The McCord family name is known to have existed in several various forms over the centuries, and at different times and places has been represented as M'Corde, MacKorda, MacCorde, McCourt, Cord, Corde, McChord, McCorde, McCordey, and all these forms originate from the Gaelic name MacMhuircheartaigh (let's see you pronounce that one properly if you originate from anywhere that does not speak Gaelic!), which means "the son of the navigator". If your name is of one of these variations, then we are probably related. But, in the words of the Lakota Sioux prayer, Mitakuye Oyasin - We are all related. The earliest known registration of the family name was in 1471 at Wigtoune, Scotland, but no proven link can be established to show the relationship to the family of John MacKorda, who was born in Scotland before 1600, and who was the father of Clan Chieftain James Duncan MacKorda.

Descended from Scottish Clan Chieftain James Duncan MacKorda, who was born in 1620, his sons and grandsons, including John Duncan MacCorde, through whom our family is descended, migrated to Northern Ireland for less than ten years before journeying on to America, that new world across the Atlantic. From about 1720-38, they migrated to the Hudson Valley before spreading like a giant oak tree across the areas now known as New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Texas.

My father, Arthur Ross McCord, was born August 3, 1920, in Slaton, Texas (died 22 AUG 1981, in Dallas, Texas), to Mark Carter McCord and Dora Pierce. My paternal grandfather was born December 29, 1883, and died on August 31, 1947, five months prior to my birth. My grandmother was born on St. Valentine's Day, February 14, 1903, in Cove, Arkansas and left this world on March 8, 1999, in Terrell, Texas, at the age of 96.

My grandfather had brothers named W.L., C.H., and Hugh McCord, and sisters named Lillie M., Madge L. (Sallie), Mary F., Jessie Ella, Wilma E., Kittie E. (Catherine), and Evangeline (Eva) McCord. All were the children of my great grandfather, William Ross Jackson McCord and Margaret (Mary) Priscilla Parrish, who tied the knot on October 22, 1872.

Following a divorce from my paternal grandfather, my grandmother remarried Jay Lee "Red" Jordan, and sired my uncles Jay Lee Jordan, Jr., who died as an infant between 18 months and two years after birth, B. C. (who became Bobby Carl Jordan upon induction to the military, where full names are required), William (who was killed raising the flag on Iwo Jima in World War II), Charles Buddy, Eugene, Earl W., and John Henry, and my aunt Juanita.

My paternal grandmother's father was Theodore H. Pierce (June 10, 1880 - March 17, 1968), who married Katie Emily Grant, believed to be a first cousin of Hiram Ulysses Simpson Grant, Union General and United States President (and probably the horse thief in the family legend). Beyond this, very little is known of the maternal side of my father's family, other than the fact that Theodore Pierce's mother was half-blood Lipan Apache and Katie Emily Grant's mother was full blood Eastern Band Cherokee.

William Porter McCord (May 17, 1816 to November 7, 1881) and Hester Ann Noah McCord (December 30, 1825 to March 5, 1891), great great grandparents on my father's side of the family.

William Ross Jackson McCord was the son of Hester Ann Noah and William Porter McCord, who was the son of Jane Jennie Larkin and Azel McCord. Azel was the son of David McCord and Susannah Carson, believed to be directly related to Kit Carson, the famous (or imfamous, depending upon your point of view) Indian and Buffalo scout of wild west fame. David was the son of James McCord, Sr., who was the son David McCord of Derry Township (now Hershey), Pennsylvania, where he and his wife were killed by Indians at a raid on their farm.

Young James was captured by Indians who gave him to the French. The French moved him to Canada, then sailed him back to Plymouth, England, where he was one of many prisoners exchanged for French prisoners being held by the English. James later returned to the United States and served under George Washington in the American Revolution in a unit from Washington County, Tennessee (1778-83), in what was then a part of North Carolina.

