in 1950 and 1954. In the early 50s, he began researching the Southern Kentucky McMurtreys. Herman McMurtrey, an undertaker in Summershade, invited him and Mildred to attend with him the Tennessee McMurtry Reunion near Nashville. He had heard of the reunion, but wasn't aware it was of a different family than his. At the Tennessee Reunion, he met Otis for the first time and they began visiting.
In 1961-62, while working on his doctorate at Indiana University, David corresponded with descendants of the William McMurtrey family of Laurens County, S.C. and compiled a great deal of family data on this Irish immigrant family. This he did as a diversion from his pursuit of the doctorate degree.
In 1963 or 1964, David received a letter from Palmer True, Adnah's relative, in Connecticut telling of a Richard McMurtry in Pennsylvania who was tracing his family history and had visited a New Jersey cousin in the summer of 1962. David wrote to Richard, then a freshman at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., with the astounding news that he was in possession of the Alexander David McMurtrie collection. Richard wrote back excitedly and during spring break in April 1964 Richard came and spent a week visiting in Lexington.
David's special contributions include his book on his own branch of the family - the McMurtrys of Harrison Co, Ky, his efforts to unravel the structure of the family in colonial Virginia, his cataloging of the Southern Kentucky McMurtreys in the 1950s, his ongoing efforts to organize and expand our knowledge of all McM families, his helpful corresponding with scores of McM over the past decades in his role as custodian of the Alexander David McMurtrie collection, his collaboration with the "core" family historians that provided an impetus for keeping up their research efforts.
David did all this while still being able to produce a book on the Ammerman family (his mother's kin) and to co-author a book on the Bryans, (his great-grandmother's kin).
When he was about 19 years old, he saw in the Beech Presbyterian Church cemetery a gravestone of John McMurtry, died 1841, aged 89. He was amazed at such an old stone - it meant this McMurtry was born way back in 1752! He wondered how he was related to this ancient person and began wondering where he came from.
His Dad said John came over the mountains with his brother Jimmy and Jimmy got lost. But his Dad wasn't sure how they were related to him.
In 1955, he got into the motel business and his interest in family history got rekindled. He started going to the Tennessee State Library every Saturday. Later on, he met David at one of the Great McMurtry Clan of Tennessee Reunions and their families started visiting. Otis served as an officer of the Clan during this period. In 1959, after A.D.'s death, David called and asked him to join him to go up to Canada and get the A.D. McMurtrie collection and bring it back to Lexington. On the way home, they stopped at Burton Historical Library in Detroit to view Frederick James McMurtrie's papers.
Otis met Richard McMurtry after Richard's return from the Peace Corps in 1971. Richard was hitchhiking home after his brother's wedding in Florida and stopped for a brief visit. In the mid-70s, Otis was very actively accumulating family data from court houses in the South, census records, and correspondence, and sent pages and pages of handwritten copies to Richard.
Otis' special contribution was in his research on the early history of John and James McMurtry of NJ, NC, and Tennessee, his updating of the family history of these two branches, his work on various branches of the family in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri, and Illinois.
The beginnings of comprehensive research done on the Scottish and English McMurtries is the work of Douglas McMurtrie of Durham England.
Douglas became interested in the family history after the birth of his son, Alexander David McMurtrie in 1966. Soon after, he decided to write around, seeking other McMurtrie relatives. The family lore was that his great-grandfather had been born in London, but had returned to Scotland with his father who had married a second time, and as a result his great grandfather was estranged from the family, and "migrated" to the village of Dalmellington. Douglas wanted to find out if there were any descendants of the second family.
Though there was little interest in family history in his own family, he had accumulated considerable information from other McMurtries who wanted to give their own family trees. So, he decided to research the whole name and "clan." To Douglas, this research put "flesh" on the bare bones of family history. Reading testaments, census returns, seeking information about migration - all contributed to his understanding of Scottish history.
