From King to Convict

Kennedy Murray FamilyWilliam the Conqueror’s twenty-fifth times grandson was a convict by the name of Kennedy Murray. Kennedy’s crime was shopbreaking & theft from a travelling saleman. He stole  six knives, a pair of striped garters and some knittings with a pair of plated buckles. Kennedy was convicted at Glasgow Court of Justiciary for which he received 14 years in 1790 . It doesn’t take many generations to go from grace to disgrace!

He travelled with 402 other convicts on the ship called the Pitt, departing in June, 1791 and arrived in Sydney Cove, New South Wales, Australia on 14th February, 1792 .

He married Anne White, circa 1796 at Norfolk Island, Australia. They had two children before Murray left the island for Tasmania in 1805. By 1809 he was back in New South Wales and had been granted 30 acres of land on the Nepean River.  One of Kennedy’s children, Elizabeth, married James Lucas, son of First Fleet convicts Nathaniel Lucas and Olivia Gascoigne.

In 1814 Kennedy Murray was living in a common law marriage with Ann Parker.

He was born about 1764, christened on the 24th of August 1771 in Dundonald, Ary Scotland and died on 18 June 1853  in Tasmania.

There has been much debate about Kennedy’s heritage. Thanks to all those that have emailed me.

One potential family tree from William the Conqueror to Kennedy Murray is below:

1 – William I the Conqueror  King of England + Matilda of Flanders
  2 – Henry I Beauclerc  King of England + Matilda (Edith) of Scotland
    3 – Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (Robert Rufus, Robert de Caen, Robert Consul[) Fitzroy + Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester
      4 – Maud of Gloucester, Countess of Chester also known as Maud FitzRobert + Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester
        5 – Hugh (de) KEVELIOC + Bertrade (de) MONTFORT
          6 – Matilda of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon + David of Huntingdon  Earl
            7 – Isobel (Isabella)  + Robert de Brus, 4th Lord of Annandale
              8 – Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale  + Lady Isabella de Clare
                9 – Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale  + Christina Ireby
                  10 – Patrick Dunbar + Christina Bruce
                    11 – Patrick Dunbar + Majorie Comyn
                      12 – Alexander Dunbar + Ermingard de Lothian
                        13 Patrick Dunbar + Isobel Randolph
                          14 – George Dunbar + Christiana Seton
                           15 – George Dunbar + Beatrix Hay
                            16 – Lucas Strivelyn + Marjorie Dunbar
                              17 – William Stirling + Mariot Fleming
                                18 – Adam Crichton + Elizabeth Stirling
                                  19 – James Crichton + Janet Ogston
                                    20 – Peter Hay 4th of Megginch + Margaret Crichton
                                      21- Gilbert Gray of Bandirran + Elizabeth Hay of Megginch
                                        22 – Patrick Kinnaird + Euphemia Gray
                                          23 – John  Kinnaird + Jeane Lyone
                                            24 – William Steel + Jennet Kinaird
                                             25 – David MURRAY + Agnes Steel
                                              26 – John MURRAY + Margaret Boyd
                                               27 – John MURRAY + Elizabeth Calder
                                                28 – Kennedy MURRAY + Anne WHITE

Other interesting genealogy of Kennedy Murray include the following possibilities:

  • Queen Elizabeth II is Kennedy’s 15th cousin 3x removed.
  • Prince William, Duke of Cambridge  is Kennedy’s 15th cousin 5x removed.
  • Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge is Kennedy’s 20th cousin 5x removed.
  • Diana, Princess of Wales is Kennedy’s 15th cousin 4x removed.
  • Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill is Kennedy’s 19th cousin.
  • Henry VII King of England is Kennedy’s 13th cousin 9x removed.
  • Robert the Bruce, Robert I of Scotland is Kennedy’s 17th great-granduncle.
  • Owain ap Gruffudd King of Gwynedd (first to style himself Princeps Wallensium – “Prince of Wales”) is Kennedy’s 25th great-grandfather.
  • Malcolm 1 King of Scotland is Kennedy’s 27th great-grandfather.
  • Alfred the Great King of England is Kennedy’s 30th great-grandfather.
  • Ragnar “Lodbrock” Halfdansson of Uppsala is Kennedy’s 34th great-grandfather.
  • Charlemagne Of The Holy Roman Empire Emperor is Kennedy’s 35th great-grandfather.
  • Napoleon (Bounaparte )I  of France is Kennedy’s 3rd cousin 15x removed of wife of 3rd cousin 20x removed.
  • Boadicea, Queen of Icenians, is Kennedy’s 1st cousin 47x removed.
  • Marcus Antonius (partner of Cleopatra VII (Queen) of Egypt) is Kennedy’s 49th great-grandfather.
  • Nathaniel Lucas (from the First Fleet) is Kennedy’s father-in-law of daughter.
  • John FitzGerald Kennedy is Kennedy’s 19th cousin 4x removed.
  • Barack Obama is Kennedy’s 20th cousin 7x removed.