My parents started tracing our family genealogy late in life, but before the advent of the Internet and the much greater access to information it provided. After my father died in 1981, my mother ceased working on our lineage - it had been something she and dad did together, and he wasn't around to be a part of it anymore. I think they enjoyed the travel and searching birth/burial records and cemeteries as much as actually discovering any new information.

My mother died in 1996, and shortly thereafter, aided by the burgeoning Internet and armed with only rudimentary knowledge of three generations on each side of our family, I began my own quest to know my past. The following five years opened a lot of doors and took me down many roads I had never even thought to travel before. The information on this website explores the lineage of the McCord-Frye family along parallel lines, each of which can be found in the links below. While much of this family history is well documented some of it is ancedotal and was passed down to me by my parents and grandparents. Like most families, detailed accounts were never recorded for posterity, and so many holes remain to be filled. Hopefully, this website will benefit future generation of my family, as well as yours.

The paternal side of our McCord family is of Scottish descent from the clan of John MacKorda, who was born in Scotland before 1600, and who was the father of Clan Chieftain James Duncan MacKorda (1620-1689) of the Isle of Skye. 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, so it is unknown if this link is relevant to our family lineage. We can prove a direct, unbroken line of descendancy from John MacKorda, so that is where our story begins.

The maternal side of our McCord family is of English descent, though we have only traced back four generations so far. In the United States, my great grandparents resided in Tennessee and Alabama, and my grandparents migrated from those states to Texas, where they met and married in Waxahachie in 1907. 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. Both Frye and Tidwell are English surnames.

This website is divided into several parts: Clan McCord explores the Scottish and Native American roots of my paternal ancestry. Fryes of England explores the limited available information regarding my maternal ancestry. I have included a Native American section to provide general information about my First Nations of the Eastern Band Cherokee and Lipan roots. You will also find a photo gallery, as well as a section titled "Valhalla", which lists recent deaths in our family. The original website was hastily put together in 1996, and lacked a clear structure that, hopefully, has been remedied by this recent version. As always, comments and suggestions will be helpful and appreciated.

For the record, this website comprises the sum and total of all that I currently know about our family genealogy, but will be updated periodically as new information becomes available. I have provided many links to helpful research sites that may be beneficial to you in your own search for your past.