He has listed most of the McMurtries in the 1851 and 1861 Scottish Censuses for Ayrshire and selected other locations, extracted McMurtrie entries from the Scottish Old Parish Registers for the principal Ayrshire parishes and selected others, compiled McMurtrie entries from the Scottish Civil Register indexes (male births to 1900, male deaths to 1976 and male marriages to 1903) and from the English Civil Register indexes (births and deaths to 1892 and marriages to 1932). He has also collected other information: tombstone inscriptions, estate papers, university extracts, Commissariat of Testaments, etc.
Much of Douglas' work is contained in his Compendium of McMurtrie References (1978) (Extracts of printed sources, OPS's and Census material, Scottish War Memorial, University, Cemetery Records, Directories etc), a Supplement to the Compendium, and an article, "The McMurtries in Scotland" in Scottish Genealogist, Sept 1982. These are included in this collection.
Sam has been interested in family history since he was at Teachers' College. He remembers on many occasions questioning his parents for the simple details that they could remember about their ancestors and keeping the family chart up to date as his brothers, sisters and he married and had families.
However, it was not until he received a letter from Richard McMurtry in 1979 that his interest was rekindled. Richard had written to a large number of the McMurtrys in the Northern Irish phone books and one of them had referred him to Sam's mother who in turn passed Richard's letter on to Sam. After this contact, Sam realized that he might be able to go beyond his great grandfather and could find out more information about his ancestors. Through his correspondence with Richard, he learned about Alexander David, Douglas McMurtrie and David McMurtry, received copies of some family charts that Richard had and a copy of Douglas' Compendium. He wrote to McMurtrie(y)s in Ireland and Australia. He visited them or "rang them up" and started charts of his own.
In 1981 - 1982, on a trip to Britain and Europe, he and his wife researched McMurtrie(y)s. They listed all the McMurtrie(y)s in the British BDM registers at St Catherine's House in London. They spent two weeks in Edinburgh's New Register House researching the OPRs (with suggestions from Douglas) and extending the indexes of BDM already listed extensively by Douglas. The main extension here was the female births. During this trip they did most research in Ireland, completing the Dublin BDM indices at the Custom's House (done to about 1900 by Richard through Salt Lake City), listing the Belfast BDM indexes at the Registry Office with the kind help of the staff who allowed them access to the index volumes and provided them with an office to work in, and visiting and recording interviews with about 65 McMurtrys. These interviews allowed them to extend Richard's initial 12 Irish families to 23 and to connect some together.
They came back to Australia by way of America and visited David McMurtry in Lexington, Kentucky and Richard McMurtry in San Francisco on the way home. They also managed to fit in two days research at Salt Lake City.
Since then, Sam has been sorting this research, purchasing the Irish BDM certificates (he and Richard had already purchased a number before his trip) and putting together a booklet on the Irish McMurtrys similar to Douglas' Compendium but with the Irish family charts included.
Sam's special contribution was the combination of record office, personal interview, and correspondence that produced this Irish volume which constitutes a very comprehensive picture of all the Irish McMurtrys between 1845 (and earlier in some cases) and 1980.
Aileen Curry got interested in family history in 1982 when she attended a Munsie family reunion with her husband Jack. After two years of helping Jack trace this family, she decided it was time to chase the McMurtries.
Since then she has spent hours and hours tracking down McMurtries in Australia in correspondence, civil registers, electoral roles, and the like. She has researched the records of Scotland, and even went to Salt Lake City to dig in the Mormon records. Her initial focus was her own family - the descendants of Thomas McMurtrie married 1720 to Margaret McMurtrie in Dailly, Ayrshire. But as she dug deeper, she would meet McMurtries of other families and broader her horizons. She has been a help to many McMurtries seeking information about their roots.
Most recently, she has been supporting efforts to abstract the Scottish civil register entries to connect present day generations with the families of the early 1800s.
Randal McMurtry of South Island, New Zealand pursued his interests in family history without being aware of the other family historians in the world. He first learned about these when he received a letter from Richard McMurtry in 1975. One of Randal's neighbors was on her two year around-the-world-tour and happened to rent a room in a house where Richard lived. When she heard about Richard's interest in the family, she casually mentioned Randall's name and gave Richard his address.
