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:

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!

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