Following the American victory against the British Crown, James McCord was one of the first men to serve under George Washington as a law enforcement constable of the newly-formed Southwest Territory. His appointment was made by none other that William Blount, one of the signers of the United States Constitution.

James McCord's father was also named David McCord (there have been several of those in our family), who was the son of William McCord, the first of our clan to immigrate to America (in the direct descendency of my father.) William was the son of John Duncan McCord, who was the son of Clan Chieftain James McCord, who was born in the Isle of Skye, County Argyll, Scotland (1620) and died at the Battle of Killiekrankie (1689) at the age of 69 years (a GREAT age to die, if you ask me!)

Approximately sixty McCords served with George Washington during the American Revolution, and were known for their fearless service to their country and their fellow man, even in the face of great personal sacrifice, injury or death. They stood on principle, and defended fairness and justice. It is believed that relatives on my father's side of the family married into the families of Daniel Boone, Kit Carson and Davy Crockett. We know for certain that parts of our heritage hailed from Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky, among other places in that area.

My mother was Sudie Catherine Frye, born March 5, 1921, in Greenville, Hunt County, Texas, and who died on January 10, 1996, at her home in Dallas where my father had died of a heart attack 14 years earlier. Both my parents were fortunate to go quickly, without prolonged pain or suffering, and both died of heart attacks at home. Who could design it any better?

My parents were married November 3, 1946, by Reverend Majors, a close family friend, in Greenville, Texas. They lived their entire lives together in Dallas, where they remained close to many friends they had known all their adult lives in the church, Eastern Star, and the Masonic Lodge and Scottish Rite.

Mother's parents were John Wesley Frye, born August 26, 1876, in Dutch, Tennessee, and Nancy Armanda (Minnie) Tidwell, born in Alabama on September 20, 1888. My grandfather was a school teacher and carpenter, and many of my relatives on my mother's side of the family continue to pursue teaching as a service to their fellow man. My grandfather died on September 24, 1967, at their home in Greenville, where he is buried next to my grandmother who joined him on April 28, 1982. After coming to Texas in a covered wagon neither of my grandparents ever left again!

John Frye and Minnie Tidwell met in Red Oak, Texas, where my grandfather was a school teacher (mathematics) and my grandmother was his student. They married on February 17, 1907, in Waxahachie, Texas, and later moved to Greenville where my mother and her older sister Mary were born. (There was an older brother to my mother who died early due to food poisoning caused by improperly-prepared tomato soup.) It was at about the time of the first world war that my grandfather became a carpenter in order to support his family. He join the Woodmen of the World Association, and remained a member until his death.

My maternal great grandfather was James R. Frye, of Dutch, Tennessee and he was married to Mary Matilda Harrell (probably of Tennessee). No other information on this part of our family is currently known to me. My mother's mother was the daughter of Lodrick (or Loderick) Tidwell (February 2, 1853 - September 13, 1925) from Alabama and Mary Mathila Murphree (January 3, 1859 - March 21, 1936), whom we believe may be directly related to the Murphree family after which Murphreesboro, Tennessee is named.

I was born at a very early age, on January 29, 1948, in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, the second son of my parents who lost Arthur Ross McCord, Jr. less than 24 hours after birth to lung impairments. My childhood was spent in Oak Cliff, an area located on the south side of downtown Dallas and encompassing nearly 1/3 of the total city area. My schooling included elementary school at L.O.Donald followed by junior high school at L.V. Stockard and high school at Justin F. Kimball. From 1979 through 1982, I attended Mountain View College in Oak Cliff where I received my AAS-Electronics Technology and AAS-Avionics Technology degrees, earning the Dean's List and serving as Student Council Vice-President (1981), then President (1982), Student Financial Review Board President (1982) and Phi Theta Kappa Honors Fraternity President (1982), enroute to a 3.68 G.P.A on a 4-point system.