Randal's interest is focused mainly on his own family which he has traced back to Island Magee, County Antrim, Ireland and on the evolution of the name McMurtry. His earliest ancestor is Randal McMurtry (1783-1862), a farmer of Island Magee. Randal's son Randal (1818-1873) moved to London about 1844 and was in business there. His son George (1867-1918), a metallurgist, emigrated to South Australia where his family was born and then to the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand where the family still lives.
His special contribution was in the history of his own branch and in the extensive research he did into the history of the evolution of the name McMurtry and its emergence in Ireland.
Bill McLaren has been very active in tracking down the various branches of CF 15 who came from Wigtonshire, Scotland to New Zealand in the 1860s.
Tommie McMurtry Standberry was always interested in family as a result of attending family reunions in Mississippi, where her family's roots were. Early in 1994, she began to inquire about her father's ancestors and wrote up a short descriptive sketch of her immediate family. About this same time, she received a letter from Richard McMurtry who had met her daughter in California and was inquiring about the family history of the African American McMurtrys of Mississippi. Richard provided Tommie with additional information on her family from census records and Tommie and Richard began an exchange of information.
In the summer of 1994, she visited the area where her ancestors got their freedom near Camden, MS and took photos of the area. In 1995, she began compiling old photos of her family in preparation for for their 1996 family reunion.
She lives in Detroit, Michigan.
(I, the author, am taking the prerogative here to write a much longer description of my work. In part, this is because this publication represents a bringing to completion a project that has fascinated me for over 36 years. There is a looking back and seeing a job well done (though still incomplete) and wanting to take stock of it all.
In the summer of 1958, Richard moved from his childhood home of Pittsburgh, PA to a new home in the suburbs of Harrisburg, PA. Then, the following summer of 1959 between 9th and 10th grades (or possibly the fall), when he was 13 years old, he was rooting around in the basement and found an old box. Inside, he discovered materials prepared by A.D. in the 1940s about the early history of the McMurtries, materials on their own branch of the family prepared by his Dad's Uncle Charles Leroy McMurtry, and a chart his Dad has prepared for Uncle Charlie with the family tree back to Joseph McMurtry (1764-1846) of NJ and Penna.
The papers mentioned William and David McMurtrie of Philadelphia as having been wealthy merchants in colonial days. Richard wondered how he was related to these McMurtries. They also spoke of an ancestor Thomas McMurtry as having lived in central New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. He wondered whether there were more descendants and where they now lived. About this time, his high school librarian told him that in the State Library in Harrisburg, there were census records that listed the names of old inhabitants of the country. This developing interest was emerging at the time A.D. was in his final illness before his death in November 1959.
Shortly thereafter, he began visiting the State Library where he was delighted to discover a genealogy section. The genealogy card catalog was his first find. Here he discovered references to county histories that included David McMurtrie of Huntingdon, PA that he had read about in the old box of papers and a reference to his Joseph as an early resident of Crawford Co. Also, the Pennsylvania Archives with references such as John McMurtrie killing John Penn accidentally in 1775 were found. He began taking notes - nothing coherent but all intriguing. Next, he was directed to the pamphlet file and found Frederick James McMurtrie's work in the form of 1934 newspaper clippings. From these records, he made a typewritten copy.
Sometime during his high school career (1959-63), he also found a pamphlet by Otis McMurtry on this John and may even have written to him, but had no answer.
His first genealogical trip was in 1962 at the age of 17. Driving his fire engine red VW convertible, he drove to New Jersey. In Somerville, Somerset Co., NJ, as he was driving down the street asking people out the car window if they knew any McMurtrys, a pedestrian pointed out a nearby house and said the McMurtrys once lived there. He parked and knocked on the door and Eleanor Bonham whose father was a McMurtry invited him in and sat him down with a set of notebooks on Robert McMurtry, prepared by Adnah McMurtrie many years before. It may had been Mrs. Bonham who also directed him to Mrs. Preston, Ira Smith Brown's daughter in Hackettstown, whom he visited on his way home. Mrs. Preston later published "One McMurtrie Family," based on her father's manuscript. It was probably Mrs. Bonham who gave him Ruth True's address to whom he wrote. This letter was what eventually prompted Ruth's son Palmer True to notify David McMurtry of Richard's interest.
