In January, in response to a message I posted from Duncan McGruther, a reader posted this comment : “There is or was a cluster of rural McGroders just north of Carrickmacross, Monaghan, Ireland; perhaps they were an independent plantation from Scotland, as most were RC.

“Many immigrated to Iowa, Illinois, and several other places in the USA, Durham UK, & Australia ; it might be a variant name of the McGregor? Or McGrother. Some fought on both the Confederate and Union sides, like many Irish in America. Some in the USA changed the spelling to ‘McGruder.’”

To which Duncan McGruther has responded : “I think the Monaghan McGroders are likely to be the same family as the McCru/ McCrue’s of the 1630s in the Belfast records, whom I believe were in turn derived from the McGruders of Perthshire. It would be nice to hear from a descendant from Ulster with some knowledge of their ancestry.”

Does anyone have any information for Duncan? Maybe you have some Irish relations you could ask?