William McAfee

  General Notes:

1833 land assessment: Bootown, Ballymoney, Dunluce, Upper Antrim, Ireland

The McAfees were Presbyterians and farmers and said to have descended from Scottish Convenanters.

Arrived in New York 7 Jun 1838, aboard the ship "St. Andrew", age 59, farmer, together with Martha age 56, James age 34, Rachael (Dinsmore) 25, Elija (infant), William age 20, Robert 13, Mathew 14, Martha Jane 14,
Also arriving on the same ship W. McAfee, age 23, John Dinsmore 28, his wife Margaret 31, Samuel 4, Mary (infant) and Mary Dinsmore 76.

Living with them in East Union township in the 1850 census were son William b. 1818, in addition to Martin b. 1828, Margaret b 1830 and Eliza b. 1835. Unknown parents, of them only granddaughter Eliza is mentioned in his will.

In his will he gives the north half of his farm to son William, the south half to Mathew, the latter also got half the share of the fruit that may grow on the south half of the fam untill he has time to plant fruit trees on his part of the farm and they are grown to such size as will produce a reasonable quiantity of apples, except if he should sell his part of the farm in that event the fruit will all belong to William.
Martha Jane 400 dollars. Granddaughter Eliza Mc?, 400 dollars. Grandson Joseph McAfee 400 dollars, son Robert McAfee one thousand dollars. Wife Martha my two horses or horse kind ald all my cattle and she is to have the privilege of living in the house in which we noe recide during her lifetime.

One source has his father as John McDuffee/McAfee born ab. 1730 on the Isle of Islay, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. A farmer who migrated to Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland with a friend, William McQuigg, when they both were young men probably in the 1750's from Islay, Co. Argyll, Scotland.
Presbyterian and descendant of Scots Convenanters. Believed to be buried at County Antrim Saint Cuthbert's Church Cemetery, where a Mathew McDuffee is buried which might be his son. In the same cemetery is:

Erected in memory of
MARGARET beloved wife of
JAMES McAFEE, Park.
Who died 12th August 1854
aged 35 years.
Also her husband
JAMES McAFEE,
who died 9th January 1888
aged 87 years.
Also her daughter
MARGARET
who died 3rd Sept 1889
aged 43 years.

--
Clan Macfie is one of the oldest Scottish Clans with a history going back before records were kept. The ancient name for our clan is Macdubhsith. While literally meaning "dark man of peace", sithe is also the term used for supernatural beings that populated the islands and the highlands and the tern dubh or dark also had mystical and supernatural connotations. The ancestral homeland for the Macfies are the islands of Colonsay and Oronsay in the Hebrides, the Western Isles of Scotland.

In 1623, Malcolm, the last Chief of the Clan Macfie, was captured by the infamous Colla Ciotach MacDonald. He was tied to a standing stone, known as Carraig Mhic a' Phi at Balaruminmore, on our ancestral island of Colonsay, and summarily shot. The Clan Macfie was dispossessed of its lands and dispersed as a "broken" Clan.

That is, until 27th May 1981, when the Clan was reactivated and again formally recognised as an "active" Clan by the Lord Lyon. Macfies all over the world celebrate that day as a new 'birthday' for the Clan Macfie.

As there was no hereditary Chief, a Ceann-Cath or Clan Commander was appointed to head the Clan. The current Clan Commander is Alexander "Sandy" C. McPhie who resides in Queensland Australia.

The original name was
"MacDubhsith" meaning
"mac" - son of
"Dubh" - dark or black
"sith" - elf or fairy
It is Gaelic. The Scottish-Gaelic pronunciation is"Mac - Dhoogh- shee".
English it is MacDuffie.
The clan called themselves "Clan MacDuffie" until 1539 when they dropped the Gaelic "dubh" syllable. Mac-Du-ffie became MacFie.
From 1539 on they were known as Clan MacFie.Many still used/spelled their name MacDuffie however. When the Act of Union joing England and Scotland into Great Britain was passed in 1707, the English language was used more often in Scotland. There was no equivalent English sound or letter for the Gaelic sound "bh" in the clan names, so clerks and clergy used the approximations f, v, or ph. The result was many variations of the clan name but no single, correct spelling. Also, spellings were changed in Ireland during times of persecution because the Irish did not like the Scottish coming into Northern Ireland and taking their land they once owned. In addition, spellings varied because during immigration many of the immigration officers misspelled
or forced immigrants to change the spellings of their names. And in some instances, some of the immigrants didn't know how to spell their own last names.
The McAfee, McAffee, MacAfee spellings appear in Northern Ireland (County Antrim,
County Armagh).

Recognized Clan Surnames:

The following names are recognised by the Commander of Clan Macfie, Ceann-Cath A. C. (Sandy) McPhie, as being current acceptable surname spellings for members of the Clan. Variations in the spelling of these names are acceptable. Mac/Mc prefixes are considered to be interchangeable:

ATHEY, ATHIE, CATHEY, CATHIE, COFFEE, COFFEY, DUFFEE, DUFFIE, DUFFEY, DUFFY, FEE, GUFFEY, GUFFIE, HAFFEY, HAFFIE, MacAFEE (and McAfee), MacAFIE, MacCAFFER, MacCAFFREY, MacCAFFIE, MacCATHEY, MacCATHIE, MacCUISH, MacDUFFEE, MacDUFFIE, MacDUFFEY, MacDUFFY, MacDUFFIN, MacFEE, MacFIE, MacGUFFEY, MacGUFFIE, MacGUFFIN, MacHAFFIE, MacHAFFY, MacPHEE, MacPHIE, MacVEE, MacVIE, MAHAFFEY, MEHAFFEY, PHEE, PHIE.

In addition, the Clan Commander recognises the historical links Clan Macfie had with the Macdonald Lords of the Isles, Clan Cameron in Lochaber and a branch of the MacNicol family in Glenorchy. More recently, the close links established with Clan Macfie by the Thorburn family in Sweden and the Brew family in New Zealand are also acknowledged by the Clan Commander.
CLAN MACFIE HISTORY

William married Margaret Martha Taggart in 1802 in Antrim, Ulster. (Margaret Martha Taggart was born in 1780 in Ballymoney, County Antrim Ireland, died on 6 Oct 1864 in Sugar Creek Twp., Wayne Co, Ohio, USA and was buried in Dalton Presbyterian Cemetary, Ohio.)