In 1962-63, he began visiting court houses and local historical societies for the first time.
In January 1964, as a college freshman, he got a letter from David McMurtry in Lexington, announcing that he was in possession of the A.D. McMurtrie collection. David apparently had heard of him through a letter he had sent to Mrs. True. Richard almost fell off his chair in amazement and delight! He had at last found the A.D. Collection that promised to hold untold genealogical treasures!
On spring break, he got a ride offer for the 12-hour trip across NY and Ohio to Lexington. He spent a week transcribing into chart form every American family in the collection. These old charts are still the basis of much of his subsequent research.
In 1968, at the age of 22, he wrote his first McMurtry book - about his ancestor Joseph McMurtry (1764-1846), his ancestors and descendants.
After a 2 year stint in the Peace Corps in Venezuela, he returned to America by motorcycle in Feb 1971 and settled in Berkeley, California. There he attended the Baptist Seminary affiliated with the multi-denominational Graduate Theological Union.
In 1971, he visited David and Mildred McMurtry in Kentucky and Otis McMurtry in Tennessee. This same year he did a mass mailing to 80 California McM.
In the mid-1970s, he began to correspond with Otis who furnished him with considerable data on the east Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama families. He also discovered for the first time the Family History Center of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) library with its wealth of information.
In 1976, he visited the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and spent several days abstracting military and census records. On his way home, he also visited Irvan McMurtry in Cincinnati of the black McMurtrys of Kentucky and his cousins in Lexington.
In 1977, he did his first nationwide mailing to several hundred McMurtrys and to over 100 New Zealand McMurtries and Irish McMurtrys. Also, he began getting New Zealand civil register entries and the Irish civil register indexes.
In 1977 or possibly 1978, he received the Scottish records of Douglas McMurtrie. During this era, he began hiring Salt Lake City genealogists
In 1979, Sam McMurtry of Sydney, Australia wrote to Richard (or vice versa). He got Richard reinterested in the Irish families and he and Sam worked together for a while collecting civil register entries. Then, Sam pursued it on his own and produced a comprehensive volume on the Irish McMurtrys.
In 1980, Richard wrote his second book, called John McMurtry and the American Indian. He tried to make this a synthesis of his interests in social change/social justice, Native American culture/values, and family history. It sold 400 copies - his best seller! Larry McMurtry, the author and the most famous McMurtry of those days, bought 4 copies.
In the mid-80s, he boxed up the genealogy and diverted his free time to political work - initially with a non-profit housing agency and then public school reform work.
In the late 80s, he resurrected his genealogy boxes and about this time began computerizing some records.
In December 1992, Sam mentioned that Aileen Curry was doing a lot of genealogy; so Richard wrote to her and an enjoyable and productive exchange ensued re: Scottish and Australian families. Aileen was very active in researching the Australian families and in tracing their Scottish origins. She was instrumental in supporting the civil register abstracting work.
In 1993, he did his largest mass mailing - to 500 McM in the U.S. Later he did a mailing to 150 or so English and Scottish McMurtries for the first time. In 1993, he also returned to the black McMurtry history. This time he used the telephone and finally in June 1994 did a mailing to 65 black McMurtrys in Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Mississippi.
