Two steps forward, one step back

Elijah McCurdy has been stumping researchers of the family since the 1970's. I have written about him before, so I am glad to report we have made progress, but not as much as we would like.

A great grandson of Elijah through William M. McCurdy tested YDNA several years ago. He was disgusted because he didn't match any of the other McCurdy's. So another great grandson, through George Washington McCurdy recently tested. The good news, they have a genetic distance of  0. Meaning that both of Elijah's sons down the YDNA is intact.

The results of the second tester were shared with me. The highest match is a genetic distance of  2. This family line goes back to a William L. McConnell born in 1842 and died in 1877. On ancestry the trees go back further to a Samuel McConnell born in South Carolina around 1780.

The second highest match is a genetic distance of 3. This family line goes back to (wait for it), James W. McConnell, a descendant of Joseph McConnell and Mary McCurdy. James McConnell was born in 1795 in likely Elbert County, Georgia. The last match, a genetic distance of 4 is to a Connelly.

Awesome news, right, we have a direct match to a couple that multiple (at least 10 that I know of) also have autosomal DNA matching, Joseph McConnell and Mary McCurdy. Let's not get too excited though because what we have left is a monumental task. The matches we have with autosomal DNA do appear to indicate we share DNA with the Pennsylvania McCurdy's, thus giving us the theory that Elijah McCurdy is an illegitimate son of a McConnell and a McCurdy.

There are multiple trees for both the McCurdy's and the McConnell's. Some say they couple came from Ireland, some say Mary is the daughter of  John McCurdy and Mary Fox (and thus an Aunt to the Elijah McCurdy born in 1796 in SC and  who died Dekalb county, AL). But here is where it get's tricky, first of all, the more you look, the more it is clear that there is a lot of conjecture on the 18th century McCurdy's in Pennsylvania.

I can find no estate information confirming the names of the 12 children of John and Mary, despite what has been published. The only concrete proof is the biography of Elisha McCurdy that tells where his parents lived, how many children they had, and that an elder brother (Elijah) moved south and never returned. Estates of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania appear to give some of his brothers, but as for females there is not one bit of data. The female grandchildren through a McCurdy of John and Mary McCurdy are too young to be a mother of Elijah at this point. So if his mother was a daughter we have nothing to go on yet.

Of the South Carolina McCurdy's, John and Robert were immigrants, and there is not enough data on how they are related, though it is conceivable that they, as with most of the immigrant McCurdy's in Pennsylvania and Maine, are cousins to some degree. But if you do read the biographical data on most of the lines, every one says they are from immigrants, not a help let me tell you.

There does appear to be two to three clusters of McCurdy's in Pennsylvania arriving at different times. There were McCurdy's around Chester county for at least a short period of time. I found unconfirmed information that one of the Georgia McConnell's may have came from Chester county, PA to Elbert County, GA, the same place where the Joseph McConnell line we match lived. Then there are McCurdy's around Cumberland county, and finally in Westmoreland (to include nearby Alleghany and Indiana counties).

What we need to do now is a two fold process. We need to see what we can dig up on the Joseph McConnell family (who some say immigrated to the U.S. and some say didn't) and his relatives. Then we need to come up with a database of McCurdy's, one that includes source material (deeds, biographical accounts (some may have errors), and probate) for Pennsylvania, Georgia and South Carolina. Once we do that, maybe we can puzzle out how both of Elijah's parents are related to Joseph McConnell and Mary McCurdy.

There is a John McConnell Sr in Elbert county, Georgia who none of the trees claim is a relative to Joseph but easily could be a possible relative if the Joseph McConnell who lived in Franklin County, Georgia (nearby Elbert prior to the establishment of Henry County, Georgia in 1822 which came from Creek lands.) is the same as the one we match is.  Henry County, Georgia is the last place Joseph McConnell and his wife Mary are found in the 1830  census.

For my fellow researchers, let's all work together and see what we can come up with.

P.S. those of you who have our Elijah as the son of Elijah McCurdy and Ann Handy Harris may want to change that.