Thursday, October 4, 2007

Reeds ~ Fingal Who?

MacKirdy, of course! Fingal MacKirdy was our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great , great, great, great, great grandfather. He was born in 1575 on the Isle of Bute in Scotland (with a name like that, where else?), the son of Donald MacKirdy (many of the mothers seem to have disappeared from the records), who was the son of another Donald Makurerdy (and a woman named Mary), who was the son of yet another Donald Makurerdy (and Mrs. Donald--imagine naming your baby girl Mrs. Donald!), who was the son of the Chieftan Gilkrist Makurerdy, who was born in 1425, and had four children: Gilkrist, Finlay (not to be confused with Fingal), John, and Donald. The Chieftan Gilkrist, who at the time in 1425+ owned most of the island, descended from Macruari and Ruari, or Roderick, and before them, quite possibly, the mound builders who first inhabited the island back in the days of the paleolithic. Fingal's father, Donald, was the founder of the "MacKirdys," and was the first to change his name from "Makurerdy" to "MacKirdy." Obviously, this changing of the family name backfired, as he was killed in 1600 in a battle with the Cameron Clan. His son, Fingal, our hero, was also killed. According to some records that state his birth year as 1598, this would have made toddler Fingal quite the fighter--and quite the little Gilgamesh, having already fathered at least one child. It makes more sense that he was about 25, already married, and father of Donald, who had six sons with Peggy Cameron, great granddaughter of James IV King of Scots (ah, see? royalty already!): Irven, Pethric, Fingal, Daniel, Gilkrist, and Alexander, three of whom seceded from the Presbyterian Church, while 3 remained loyal, including his son Daniel. Daniel's son, Daniel, fled to County Antrim, Ireland, in November of 1666 at the age of 18, with his brothers, and changed his name to "McCurdy." The McCurdy family motto, "Dieu et mon pays," or "God and my country," appears on the family crest, in black, yellow, and green. In 1682, he had a daughter named Janet McCurdy, born in Derry, Glendermouth County, Ireland. Janet married Robert Lithgow (b. 1676) in 1703 while still in Ireland, but soon left behind four McCurdy brothers for the coast of Maine with her husband and at least one young daughter, Martha, born in 1704. Martha married Lt. James Dunning in Brunswick, Maine in 1795. Their daughter, Mary, one of eight (!), was born in 1733 in Brunswick, married William Reed, Jr., and had a son, John Reed, in 1762 in Topsham, Maine. He married Lettice Orr (the list of strange names goes on!), daughter of Lettice Elliott of Boston and Joseph Orr, who settled Orr's Island, Maine, on September 15, 1785, in Harpswell, Maine. The couple's son Arthur Reed (no relation to the aardvark), born March 4, 1810 on Orr's Island, married Elizabeth Barstow Jacobs, the direct descendant of the poor, illiterate farmer, George Jacobs Sr., who was hung for witchcraft on Gallows Hill during the Salem Witch Trials on August 19, 1692. Captain Elias Reed, son of Arthur and Elizabeth, was born on June 11, 1843 on Orr's Island, and became a famous sea captain. He married Mary Merrill Purinton of the well-known Purinton and Merrill families of East Harpswell, Maine. Our great, great grandfather, and their son, Frank Purinton Reed, was born in 1869 on Harpswell and married Bertha Lucetta Fay, from Chester, Mass., on May 8, 1895. Their son, Carroll Purinton Reed, was our great-grandfather. He was an amazing man and married an amazing woman, Katharine Damon, on December 18, 1937. Together, they raised three daughters, Carol, Damon (our amazing grandmother, Damon Reed), and Stephanie, ran a successful ski shop and catalog business, and were huge influences in the lives of their six grandchildren, including our mother, Elizabeth Gardner, daughter of Damon and Donald Watt Gardner, Jr. Our mother married our father, James S. Poulsen, in North Conway, NH, in July of 1990. We, Luke and Dominick, were born on September 17, 1994 and February 28, 1999, respectively. This is just one of our many DNA trails & tales.

This GP Family Project is a work in progress. We hope to include more DNA trails & tales, with links that will take you to primary documents, family recipes and stories, pedigree charts, family photographs & videos, family news posts & contact information, and other interesting historical facts and stories about our ancestors. As well, this will be the place to go for information about our Inherited Traits Survey, which will be heading out to everyone soon. Check the blog for updates, photographs that will help you better understand some of the traits, and survey results. We hope you'll participate in this project by sharing stories of your own, posting comments, and staying in touch. Thanks!