The year 1994 was a busy year:
o mailings to 140 Canadian McM, 30 New Zealand McMurtries, 50 or so English and Scottish McMurtries.
o telephoned McM in Canada, New Zealand, and Scotland.
o secured the cooperation of Ian McMurtrie in Edinburgh to make abstracts of Scottish civil register entries to connect present day McMurtries to the established families of the early 1800s
o abstracted the 1841 census for Ayrshire, Scotland
o abstracted the 1831 census for Co Londonderry, Northern Ireland
o abstracted most of the 1920 US census index entries
o visited David and Mildred in Kentucky and Otis and Naomi in Nashville
o prepared for microfilming the portions of the A.D. McM collection other than the major American families, including the old documentary correspondence for these families
I caught the genealogy bug in the mid 1960s on learning that my husband had early family data on his family started by his grandfather, who had given a copy to each of his ten children. This made me realize I knew little about my father�s family. I started asking my father questions about his family. He remembered names of a few uncles and cousins but nothing about his grandfather and grandmother.
About this same time, an article on tracing your family history appeared in our local newspaper, �The Kansas City Star�. The article mentioned a small book, THE HOW BOOK FOR GENEALOGISTS by George Everton, which led me to Everton�s Genealogical Helper, where one could have a family querie published and reach hundreds of researchers. I found others working on my family, and learned that the spelling of my maiden surname (Jennings) was different from the original spelling, and that my great,great, grandmother Jinings maiden name was McMurtrey. All it takes, even to this day, to make a day special for me is to find a date, name or place of a family that has been an unknown to me.
Sometime in 1968 I learned of David McMurtry, at the University of Kentucky, and the McMurtry papers he held. I wrote to him about my Sarah McMurtrey. He wrote back that my Sarah was most likely connected to the Rev. William McMurtrey of Madison County, Missouri. William had left a will that had been published though nothing to tie my Sarah to him. A few years later, I made it to the courthouse and found that William�s son left a will that stated all his father�s wishes and which connected my Sarah as William�s daughter.
Started researching books that seemed promising to have information on my McMurtry line that would take my line back further. Found these at the L.D.S.Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is where I found the book written by Richard McMurtry, John McMurtry And The American Indian, published 1980. I wrote to Richard for a copy and he later wrote me and asked if I would send him copies of my McMurtrey family; which I did. I really love to do research and when Richard asked me about helping with a mapping project of the McMurtrey�s in Abbeville, South Carolina, I was thrilled. Putting together a land ownership map was the most worthwhile project I have worked on; plus working with Richard who is so knowledgeable about conducting research and the Clan McMurtry.
Genealogy has many twist and turns. I�ve learned that David McMurtry and I are very distant cousins on the McMurtry line but sixth cousins through the Boone/Bryan families.
Proud to say I finally completed a book on my Jennings family. Took me almost twenty years to finally gain enough information and in 1983 published a hard cover book. A JENNINGS FAMILY GENEALOGY As Descended From Charles Lawson Jinings of Maryland and North Carolina, To Seventh Generation of Samuel B. Jinings in America. A copy was donated to the L.D.S. Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah; so others working on this family in the future might find information helpful to their research.
In 1948, A.D. produced a list of "McMurtrie(y) Clan Family Historians" to acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by family members over the years. The list included:
Mrs. Robert R. McMurtry, David C. McMurtry, Charles L. McMurtry, David McMurtrie Gregg, Ira Smith Brown, Mrs. Sydney L. McMurtry (of Green Brier, TN, CF 122/110), George A. McMurtry (of St Thomas, Ontario CF 202), Mrs. Earl D. Reise (of Somerville, NJ, CF 110), and Mrs. Luther Perkins (of Crawfordsville, IN, CF 123/CF 111).
Dr. William McMurtry (1802-1892), Oakland, CA: CF 111
Miss Myra McMurtry (1828-1914), New Albany, IN: CF 111
Dr. Alexander Hay Hill McMurtry (1843-?), Belfast, Ireland: CF 121
John Aton McMurtrie (1848-1899), Denver, CO: CF 110
Rev. John E. Peters (1849-1926), Cramer, NJ: CF 110
Miss Mary Pollock (1850?-?) Easton, PA: CF 110
John F. Hartung (1858-1933), Albion, MI: CF 110
Miss Mary Alice McMurtrie (1860?-?), Conygham, PA: CF 110
Miss Susan McMurtry (1862-1948), Urbana, OH: CF 111
Frederick J. McMurtrie (1867-1947), Detroit, MI: CF 112
Dr. Tillman McMurtry (1868-1923), Chicago, IL: CF 111
Adnah McMurtrie (1872-1946), Westfield, NJ: CF 110
The story of many of these have been described earlier in this compilation, but following is the little I know of the others.
