Looking for parents of William Cunningham 1765-1823 Kentucky

+2 votes
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William Clayton Cunningham was born in Drakemyre, North Ayrshire, Scotland in 1765 (sometimes erroneously noted as 1776).  He was the son of a tailor and the youngest of 3 children, James 1762-1785 and Isabella 1755-Unk (who may have married Andrew Squair and eloped to America) being the others.  He left Scotland at age 18, eventually making his way to Albemarle County, Virginia where his sister Isabella lived. In 1795 he married Nancy Elizabeth Carr in Virginia and appears in the 1810 and other census records, eventually with his eleven children.  In 1818 the family emigrated to Trigg County, Kentucky.  Our family has been successfully traced forward - but we have not been able to confirm William's Scottish father, mother or grandparents.  We THINK his father was also William and was married to a Susanna.  It is often erroneously assumed he was part of the Earl of Glencairn line, but that line died out before his birth with a childless heir.  Some of the family written history books and FAG list James and Elizabeth, also assuming the wrong historical lineage.  This is a well known American family who populated most of Kentucky and intermarried with other pioneers.   OK, Scottish members....do your thing!!!
in Genealogy Help by Nici Mahlandt G2G Rookie (280 points)
edited by Nici Mahlandt

1 Answer

+2 votes
Do you have a profile for William? Where have you searched, ie FreeReg, FreeCen, familysearch.org ? Thanks.
by Living Poole G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
Profile Cunningham-2357

I have searched Ancestry, FamilySearch, FindAGrave, RootsWeb, Wiki, the Cunningham Clan family trees, all the Cunningham Family Tree books (many of which are incorrect).  I am unfamiliar with FreeReg and FreeCen, but if they are part of Rootsweb, yes.

FreeReg.org.uk have

County East Lothian

Place Haddington

Church name Haddington Parish Church

Register type Unspecified

Birth date 25 Nov 1772

Baptism date 29 Nov 1772

Person forename William

Person sex M

Father forename William

Mother forename Christian

Father surname CUNNINGHAM

Mother surname WATSON

Notes Witts Thomas Pringle and David Smith

Transcribed by Mary Hamilton

File line number 2406

Or this

County Ayrshire

Place Galston

Church name Church of Scotland Parish Church

Register type Unspecified

Baptism date 20 Sep 1762

Person forename William

Person sex M

Father forename James

Father surname CUNNINGHAM

Person abode Laughlangside

Transcribed by Norma Watt

File line number 1090

Or

County Kirkcudbrightshire

Place Kirkcudbright

Church name Parish Church

Register type Unspecified

Baptism date 28 Feb 1762

Person forename William

Person sex M

Father forename John

Mother forename Elisabeth

Father surname CUNNINGHAM

Mother surname MCGOWAN

Person abode Grangeburn

Notes Twin brother of Alexander baptised the same day. Children described as 'twins lawful sons'.

Transcribed by Dave Matthews

File line number 349

William was born in 1765 in Drakemyre, North Ayreshire, Scotland, so his father could not have been born in 1762 or 1772.  I'm guessing the parents would have been born around 1736-1740 or so.
ScotlandsPeople has only three William Cunninghams being baptized in Ayrshire 1764-1766:

1. Parents: JOHN CUNINGHAM/MARGARET THOMSON, 29/12/1764, Irvine

2. Parents: WILLIAM CUNINGHAM/SUSANNA MCGAA, 25/02/1765, Ayr

3. Parents: JAMES CUNNIGHAM/JEAN LYMBURNER, 02/03/1766, Kilmarnock

The one from Ayr is listed among the sources for Cunningham-2357 and is the date of birth in the data field, but Drakemyre is 24 miles from Ayr. I don't see any evidence that he was born in Drakemyre. What makes you think so?

The 2. Parents: WILLIAM CUNINGHAM/SUSANNA MCGAA, 25/02/1765, Ayr has been used by some family history genealogists as the parents and it could be logical based on the names being the same, although James was the eldest.  Obviously the MCGAA is an incomplete name.  Do you see any additional information?  Do these parents show the additional children - as families back then didn't move much.  There was also a James and Isabella.  Is there anything about the grandparents?  Drakemyre is the area listed by various family genealogists and I got it from those sources.

Actually there are a dozen or so McGaa profiles on WikiTree and a couple of living members. 1765 is within the range of auDNA. I'd look them up and see if they have tested.

ScotlandsPeople is the official government site for records. You can do a search for free (which is what I did) but you have to pay a small amount to view the record. So you will need to do that to see additional information, if there is any. If you are going to be researching people in Scotland, you need to become familiar with ScotlandsPeople. smiley

There are also many McGaws on WikiTree. You could look to see if any lived near Ayr. If you search for just the surname, you will get a list of all McGaas or McGaws.

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