Final Report on Genetic Analysis of the Tennesee Branches of
the McMurtry Family
Summary
Richard McMurtry
February 2010, revised July 2019
Introduction
Over 70 years ago, in 1948, a member
of the Great McMurtry Clan of Tennessee discovered that their Revolutionary
War ancestor John McMurtry 1752-1841 had married his wife Margaret Gomer in
Somerset County New Jersey in 1781.
Since the only McMurtrys in Somerset County at
that time was a Thomas McMurtry d 1788 and his descendants, everyone assumed
that that John must be related to him.
The documentary record seemed to
support this theory. Thomas’ will left a token amount to “the children of my son James”, so
everyone assumed that John must be one of these children. There was also a Joseph McMurtry born 1764
in Somerset County who migrated to western
However, there never was any proof
of this. And, much to our surprise, DNA
testing in 2010 and 2019 revealed that it was not possible that
John and James were part of the Somerset Co NJ family of Thomas McMurtry. Instead, the DNA indicated that John b 1752
and James b 1760s were probably Irish immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania
just before the Revolution.
In 2004, the
MacMurtrie Clan Family Records learned that one could use DNA genetic testing
to tell which McMurtrys shared a common ancestor and which ones didn’t. So between 2004 and 2019, almost 100 DNA
samples were collected from McM around the world – the USA, Canada, Ireland,
Scotland, and Australia to try to tell how the McM of America were related to
the McM of Ireland and Scotland and how the McM of America were related to each
other, including trying to find proof that John McMurtry and James McMurtry of
Tennessee were indeed the sons of James and grandsons of Thomas of Somerset
County, New Jersey. The results were
astounding! The report that follows
sumarizes what we have learned and what still remains a mystery.
We considered the
following three possibilities:
1. That
James b abt 1765-1769 and John b 1752 were sons of James and grandson of Thomas
d 1788 Somerset Co NJ.
2. That
James and John b 1752 were brothers of Hugh McMurtrie b 1755-1760 and Alexander
McMurtry abt 1755 -1800/1810 of Hunterdon Co NJ, the county neighboring to
Somerset County
3. That
James b 1760s and John b 1752 were immigrants from Ireland just before the
Revoluationary War.
What we learned was:
1. That it is certain that James b 1760s and
John b 1752 McMurtry of TN were NOT the sons of James or the grandchilden of
Thomas d 1788 Somerset Co NJ. This is
a little hard to swallow since we have believed the connection to Thomas for so
many years. But the DNA evidence is very
strong as shown below.
2. That it is unlikely that they were brothers
of Hugh b 1755-1760 of Hunterdon Co New Jersey and Northumberland/Union Co PA
and Alexander McMurtry abt 1755-1800/1810 of Hunterdon Co NJ and Orange Co New York. Though the patterns of the Hunterdon Co NJ
and the Tennesse McMurtrys are very similar there is one difference that makes
it hard to believe they had the same father as discussed below.
3. That it is most likely they were Irish
immigrants that were part of the migration of 30,000 immigrants from Ireland to
America between 1770 and 1774. The DNA of the family of James and John is
almost identical to the DNA of family of William McMurtrey abt 1755-1809 that migrated from Ireland to Laurens County,
South Carolina in 1773 and identical to the DNA of a family that resided in
Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, in the early 1800s, a family that lives on Island
Magee along the east coast of Co Antrim in the 1700s and a family that lived in
Bruslee, Co Antrim also in the 1700s..
So being Irish immigrants is the most likely explanation, rather than a
member of the other McMurtry families that had come to colonial America.
Given that James b 1760s only 6 – 16 years old when the
Revolution started and John was only 23, this scenario would require that they
migrated with other kinfolk who took care of James when John was in the Army.
.The pension application for John McMurtry 1752-1841 includes a statement
by a witness, William Montgomery who stated that John McMurtry was a “citizen
of Pennsylvania” at the time of the Revolution. And no records of John in PA have been
found prior to 1775. So there is no
evidence of John being a resident of New Jersey as previously assumed and no
evidence of his having arrived in America much prior to that time.
