Martin McKinstry's Page

Martin, Family Tree DNA is having a sale through Thursday; 37 Y DNA markers for $119.  Independent of joining the project, which I hope you would do anyhow.  

A descendant of Alexander b 1708, of the Bucks County McKinstry's, has tested, and if a descendant of Nathan would test, that would be great!    The Alexander descendant matched one of the New England families (the only one that so far tested).   But the two markers differing in McKinstry's are unpredictable, and we need to see how they are behaving in the family groups to get a better handle on how long ago their common ancestor lived.

Please e-mail me at tiggernut24@yahoo.com .  

Yours,

Dora

I'm sure that he did.  If he'd found people to talk to in Ireland they'd have told him the biggest myths.  I have the same problem with my Lowe line.

I have all the Bucks County PA literature and am corresponding with Bob Erskine (father was a McKinstry), who is actively and thoroughly researching the line.  Nathan's father is not known.   I think that for the parents of Alexander Sr we have a line of Alexanders stretching into infinity but I'm vague on that.   Bob also has a mythological line that leads to Roger.   Since Alexander Sr and Nathan strongly appeared to be cousins, it's likely they had the same grandfather or atleast great grandfather.   

Oh, I see what I said.   It is reasonable to think that some people may have historically suspected that McKinstry was a corrupted version of McKenzie - but it isn't.  It's Mac An Astrigh - son of a wanderer.

That's the name itself, not the crest.   If they thought they were McKenzie's it would have been reasonable to start using the McKenzie crest.   

In the middle of the 19th century, a McKinstry on a steamship in the middle of the Atlantic was carrying that crest around.  He referred the person who ran into him to a cousin, who said something about family tradition.   Not a brand new idea.   

There have always been folks desperate to be descended from a Scottish clan.  It's a good thing my mother never knew our Cauthers ancestors (Carruthers) were a sept of clan Bruce.   But those clans were pretty much highland folks.   The McKinstry's came from the southern coast of Galloway.   Southwest corner of Scotland.  The lowlands.   

The notion of two Rogers is a new one.   There is no evidence that anyone but Rev. John McKinstry of New England is descended from Roger.   It is always possible that some families preserved such a tradition from way back and I have no way to know it.   

I know the feeling when it comes to being unemployed.  I don't know how I've managed to do what I have this winter.  When I was employed I was only making $7.75 an hour.  I have a new long term temporary job that may last for awhile.   Making $9 an hour.   

I asked for the beginning of this testing as a Christmas present. Granddad supplied the DNA, and my brother and sister gave me two thirds of the money.   Well, it has kept me busier than any Christmas present ever has before save my current computer.   

Martin, are you descended from Nathan McKinstry, one of the Bucks County, PA McKinstry's?   That's what I'm getting from Ancestry.

I have a McKinstry DNA project at Family Tree DNA (http://www.familytreedna.com).   I have descendant of I think James, one of the sons of Alexander Sr, who has tested.  (His results are not back yet.)    Alexander Sr and Nathan appeared to be cousins.   He is particularly interested in proving that Nathaniel was a cousin of Alexander Sr, as well as that Nathaniel and Samuel were brothers.    If they're I2b1, like my brother in law's father, I'm don't know whether it's possible to do more than to prove that they were all related, which would thrill me.

I'd actually like to prove that they all descend from one family that lived in two adjacent parishes of Galloway, Scotland, in the 16th century.   Proving that would require finding and getting to test a McKinstry whose line never left Scotland, which may not be easy.   

Might you be interested in Y DNA testing?   It would be good to have two descendants of the Bucks County McKinstry's test at any rate.   If they don't match my brother in law's father, the next question will be do they match each other.   

As a McKinstry project member, you would get a small price break in teh cost of Y DNA testing, and also more choices in how many markers to test than someone who does not belong to a project.  I'd still suggest starting with 37 markers, at either $149 or $169.  

Nearly all McKinstry lines have tried to connect themselves to Roger, but without any evidence, and some of the efforts are silly.  Many of the McKinstry lines can trace their origins to Carrickergus.  Unfortunately it is hard to say the same of Roger.  He is alleged to have lived wherever your McKinstry ancestors trace to in Ireland - in otherwords, he was the original Everywhere Man.   

Yours,

Dora Smith 

Martin, if you google luceo non uro and family crest and so forth, you'll find an infinite variety.  What exactly was on the crest your father had?

McKinstry's did not have a family crest, because they were commoners.  I suspect that some of them suspected that the name may have been a corruption of MacKenzie.  But the name has its own very separate source - Mac An Aistrigh - son of a wanderer.    

http://kw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restren:V%C3%A4stmanland_coat_of_arms.svg

http://www.heraldry-scotland.co.uk/westhigh4.html  Most of the way down see McLeod

http://www.mackenziefamily.com/brazenimage/mackenzie/macklogo.html

http://www.robertmackenzie.de/familyPersonal.html