McComsey/McCumsey

[dirkomatic]

There have been many attempts to trace the origins of the McComsey/McCumsey name by family members in the USA. The problem seems to arise that the first records of anyone using one of those names is from the early 1700s and they could not read or write.

There are a few other spellings; McCumsie in a census. For years I was told that our progenitor was sent away from Scotland by Cromwell for being a horse thief, (or livestock of some sort.) But other than the year that McComsey appears in Pennsylvania, I have no evidence of that statement.

There have been two theories that I've encountered: one is that the name is derived from Scottish McComie or MacKenzie and the other that it is derived from Irish McComiskey.

For those of you that have done this for a while, how would I go about trying to make the connection to find the true roots of my surname?

As a side note; my maternal grandmother's last name is Sutherland and part of the Scottish which settled in Southwest Virginia so that's the tartan I choose to wear nowadays.

[LKM]

This is an interesting mystery. I do not see variations of the name on a ship list and the earliest I see is in Pennsylvania from the 1700s. I think the name changed after the family arrived in Pennsylvania. Church records and ship lists often give useful information when they can be found and most Church records in the UK go back to the early to mid 1600s yet none pulled up on my search.

I do not know if you have seen this post or not but it might be of interest: http://mccumseyfamilyfootprints.blogspot.com

A good source to search multiple ship lists:
https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shipnamesMa.htm

[dirkomatic]

Yes, I've seen http://mccumseyfamilyfootprints.blogspot.com and it has much of the same information as I have... Still nothing beyond the first John McComsey/McCumsey.

I would love to make the connection. I have been combing over findagrave.com, too, with no luck. The first few generations were farmers and I don't really think they were keen on birth/death records.

[dirkomatic]

I just found that there was a "William MacCorsey" who was an indentured servant in Virginia in 1659. http://www.pricegen.com/immigrantser...p?servant=8860

I'm going to look into that a little bit.

[dirkomatic]

Found another similar name: McGimpsey, which could sound similar to McComsey if both are said with a brogue to someone not knowing how to spell the name. I'm going to see if I might be able to find a connection there.

http://geyer-genealogy.blogspot.com/...ackground.html

[dirkomatic]

Evidently, a "Johne McGumpsie" was involved in an incident in Wigtown, Scotland in February of 1643. This is from "The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland"

I haven't seen that link anywhere before, but in the US, I think my resources are limited.