Jack Bowker, a descendant of John McMurtry, has wondered if John might
have met his wife’s family when he served in the army in New Jersey. In January 1777, in the week after the battle
of Princeton, George Washington marched his army north 17 miles to Somerville,
then on to Pluckemin, then on to Morristown.
The march passed through Hillsborough Township where the Gomer’s lived. Whether there was any opportunity for
contact during the march or during winter while encamped at Morristown between
John McMurtry and the Gomer’s is unknown.
Perhaps John made some connection
with James Bowers who lived in Morris County when John was in Morristown in
1777. Gene Dorris, a family historian,
reports that James Bowers moved to Somerset County and was living adjacent to
Henry Gomer’s plantation in 1779 – about the time he married Anne Gomer. Perhaps it was James Bowers that caused John
to go to Somerset Co after John finished his service with Stephen Decatur on
the Fair American. Perhaps it was through
James Bowers that John met Margaret Gomer.
Perhaps he just went to Somerset County after the war because he made
some connection to the place. This is
all speculation without any documentary support for it. All we really know is that John McMurtry’s
service on the Fair American began sometime after June 1780 and must have ended
prior to November 1780 and that by January 1781, he had moved to Somerset
County and married Margaret Gomer.
Detailed Discussion
Theory 1: That James 1760s and John 1752 are sons of
James the son of Thomas d 1788 Somerset County, NJ
The DNA data enable
us to conclude that James b 1760s and John b 1752 are not brothers of Joseph b 1764 (assumed to be one of the
children of “my son James”) and are not descendant of any of part of the family
of Joseph McM. d 1761 Sussex Co NJ, Robert d 1775 Sussex Co NJ and Thomas d
1788 Somerset Co NJ.
What we see below is
a table of numbers with three columns containing the values for DNA markers
DYS385, DYS 458 and DYS 557 and two boxes – the top box listing 5 samples from
the TN families of James 1769 and John 1752 and the bottom box listing 5
samples from the family of Joseph McMurtrie d 1761 Sussex Co NJ and Thomas
McMurtry d 1788 Somerset Co NJ. The
bottom two samples are for Michael L McMurtry (desc of Robert 1749 son of
Thomas d 1788) and Harmon McMurtry (desc of Joseph b 1764, assumed son of James,
son of Thomas d 1788). What we see is
a fairly consistent pattern in which the TN McMurtrys have three DNA
markers whose values differ from the corresponding values for those markers in
CF110, the New Jersey family, including the two samples from the Thomas d 1788
family.
|
|
|
Name |
DYS385 |
dys458 |
DYS557 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TN
MCM |
|
Brian McMurtry |
11-14 |
17 |
16 |
|
|
|
Carl David McMurtry Cf
110 |
11-14 |
17 |
|
|
|
|
Cecil E. McMurtry Cf
110 |
11-14 |
17 |
|
|
|
|
Harold McMurtry |
11-14 |
17 |
|
|
|
|
Alan
Lacy McMurtry |
11-14 |
17 |
16 |
|
CF
110 |
|
Peter G MacMurtrie
Cf 110 |
11-13 |
18 |
|
|
Joseph
d 1761-Joseph b 1730s |
|
William Lee McMurtrey |
11-13 |
18 |
17 |
|
Joseph
d 1761-John b 1738 |
|
Michael Ray McMurtrie Cf
110 |
11-13 |
17 |
|
|
Thomas-Robertb1749 |
|
Michael Lawrence McMurtry Cf 110 |
11-13 |
18 |
17 |
|
Thomas
d1785-James-Josephb1764 |
|
Harmon McMurtry Cf
110 |
11-13 |
18 |
|
Specifically, DYS 385 has a 11-14 for the TN McM and a 11-13
for the CF 110 family; DYS 458 has a 17 for the TN McM and an 18 for the CF 110
family, and DYS 557 has a 16 for the TN McM and a 17 for CF 110. This means that for James b 1769 and John b
1752 to have been sons
of James, both of them would have had to have the three mutations at their
births. This is not possible. One
mutation is not uncommon in a generation, but three is unheard of. And for two brothers to have the same
mutations in the same generation is virtually impossible. So they can not be the sons of James, son of
Thomas d 1788.
