This is a compilation of all McMurtrie/McMurtry families in the MacMurtrie Clan-Family Records except for the 5 major American families. This INCLUDES records on families who lived in Scotland, Ireland, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and a few of the smaller American families who settled initially in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas and to branches of the Scottish and Irish families that migrated to America in more recent years. This EXCLUDES the large American families New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky) that have already been the subject of published histories or are large enough to require a whole book just for that family alone!
It is possible that future volumes will focus on some of these excluded families such as William McMurtrey of South Carolina, David and William McMurtrie of Pennsylvania, the West Tennessee McMurtrys, the East Tennessee McMurtreys, or the Northumberland/Union Co, Pennsylvania McMurtries. But each of these is a major effort of and in itself; so time will tell as to whether or when they will find their way into print or microfilm.
The purposes of this compilation are many.
First is to pay tribute to Alexander David McMurtrie - his work, his vision, his spirit.
Second is to express appreciation and acknowledge the many McM historians - living and dead - for their genealogical and historical research and for their sharing of themselves in their collaborative pursuit of family roots.
I have included considerable family historian correspondence so that readers can vicariously enjoy these historians in their discoveries and their frustrations and to see their personalities and their relationships.
Third is to make available these records to a much wider audience - and to a potentially unborn audience - by microfilming the records and distributing copies to libraries around the world. Wonderful records sitting in a box in Berkeley or wherever is not much help to a budding family historian living miles from the box. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that one audience for this compilation is someone whose interest in family history will be peaked in about 35 to 50 years from now - long after I have left this planet! My interest in genealogy was ignited when A.D. died; perhaps the same will occur at or after my demise. In any event, the records will be available for anyone/anywhere close to a Mormon library or close to a public library with interlibrary loan and a microfilm reader.
If you are this person, I'm glad you found this film and hope you enjoy perusing it!
I hope others take up where we have left off. Fill in the gaps. Flesh out the twigs of the family tree with the leaves of personal historical information. Call McM on the phone. Write to them. Go visit them. Organize family reunions. Go to the library. Meet interesting people. Enjoy digging for your roots!
Fourth is to have something to show for this, my most recent burst of genealogical fervor. During the past 3 years, I have ventured into countries I hadn't previously contacted, pursued branches I hadn't previously known existed, used telephoning, computers, and electronic mail in ways previously unimagined, and pursued relentlessly bringing up-to-date many branches of families I had known little about. So, I've added all my data and of my collaborators to the excellent work done by those who preceded us and in this "publication" am making it available to you the reader.
Fifth is to mark a second turning point in my life. My first occurred as a young man in the 1960s when my values turned upside down as a result of trying to come to grips with the Vietnam War. But the genealogy was, even then, a means to escape and I printed my first book of family history in 1968. I spent the next 25 years seeing myself as an agent of social change. In 1991, after an intense six years, trying to live my beliefs and make change happen in public school reform, I "burned out". All I felt was anger and hopelessness, rather than a positive, realistic, and patient hope. Since then, the genealogy has been a welcome respite from the contentiousness of social change activity. Now I'm ready to pursue the spiritual and the religious dance side of my personality. So, just as my first book was done as I was leaving college and going out into the world, so this genealogical work serves as a symbol of completion to the present phase of my life and the beginning of a new direction.