Tuesday 17 September 2013

McFedries family in Ayrshire (and Eaglesham)

McFedries was my mother-in-law's middle name so I was interested in where it came from.
It was her maternal grandmother's maiden name. Interestingly, it was also her paternal grandmother's maiden name. Could her parents be cousins? Oh yes. Isabella McFedries b 1839 and Marion Mcfedries b 1842 were both born in Dailly to David McFedries and Isabella McJannet.

David was born in Eaglesham, in Renfrewshire in 1803 to David McFedries of Girvan (not so far from Dailly) and Margaret Hunter of Eaglesham. The couple were married in Eaglesham in 1800. What David was doing in Eaglesham which is a fair distance (50 miles) from Girvan is a mystery. He was a cotton weaver; presumably he was there for work.

Girvan David's father was David born in Dailly about 1757 and I think, by process of elimination, his father was Gilbert born Dailly 1725.  There was another David born in 1759 but I traced him. He was an unmarried shoemaker and died in Kilmarnock in 1868.**

The name McFedries had a number of variant spellings:  McFedreis, McFedris, McPhedris, McFaedres, McFeadrie, McFaries, McFadrish, McFeatherish, not to mention bad transcriptions of bad handwriting: McLudres, McFeddelo, McFedrio even McJedrics!


Eaglesham David McFedries here


Any McFedries researchers/descendants, please get in touch!

** a reader has pointed out the discrepancy here. The David who died in 1868 was born in 1790 - maths was never my strong point - so back to the drawing board re David's birth somewhere around 1758. It's quite possible that it was never recorded!

2 comments:

  1. i worked in the garage in 1975 ,and remember ,clifford and george ,well nice guys ,william armitage .

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