Even if James b
1769 was a nephew rather than a brother or a son rather than a brother, it is
not possible for John to have had three mutations at his birth or at least so
unlikely as to be virtually impossible.
Theory 2: That James 1769 and John 1752 are sons of
Alexander d 1761 of Hunterdon Co, NJ
At first, this was
considered plausible since Hunterdon Co is adjacent to Somerset Co and John
b1752 could have come across the county line to marry Margaret Gomer in 1781
after completing his Revolutionary War service. Also, John 1752 was contemporary with the
assumed children of Alexander d 1761.
These children were a son Hugh b 1755-1760 who migrated to
Northumberland Co (later Union Co) PA by 1791, a son Alexander b abt 1755 who
migrated to Orange Co NY by 1790, and a daughter Bridget married 1781, married
Abel Everitt and migrated also to Northumberland Co by 1791.
However, if James was
born in 1769, he could not be a son of Alexander because Alexander died before
1761 and hence if he is the brother of John 1752, then neither can be sons of
Alexander d 1761. The problem is that we
don’t have a good source for the birth year of James. If he was born in 1760 rather than 1769,
then this precedes the death of Alexander and he would have been 28 when he
married in 1788, about the same as as John b 1752 when he married in 1781. James witnessed a deed in 1786 in NC, but it
was legal to witness deeds at the age of 14 in those days, and so all the deed
tells us is that he was born prior to 1772.
So we resort to the
DNA to help sort this out.
The two patterns
are much more similar. There is only one
consistent mutational difference between the two groups. Marker DYS385 has an 11-13 for rhe Hunterdon
Co NJ McM and an 11-14 for the Tennessee McM.
The problem here is that if Alexander d 1761 had a 11-13 for marker DYS
385, then in order to James b 1769 and John b 1752 to be his sons, then they
both would have had to have had the same mutation to 11-14 at birth. This is also highly unlikely.
|
Name |
DYS385 |
|
|
Hunterdon Co NJ |
|
|
|
Alex d1761-Hugh 1750s-1813 |
Howard McMurtrie |
11-13 |
|
Alex d1761-Alex1755 d 1800/1810 |
Walter McMurtry |
11-13 |
|
|
|
|
|
TN MCM |
|
|
|
James 1769-1837 |
Brian McMurtry |
11-14 |
|
James 1769-1837 |
Carl David McMurtry |
11-14 |
|
John 1752 |
Cecil E. McMurtry |
11-14 |
|
John 1752 |
Harold McMurtry |
11-14 |
|
John 1752 |
Alan Lacy McMurtry |
11-14 |
The problem
limiting our conclusions is that both Brian and Carl are descended from the
same son of James 1769, namely Thomas B.b 1791.
So conceivably, John could have mutated to an 11-14 at birth and James
could have retained the 11-13, but that his son Thomas B. could have had the
same mutation at his birth. This is not
common, but is not impossible. Another
possibility is that James, given the 17 year assumed difference in ages, could
have been a nephew to an unrecorded brother.
In this scenario, John would have had the mutation to 11-14 at birth,
and then his nephew had the same mutation at his birth.
We are left to
conclude this connection is ”highly unlikely”.
Theory 3: That James b 1760s and John b 1752 were Irish
immigrants
We then considered
whether James b 1760s and John b 1752 could have been Irish immigrants, coming
to the New World just before the Revolution with other aunts and uncles with
unknown surnames. In this scenario,
then James would have been cared for by these kinfolk while John b 1752 served
in the army during the Revolution.
Though there is no
documentary record to support this theory, we have no records of John McMurtry
prior to military service in 1775.. More
significantly, the DNA of John b 1752 and James b 1760s almost exactly matches
the DNA patterns of Irish McM families that remained in Ireland (e.g. Matthew
McMurtry 1750s-1813 of Island Magee, along the east coast of Co Antrim,
Northern Ireland and Archibald McMurtry 1754-1830 of Bruslee, in south-central
Co Antrim) and the family of William McMurtrey known to have migrated from Co
Antrim to Laurens Co South Carolina in 1773.
So the most likely origin of John b 1752 and James b 1760s is that they
were Irish immigrants that arrived in Pennsylvania just before the
Revolution.