Thursday, December 14, 2017
Scottish ancestors Sir James MacKorda, Clan Chief
The history of the McCord family goes back to Scotland where a Clan Chieftan, James MacKorda died in the famous Battle of Killekrankie Pass in 1689, and his son John Duncan MacKorda/McCord (1660-?) who had married Mary McDougal. Their sons William, Robert, David and John came to America around 1720-38. Some of them went to Lancaster county PA, while other McCords also immigrated to New York, South Carolina and Virginia. (From: http://thewommacks.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/James_MacKorda_Descendants.156162820.pdf
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From: Family Tree - this resource has many generations of James and John McCorda given, but I can't locate mine (yet)
And this document relies upon a source which is considered secondary. A primary source is a birth or death certificate, a will, a marriage record, a journal, letters, a document of property sale, or other legal documents.
So there was a famous battle in Scotland, which I'd never heard about, so I go to trusty internet to search for information about it. Wikipedia says this:
And I don't know much more about the battle than I did before, actually. I'd have to learn a lot more about Scottish/English history before these politics and military forces were understandable for me. I have enough trouble with our American Revolution!
Origin of Name: from the Scottish "MacKorda"
And this document relies upon a source which is considered secondary. A primary source is a birth or death certificate, a will, a marriage record, a journal, letters, a document of property sale, or other legal documents.
So there was a famous battle in Scotland, which I'd never heard about, so I go to trusty internet to search for information about it. Wikipedia says this:
The Battle of Killiecrankie (Gaelic: Blàr Choille Chnagaidh) was fought between Highland Scottish clans supporting King James II and VII and troops supporting King William of Orange on 27 July 1689, during the first Jacobite uprising. Although it was a stunning victory for the Jacobites, it had little overall effect on the outcome of the war and left their leader dead. Their forces were scattered at the Battle of Dunkeld the next month.For more details here's the link.
And I don't know much more about the battle than I did before, actually. I'd have to learn a lot more about Scottish/English history before these politics and military forces were understandable for me. I have enough trouble with our American Revolution!
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| Pass at Killkiecranky |
Clan Name: McCord
Tartan: McCord
Origin of Name: from the Scottish "MacKorda"
McCord, originally spelled MacKorda, was a Highland clan originating on the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland.
Although John is the first recorded MacKorda, his son James Duncan MacKorda was the first Clan Chief of the MacKorda Clan. James was born 1620 in Scotland, and died July 27, 1689 in Killiekrankie Pass, Perhshire, Scotland, during the last great charge by the Highlanders.
Around 1670 the spelling of the family name was changed to MacCorde. The clan then emigrated from Scotland in the late 1600's to County Tyrone, Northern Ireland (Ulster)where, in 1715, the spelling was finally changed to McCord.
The McCord's are among the people refered to as Scotch-Irish. The term Scotch-Irish denotes only that they were in Northern Ireland for a time. Very little intermarriage occurred between these Scotch and the native Irish of Ireland. The Scotch and Scotch-Irish peoples, heritage, and culture were then, and are, entirely separate and distinct from that of the Irish of Ireland. During the late 1700's and early 1800's many of the McCords went on to settle in America and Canada. Source: "This was taken from "angelfire.com"
Not exactly a primary source, but information that is interesting!
I'll have to continue this sharing of information tomorrow!Today's Quote:
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated (this land), far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. Abraham Lincoln
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Lubos KORDAC, I am 63 years old historian and shipwreck researcher. Though I was born in Czech Republic, I have been living and working in the Caribbean, Dominican republic for over 20 years. I always knew that my family name is not Czech, and I dedicated over 30 years trying to find my real ancestors. I was travelling the whole Europe, searching in dozens of books and genealogy web pages, sending literally hundreds of letters, and finally a professor from Edinburgh University solved this problem for me several years ago. He made a deep research and he found out that my original surname was MacMhuircheartaigh, changed then to MacKorda. And that my ancestors, MacKorda, were living in Isle of Skye. I do not know if there is some official family register where could I sign in, or at least some web page. I have little 8 years old twins and when this coronavirus disaster ends, I would love to go with them and with my lovely Dominican wife (48 years old) to Scotland to show them the land of their ancestors.
Sinerely,
Ing. Lubos Kordac (MacKorda)
There is a clan gathering and web site.
DeleteMcCord. Com as I remember. The McVords mostly came to south Western Pennsylvania around 1730 with a land grant given by William Penns twin sons around that time. They all were still hunted by the Britt's.
William McCord built Fort McCord there not far from Harrisburg, Pa.
I am traveling to Scotland next summer.
My email is '. vanfrier@gmail.com. '
I am from Western PA. and am a descendant of McCord's in this area. As a matter of fact, I still live on the property where they lived in the early to mid 1800's. I wonder if we are related? I have had a DNA test with Ancestry.com, wondering if you have done the test as well?
DeleteI have the family Bible of my grandmother ( Kate Taylor ) McCord. She had taken her husbands mothers Bible and copied all the notes, births and deaths from it onto hers. So the dates involved are from before the American Revolution up until the 1950's. At the top of one of the first pages for notes in her Bible Was the name, ' MacMhuircheartaigh ' When as a little girl my mother asked what the long word was and grandmother replied,' It comes from the earliest times before people had first and last names. If you have that name with you always those came before us will always look for us as we pass. ( West Helena, Arkansas, about 1937 ). Most things I have read say we are a Seph of the MacLoads of the Isle of Skye. James was reputed to be the 37th High Chieftain of the MacKorda. If so he would have have a published line of Chieftains before him. He died in 1689 in his 90's on a battle horse with 5 of his 9 children dead of taken prison by the English. The line just can't end at Killiecrankie Pass. He was educated in Edinburgh As James Dunkin and his son of the same name as well. In the east Scotland they were noble men of Scotland. At home in the Highlands they were true Highland Scots caring the names James MacKorda and James Dunkin MacKorda. There is much history lying in the frozen mud. When John got home to find his family in runion, his step mother had given birth to a child two months before, not bad for 90 something. I guess I didn't get all his genes. John took the child in as his own and waited a few months to see what kin would surface gathered them together and set out with what they had for Stewartstown, Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI too come from The James MacKorda of Skye line. My ancestors moved to Ulster and then to Western Pennsylvania in the village of Mt. Jackson a borough of New Castle. My maternal grandmother was Ruth Jane McCord and she married Clare Lorraine Wallace. My grandmother Ruth was the daughter of Sarah Bell Gailey and married James Wallace McCord. They remained in Mt. Jackson until their deaths.
I have painstakingly traced my ancestry using very detailed family history and Ancestry. Com. This Battle of Killiecrankie is quite interesting and there is a book on Amazon about it.
I have traveled back to Scotland and Northern Ireland but have only gone as far north to Inverness. I am familiar with Ft. McCord in Pennsylvania and went there as a child. I would be interested in knowing of possible relatives from Western Pennsylvania, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Kimberly Wallace