For a blog devoted to the McCurdy's of Maine, head to kinfolk Michael McCurdy's blog: http://mccurdymicmacmex.blogspot.com/

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi - nice work zilekulmod!

My father's mother, Anna Poulsen, was a very fast runner. After Liz and my wedding, Grandma Poulsen looked at Liz, or should I say stared her down: "You're not that tall" and "did Jimmy tell you that I'm a very fast runner?" Liz graciously let those two comments roll off her. However, later that evening, under the light of the moon there was a foot race. Indeed Grandma Poulsen was fast, but not fast enough to beat Liz. Grandma P pulled up early, pretending to have pulled a hammy right at the end, but it was clear she was second. The rivalry continued for many years. Trash talking. Shoves. Stare downs. You know.

In all seriousness, I'll have to do another post later; Luke is having leg cramps . . .

Janice said...

Thank you for the link to my New Hampshire history blog "Cow Hampshire," specifically to the article about your ancestors, Carroll P. & Kaye (Damon) Reed. They were indeed remarkable people.

I hope that you continue compiling and sharing the story of your family.

Janice Brown

Michael McCurdy said...

Greetings from another descendant of Fingal MacKirdy. As you know, there were five McCurdy brothers that fled Scotland in November of 1666. Petheric, David, William, John and Daniel. Like you, I decend from Daniel "the Refugee."
My line then comes through Daniel's first son James who was born about 1678. James' two sons Thomas and John, settled in St. Georges, Maine not too far north of the Aunt Janet McCurdy Lithgow.

Anonymous said...

My line..

Jessie Lee; John Wilson; Hannah McCurdy; John; John; John; James; Pethric; Daniel; Donald; Fingal; Donald

nattrnuz said...

Ouch. I join you with Orrs, Dunning, and I forget, cuz I didn't write it all out on my hand. All those mothers who perpetuated Johns on families, you'd think Lettice (Lettes on the tombstone) Elliott (BTW she was the widow Wyer)would be easy to find. NOT. Anybody know? Now I can't even remember where I branch off from you guys, but I know it was before the skiing gene dominated the sitting gene. Love this. Thanks.

arnora said...

i'm working on a family-of-origin genealogy for a family therapy Masters' degree, and have managed to connect the dots through eighteen generations (still some fact-checking to be confirmed, but it's relatively tight so far):

Karen Murphy
Katherine Murphy (nee Deyman)
Herbert "Mac" McCurdy Deyman
Ida Deyman (nee McCurdy)
James Samuel Deyman (m. Catherine Adelia Reed)
Jonathon McCurdy (m. Mary Franks)
Samuel McCurdy (m. Elizabeth Barry)
David McCurdy (2nd.m. Jeanette Graham)
Robert McCurdy (m. Mary Jane Moore, though one account named her as Sarah Moore?)
James McCurdy (m. Jerusha Murray)
Pethric McCurdy (m. Margaret Stewart, supposedly of Robert 2nd of Scotland's line) ==> this was one of the 5 brothers who fled Bute for N.Ireland ~1666)
Daniel McKirdy (m. unknown)
Donald McKirdy IV (m. Peggy Cameron, of James IV's line)
Fingal Makurerdy
Donald Makurerdy III
Donald Makurerdy II
Donald Makurerdy I
Gilkrist Makurerdy (~1425)

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Hello mccurdy's! I'd like to post my line and a story about my great grandmother Minnie Pearl Mccurdy. My line is me, Mary C Lee, Cordelia Givens, Minnie Pearl Mccurdy, Reuben, Elijah, Elijah, John, John, pethuric, Daniel, Donald, Fingal, Donald, Donald, Donald, Gilkrist.

Story: my ggrandmother Minnie lived to be about 95 and I remember her as a small child of about 5. My mom has passed down her story of how she ended up in Pensacola Florida. She was married to Reupert Earl Givens and living in Kentucky. Apparently Reupert was an alcoholic and an abusive husband and father. Minnie decided she had had enough and decided to run away. With no money and no clue where to go she got her 2 kids (my grandmother and great aunt) and hid in a neighbors barn for a few weeks. She knew Reupert would go to the train station and bring her home. Once he stopped looking she got on a train and eventually made her way to Pensacola where she may have had a friend (not real sure why pcola). Needless to say women just did not up and leave there husbands in the early 1900's. She decided to protect herself and children and run far away and start over. Do any of you mccurdy's recognize this tough and stubborn personality trait? It runs strong in my family!!! Thanks for the website!