Petheric McCurdy
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Christening: Death: Burial: Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Margaret Stewart ( - ) Marriage: Children: 1. James McCurdy (1668- ) 2. David McCurdy (Abt 1670- ) 3. William McCurdy (Abt 1673- ) 4. John McCurdy (1675- ) 5. Daniel McCurdy (1677- )
Notes
General:
An enduring part of McCurdy folklore is the story of the five brothers (Pethric, David, William, John, and Daniel) who fled from Scotland to Northern Ireland in an open boat. That story is probably mostly true, and the names of the brothers are probably mostly correct -- maybe entirely correct. We have reliable evidence of their voyage and of the sons of Pethric in the form of a letter written in 1886 by Patrick McCurdy of the Cairn, Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He says,
"My ancestors came from Buteshire in Scotland during the reign of Charles II --- the date of their leaving Scotland might be 1666. The story of their voyage to and arrival in Ireland (as handed down to us) is very affecting . . . They landed at Ballintoy, five brothers, Patrick, David, William, John and Daniel, four of whom settled in Co. Antrim.
"Patrick or (as the Scotch then pronounced it) Pethric, settled in the Cairn. He had four sons, named, respectively, David, William, John and Daniel.
"Daniel was father to my grandfather, who was also named Daniel, and was born about 1750. My father's name was Patrick.
"John McCurdy of Ahoghill must have been cousin to my grandfather's father and of the same generation."
Copies of Patrick McCurdy's letter and one written by his son are in Family-Histories and Genealogies by Edward Elbridge Salisbury and Evelyn McCurdy Salisbury (1892, privately printed), Volume 1, page 9. The book has been digitized by Cornell University and page 9 (image 95/454) can be seen at
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t76t18359&view=1up&seq=95&skin=2021&q1=Pethric
On pages 30-31 of his book The Ancestral McCurdys Their Origin and Remote History H. Percy Blanchard relates in dramatic and gripping fashion the tale of the five brothers who escaped from Scotland and found refuge in Ireland. (According to Wikipedia H. Percy Blanchard was a Canadian lawyer and science fiction author who is best known of his novel After the Cataclysm: A Romance of the Age to Come.) A facsimile copy of the book can be seen at
https://ia800905.us.archive.org/27/items/ancestralmccurdy00blan/ancestralmccurdy00blan.pdf
MARRIAGE to ROYALTY:
The following story of Petheric McCurdy's marriage to a descendant of royalty is on pages 32-33 of The Ancestral McCurdys Their Origin and Remote History by H. Percy Blanchard (Covenant Publishing Company, London, 1930). It is in Chapter VIII "Petheric, 'the Refugee'". It may or may not be true. Note the phrase 'it is related that'. No sources from the period are cited. A facsimile copy of the book can be seen at
https://ia800905.us.archive.org/27/items/ancestralmccurdy00blan/ancestralmccurdy00blan.pdf
"Of Petheric, it is related that he married Margaret Stewart, a direct descendant of the Stewart King Robert II. This is the lineage:
"Margaret Stewart was the daughter of Charles Stewart of Ballintoy, who was the son of Ninian Stewart of Kilchattan and his wife Grisel. Ninian was the son of Sir James Stewart, who was the son of Sir Ninian Stewart, of Nether Kilmory; who was the son of Sir Ninian Stewart, born in 1460, Sheriff of Bute, and made Castelan of Rothesay by James IV. This Sir Ninian was the son of Sir ______ Stewart, Sheriff of Bute; who was the son of Sir James Stewart, Sheriff of Bute. Sir James was the son of Sir John Stewart, born in 1360 and died in 1449, who was Sheriff of Bute and who married Janett Semple of Eliotstown. Sir John was the son of King Robert II of Scotland.
"There seems to be a flavour of romance hidden here. Back in Bute, in a previous century, the McCurdys had been unfairly crowded out of much of their lands by the Stewarts; as witness the Grant from the Scottish Crown in which the Stewarts participated so generously. Doubtless, or naturally, the best of feelings would not exist between the two families. Then, around 1640, came the religious controversy; and the Stewarts of Bute would, as a whole, be expected to side with their Royal cousins and adopt Episcopacy. But, as the struggle grew fiercer, it is known that a few of the Stewarts of Bute espoused the cause of their Chieftain, Argyle, and stepped into the ranks of the Presbyterians. Among these latter was this Charles Stewart; but when disaster crowded upon misfortune, he, and his family, escaped the slaughtering dragoons of Sir James Turner by having crossed over to Ireland a year or two previous to the going of Petheric. Here, in Ireland, Charles Stewart settled in Ballintoy. So it was only natural that Petheric, a stranger in a strange land, should seek out his former neighbour and make his new home beside the Stewarts. The proverb "Misfortune makes strange bedfellows" evidently had its literal fulfilment; and it did not take long, among those fellow refugees, for friendship to ripen into a warmer passion as regards that Scottish lassie Margaret Stewart. Very few weeks, it is evident, sufficed for their courtship, for the pressure of dates forces the conclusion that Petheric and Margaret were married in the summer of 1667. Possibly because some tenant was leaving for America, the farmstead at Ballintoy, known as the "Cairn," was vacant, and Petheric immediately took the lease and settled down on that property with his bride.
"Of the children of Petheric and Margaret there is a little confusion. It is not questioned that there were at least James, John, and Daniel. It is probable that there were also David and William. Admitting all five, they range in parallel order to Petheric's brothers, and would be James, David, William, John, and Daniel.
"Twenty-five years after Petheric's arrival in Ireland came the great struggle between James II of England, leading the Roman Catholic forces, and William of Orange, at the head of the resisting Protestants.
"Into this great fight, as it centred round the North of Ireland, many of the McCurdys threw themselves vigorously. Among these were Petheric and his two sons, John and Daniel, who fought in the famous Battle of the Boyne, and who are accounted to have been in the siege of Londonderry."
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