52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 5 – A Breakthrough Moment
Prompt: Every genealogist has at least one moment when something finally clicks. It could be breaking down a brick wall, discovering a long sought-after record, or seeing an ancestor in a new light. This is a good week to write about this discovery.
I have been unable to think of any major discovery I have made in my research. I have made lots of discoveries about my ancestors that I knew nothing about. But most of the information that I have found was out there all along, waiting for me to find it, usually via Ancestry.com records. I just needed the time to do so.
I have had many “aha” moments over the years, though. Here is one:
When I was first starting to research my family tree, I found it odd that I kept coming across some unusual given names–usually used as middle names.
Names such as “Cargill,” “Faris,” and “Renwick”–often shortened to “Ren” if used as a first name–were names I came across again and again, usually as middle names. What I found odd was that, even though it was very common at that time for a son to be given his mother’s maiden name as a middle name, these were not the maiden names of these ancestors’ mothers.
The first time I encountered “Faris” as a middle name was when I learned the full name of my 2nd great grandfather. Pictured here in his Union uniform is James Faris Curry (1842-1921.)
I was initially confused by his middle name because his mother’s maiden name was “Smith.”
I didn’t think much about it. I just thought it was an oddity.
And then I read about the Scottish Covenanter martyrs and The Killing Times, and it all made sense.
Because there are many Scottish Covenanters in my mother’s maternal line, I had read a fair bit about the Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian communities in which they lived in America. In the process of writing later posts, however, I went back further into Covenanter and Scottish history and read some brief biographies of early church leaders.
And then I read about the Scottish Covenanter martyrs and The Killing Times, and it all made sense.
Rev. Donald Cargill (1619-1681) was a Covenanter martyr who pronounced and published “excommunication against” Charles II, James Duke of York, and other government officials. This resulted in his arrest and execution in Edinburgh on July 27, 1681.
I have previously written about the number of “Renwick”s and “Ren”s that I found in my tree and how I subsequently learned about Rev. James Renwick (1662-1688), another Covenanter martyr. Supposedly, personally witnessing the hanging of Donald Cargill in Edinburgh was a transformative moment for the young man.
In her blog The Scottish Dream, Alice details the Covenanters in numerous well-researched posts, including this one in which James Renwick’s execution is mentioned.
David Farrie ( -1681) was a Scottish Covenanter martyr. He refused to accept the King as the head of the Church, instead adhering to the Solemn League and Covenant. For this, he was executed in Edinburgh on October 10, 1681. If my personal research and the published sources are correct, my 2nd great grandfather, James Faris Curry (1842-1921), pictured above, was a direct descendant, as am I. In my research, “Faires” and “Faris” are derivatives and are used interchangeably.
Farrie had also been moved by Rev. Cargill’s execution for his beliefs, only a few months before his own. In one of Farrie’s final testaments, he admonished his followers, “Do not grip [sic] after Ministers till they, at least, come to take up the Work, where Mr. Donald Cargil left it.”
Had these 17th century martyrs known that a descendant of theirs–living about 350 years later- would not have been formally educated about The Killing Times, they would probably have been mortified. This is one of countless things I enjoy about researching my family tree: not only do I learn about family history, but I learn more about American and World History as well.
The Covenanter's Lament by Robert Allan
[Tune: "The Martyr's Grave"]
There's nae covenant now, lassie!
There's nae covenant now!
The solemn league and covenant
Are a' broken through!
There's nae Renwick now, lassie,
There's nae gude Cargill,
Nor holy Sabbath preaching
Upon the Martyr’s Hill!
It's naething but a sword, lassie!
A bluidy, bluidy ane;
Waving owre poor Scotland
For her rebellious sin.
Scotland's a' wrang, lassie,
Scotland's a' wrang—
Its neither to the hill nor glen,
Lassie, we daur gang.
The Martyr's Hill forsaken,
In summer's dusk, sae calm;
There's nae gathering now, lasie,
To sing the e'enin' psalm!
But the martyr's grave will rise, lassie,
Aboon the warrior's cairn;
An' the martyr soun' will sleep, lassie,
Aneath the waving fern!
—Book of Scottish Song (1843), edited by Alexander Whitelaw