On March 4, 1967, I married Susan Jean Wiggin (born June 28, 1946 - I always loved "older women"), and we had a daughter, Christina Mary McCord, who was born on February 3, 1969, in Arlington, Texas. Susan and I divorced in August, 1969, and I have been deprived of a life of joy by not getting to share the life of my daughter as she grew to womanhood. Nobody knows the misery that has caused, or the toll it took on my life, but it was a great loss to me. Susan and I are still in occasional communciation, neither of us having remarried.

In early 2010, Christina contacted me to tell me that she was infected with multiple triple negative cancers, and that her prognosis was terminal. Susan had told her of how she and I were deprived of seeing each other during her childhood, and that most of what she had been told about me was untrue. She felt really badly for not having tried to have a relationship with me in the 40 years since her birth, and we began a constant communication in person and by phone and e-mail. Her prognosis was changed in late 2010, and she was told that it was no longer imminent that her cancers would return, or that they would be fatal if they did. It was a great relief for us both.

On my 63rd birthday, January 29, 2011, I received a call letting me know that Christina had passed away that morning at an Austin hospital. The devastating news has forever ended any happy celebration of my birthday, and will henceforth be remembered by me as the day my daughter succumbed to the damages done by her cancers. The ONLY bright light is that all her pain and suffering are now gone, but there is a big hole in my heart. Christina would have been 42 on February 3, 2011.

Marc and Christina at her high school graduation in May, 1987

I had an older brother, Arthur Ross McCord, Jr., who was born 12 JUL 1946, and died the following day from lung and respiratory complications. He is buried at Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas in the same plot where my father, mother and a niece, Sarah Lynn Clark (still-born daughter of my sister Karen and her husband Richard Lewis Clark, of Missouri) lie in rest.

My brother, Robert Eugene McCord, was born in Dallas, Texas on August 17, 1949, and eventually married Debra Frost of Kansas, from which came two daughters named Heather Dawn McCord (born October 26, 1972) and Holly Marie McCord (born August 23, 1976). After their divorce, my brother married Kathryn P. Edman of West Virginia, and they had a son, Arthur Ross McCord III, born December 13, 1991, in Dallas, Texas.) Bob died on November 18, 2011, at his home in Dallas from complications of congestive heart failure, end stage liver disease, kidney failure and spleen failure.

Next came my younger brother, William Ervin McCord, born September 13, 1950, in Dallas, Texas. Bill eventually married Linda Griffin, who died of cancer several years ago. Linda's family was from Taylor, Texas. After a few years, Bill married Vicky Lynn Broyles, who was born in Freeport, Texas, and whose family moved to Fairfield, Texas, where they lived when Bill and Vicky met. They produced a son, William Ross McCord, born January 13, 1989. Bill and Will live in Austin, Texas. Bill and Vicky divorced in 1999. Vicky died in 2010, at a hospital in Austin.

On July 27, 1952, my sister Mary Catherine McCord was born in Dallas, Texas. She married Jack Leroy Greenstreet, from California, on November 19, 1971, and they produced three children - Catherine Ruth Greenstreet, born October 10, 1973 in Dallas, Texas, Cherilyn Rene Greenstreet, born in Dallas, Texas, on January 9, 1976, and John Wesley Greenstreet, born August 24, 1979, also in Dallas, Texas. Following their divorce, Mary married an Okie named Bob Weaver, who adopted her children and gave them his last name. Bob passed away in 2004, and is buried in Pottsboto, in Grayson County, Texas, where they lived.

Karen Ruth McCord was born January 19, 1954, in Dallas, Texas, and married Richard Lewis Clark. They produce three children, David Ross Clark, born in Dallas, Texas on June 18, 1976, Wendi Annette Clark, born May 1, 1980 (Dallas, Texas) and a still-born daughter Sarah Lynn Clark (October 26, 1981, Dallas, Texas). Karen and Richard live in Richardson, Texas.

As additional information is available it will be added to this web site. As I learn more about genealogy additional links and information will be added. Anyone having information that will help fill in some of the gaps is encouraged to send me an e-mail to Marc W. McCord.