Colonial America

By the early 1700's the conditions in Ulster were more than conducive for migration.  Droughts caused severe shortages of food.  In addition, rack-renting was prevalent and displaced many of the farmers from the land they had occupied for 30 or more years.  Presbyterians were deemed dissenters by the Established Church of Ireland (Anglican), and as such, were subjected to the same discriminatory restrictions as were Roman Catholics.  Therefore, from 1718 until the beginning of the American Revolution, over 250,000 Ulster men, women and children braved a perilous ocean voyage to come to America.  Initially these poor, proud, Presbyterian people debarked in Philadelphia.  Then, whether it was belligerence of the Ulstermen toward other ethnic groups, discrimination of the Quakers against them and/or the ready availability of land in the interior, they moved quickly into the countryside (Fischer, 1989; Fry, 1993; Leyburn, 1962).

The first McMordies in America appeared to have been tradesmen.  The earliest record of the name McMurdy (McMordie) was found in 1733 in letters of administration granted to a Philadelphia tailor by the name of John Falconer.  He was the principal creditor of the estate of John McMurdy, who was a trader and spent most of his time in the backcountry.  The second instance of the McMordie name also occurred in Pennsylvania James McMordie received a Peddler License on November 1751.  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania beginning in 1729 licensed peddlers.  To receive a license, the person had to receive a recommendation from the court, post a bond and have freeholders of the county provide sureties."  He had to be a "person of known honesty and civil behavior."  In 1729 the bond was £40, a large sum of money at that time, and the annual license fee was 15 shilling on foot, or 25 shilling if a beast of burden was used.  (Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, 1988)

In his book, The Scotch-Irish, Leyburn wrote, "Scotch-Irish support of independence and of the war was, indeed, ardent and practically unanimous in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and one section of the Carolinas.  No evidence of Scotch-Irish Toryism has come to light in Pennsylvania."  With many of their fellow Scotch-Irish Americans, John McMurdy, James McMurdy, Robert McMurdy and Rev. Robert McMurdie volunteered for service in the Continental Army, and Francis McMordie was a the Pennsylvania Militiaman.

John McMurdy enlisted in June 1775 in Col. William Thompson's Battalion of Riflemen.  He re-enlisted in the Flying Camp and later was a sergeant in Capt. Patterson's Company, 2nd Pennsylvania Continental Line.  (Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. II. Revolutionary War Pension Application) Cumberland County in John was born in 1745 and was living in 1775.  He was listed in Washington County Pennsylvania in the Federal Censuses of 1790 and 1800 and in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania on his Pension Application of 1820.  James McMurdy was a soldier in the 2nd Regiment New York Continental Line (O'Brien, M J., 1979).  Robert McMurdy was a private in Col. Procter's Regiment, Pennsylvania Artillery, Continental Line, 21 Oct 1775 - 27 Oct 1776.  (Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. III).  Unfortunately, neither the lineage of these men nor the date of their arrival in America is known.  However, appreciable amounts of information are available concerning Rev. Robert McMurdie, a Chaplain in the 11th Pennsylvania Continental Line (Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. III), and his son Francis, a private in Black's Company of the York County, Pennsylvania, Militia (White, 1995).  Additional accounts of both these ancestors will be presented in later chapters.

Although the spelling of the name showed many variations; only McMordie will be used from now on.

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References

Anonymous, I, McMordie Family Information. Belfast, Northern Ireland, n. d.

Anonymous, McMordie Family Pedigree, 15 May 1944. Black, G. F., Surnames of Scotland, New York Public Library, New York, 1962, p. 546. Kelly, Capt. Patrick, Irish Family Names, O'Connor & Kelly, Chicago, 1 939, p. 79.

Fischer, D. H. Albion's Seed, Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1989, pp. 605 - 632.

Fry, P. and F. S., History of Ireland, Barnes & Noble, New York, 1993, pp. 165 - 180.

Leyburn, J. G., The Scotch-Irish, Univ. of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1962, pp. 3-13, 157 - 183, 306.

McMordie, J., Letter to W C. McMordie, 9 sept 1930 O'Brien, M J., Irish Settlers in America, Genea Publ Co., Baltimore, 1979, Vol. II, P. 321.

Orel, H., Snyder, H. L. & Stokstad, M., The Scottish World, Henry N Abrams, Inc., New York, 1981, pp. 121-123.

Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. II, p. 29

Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. III, pp. 591, 601, 603, 610,

Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. III, p. 1008.

Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, Genealogical Soc. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1962, Vol. XXII No. 4, p. 265.

Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, Pennsylvania Genea Soc., Philadelphia, 1988, Vol. XXXV, p. 288.

White, V. D., Genealogical Abstract of Revolutionary War Pension Files, F-M, National Hist Publ Co., Waynesboro TN, 1990, Vol. II, p. 2303.

White, V. D., Index to Revolutionary War Service Records vol. III. L-R, Natl. Hist. Publ. Co., Waynesboro TN, 1995, p. 1834

Woulfe, Rev. Patrick, Irish Names and Surnames, Genea. Publ Co., Baltimore, 1967, p. 393.

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