Mrs. Sydney McMurtry, Greenbrier, Tennessee, CF 110
Mrs. McMurtry corresponded with A.D. in the 1940s and provided information concerning the Tennessee family - descendants of John McMurtry (1752-1841). She also was the first person to secure the pension record of John McMurtry from the National Archives. This document provided the references to John's New Jersey origins and enabled A.D. to make the connection of CF 122 to Thomas of CF 110 who died 1785 in Somerset Co., NJ.
George A. McMurtry, St. Thomas, Ontario, CF 202
George provided A.D. (or possibly Adnah) with information on the Co Carlow/Bowmanville, Ontario McMurtrys.
Mrs. Earl D. Reise, Somerville, NJ CF 110
Mrs. Reise researched some of the the descendants of Robert McMurtry, son of Thomas of Somerset Co., NJ. Her most important contribution was the discovery in the NY Historical Society or the NY Public Library of the 1742 map of "Rockciticus" - a portion of northern Somerset Co and southern Morris County - that showed the exact location of Thomas McMurtry's home and lands.
Mrs. Luther Perkins, Crawfordsville, IN, CF 123/111
Mrs. Perkins provided information on the southern Kentucky McMurtreys including the early generations of the family and their migrations.
Dr. William McMurtry, Oakland, CA, CF 111
Late in his life, Dr. William provided a 1 or 2 page write-up on the early history of the McMurtry family.
Miss Myra McMurtry, New Albany, IN, CF 111
Miss Myra assembled considerable data on Capt John McMurtry's family and preserved the traditions reported in the lost manuscript of Dr. S. S. Todd about the origins of the family in Virginia.
Dr. Alexander Hay Hill McMurtry, Belfast, Ireland, CF 121
Dr. McMurtry corresponded with Adnah McMurtrie in the early 1900s. He provided family traditions about the origins of his own family (CF 121) and of a family in Wigtonshire, Scotland (CF 14) that he apparently had run into. No connection between these two families was every suggested.
John Aton McMurtrie, Denver, CO, CF 110
John was one of the first McMurtrie family historians. In the 1890s, he corresponded with his distant NJ cousins and even hired a professional genealogist, a Mr. Henry Teetor, to trace the family. Samuel McMurtrie, son of John, lent A.D. his father's papers in the 1940s.
Rev. John Peters, Cranmer, NJ, CF 110
Rev. Peters researched many of his ancestors' lines including the Thomas-Robert line of Somerset Co., NJ and participated in an exchange of correspondence with John Aton McMurtrie and other members of the family.
Miss Mary Pollock, Easton, PA CF 110 Miss Mary Alice McMurtrie, Conygham, PA, CF 110
These two took part in the early exchange of information relative to the Pennsylvania branches of the early NJ McMurtries.
John Hartung, Albion, MI, CF 110
John contributed information to Frederick James and possibly to Ira Smith Brown on the history of the NJ McMurtries who went from Pennsylvania to Michigan in the early 1800s.
Miss Susan McMurtry, Urbana, OH, CF 111
Miss Susan researched the history and descendants of Capt John's family, especially the Indiana branches and tried to straighten out the traditions of the family's Virginia origins. She corresponded with Miss Myra and Adnah in the 1900s/1910s and later with Zelma, David, and A.D. in the 1940s.
Dr. Tillman McMurtry, Chicago, IL, CF 111
Dr. Tillman got involved with writing a history of the McMurtrys in the early 1900s. He produced a novelistic narrative of the family's settlement in Virginia and Kentucky. His manuscript was added to by his daughter, Mrs. Esther LeBaron and published in book form in the late 1970s. Dr. Tillman also wrote a pamphlet called, The People's Bible, a rationalist humanist approach to the social gospel of Jesus.