Saturday, March 22, 2014

Surname Saturday: McDIARMID


"Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Diarmaid ‘son of Diarmaid’, a personal name said to mean ‘free of envy’ (from di ‘without’ + airmait ‘envy’). Etymologically, therefore, it is the same name as Irish McDermott." --Dictionary of American Family Names (Ancestry.com)

McDIARMID is one of my paternal grandmother's adoptive lines. It is her adoptive maternal grandfather's mother's maiden name. I use the letter "B" after each ahnentafel number to distinguish my adoptive family ahnentafel from my biological one.

Stories and History:

Ahnentafel #180B - John Duncan McDIARMID (dates unknown) - married Euphanie "Effie" McVEAN (dates unknown)

Ahnentafel #90B - Duncan McDIARMID (1799 - 1872) - christened in Killin, Perth, Scotland, he married Mary McPHERSON (1805 - 1876) in 1820 in New York State. They had three known children. In 1842, they were living in Bowne Township, Kent County, Michigan. It is believed they lived there until their deaths.

Ahnentafel #45B - Elizabeth "Polly" McDIARMID (1828 - 1891) - born in Wheatland, Monroe Co., New York, she removed with her parents and siblings to Bowne Township, Kent Co., Michigan, where she married John D. CONCIDINE in 1849. They had nine known children. She spent most of her adult life in Byron Township, Kent County, Michigan. She died of consumption.

Ahnentafel #22B - John Dennis CONCIDINE - (1854 - 1925) - born in Byron Center, Byron Twp., Kent Co., Michigan, John first married Anna Matilda "Annie" HIGBY, with whom he had seven children, five of whom survived infancy. After Annie's death in 1903, he married the housekeeper, Minnie Belle FIELD. They had one son. Three of John's sons from his first marriage moved to Illinois, and John and Minnie moved there in his elder years. He died in Afton Twp., DeKalb Co., Illinois, but was buried in the family plot in Byron Township.

Ahnentafel #11B - Nellie May CONCIDINE - (1883 - 1953) - Nellie was John's only daughter to survive infancy. She became a school teacher, teaching in Kent and Muskegon Counties, the latter being where she met German immigrant Alfred Henry HOLST. They married in 1905, and had a set of twins in 1909, who died shortly after birth. Nine years later, they were finally able to conceive another child, a daughter. After moving from Muskegon County to Wisconsin, then back to Michigan, this time in Ottawa County, they decided to take in a foster child after some shirttail cousins adopted a little boy. The boy's older sister that they fostered was my maternal grandmother. They raised her and considered her their adopted daughter, although like most adoptive families at that time, no legal process took effect...until the underage girl wished to be married. In order to give their consent, they had to be the legal parents, and so Nellie and Alfred adopted my grandmother shortly before her 16th birthday and subsequent marriage the next week to my grandfather. Nellie died at the age of 69, just six months after her husband.

Ahnentafel #5 - Jeanne Marie HOLST (a.k.a. Jane Marie YORK) (1924 - 2011) - my maternal grandmother

Ahnentafel #2 - my father - living

Ahnentafel #1 - myself

More About the McDIARMID Family:

1. Online database (I update this at least once a month): McDIARMID ancestors and relatives (no info on living persons available)

2. Posts about McDIARMID ancestors and relatives on this blog

3. Some scanned McDIARMID documents


My McDIARMID Immigration Trail:

Perth, Scotland > Monroe Co., NY > Ottawa Co., MI > Kent Co., MI > Muskegon Co., MI > WI > Ottawa Co., MI > AK > Stevens Co., WA > Spokane Co., WA


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