Topics

• About the Mccubbin One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• DNA project
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Mccubbin One-Name Study

The McCubbin One-Name Study grew out of a search for my husband’s McCubbin family. After query letters around the world, searching many birth, marriages, deaths, censuses, wills, I decided to share the growing collection with all interested McCubbins.

I joined the Guild of One Name Studies in 2001 and established the McCubbin Family History website in 2002, which includes the annual CUB REPORT. By this time other McCubbin descendants had joined in the search. We continue to actively collect data and link family trees. When a McCubbin contacts us we usually can add a great deal more to their family tree with the information we have in our databases.

Come and join us. We’ll help you find your ancestors. Membership is free.

Our latest exciting journey is into the ‘land’ of DNA (the kind used for genealogical research not the kind used for police work).

Variants

McCubbin is the most common variant of our name. Prior to the 20th century, a large portion of the population in Scotland was illiterate. There were many variations of the McCubbin name. It largely depended on the minister, registrar, or census taker and how they heard the name pronounced or how they chose to spell it in their particular domain. Thus, we find: McCubbin, MacCubbin, MacCubbing, McCubin, McCubine, M'Cubyn, Macobyn, Makcubeyn, Makcubyn, M'Cubein, McUbein, McAbin, MacUbine, M'Cwbene, M'ubin, MacCubie, M'Cubbe, Makcumbyne, M'Cubene...and even McCappon. McKibbone and McKibben can be variations in Ireland. McGibbon has also been known to be a variation.

By the 20th century, the spelling McCubbin is found to be the most common spelling throughout Scotland. MacCubbin, MacCubbing and McCubbins are found to a lesser degree.

Origin of the surname

It is assumed that the McCubbins originated from South-West Scotland. Speculation has it that the McCubbin name evolved from Cubbin, Cumyn, and/or Gibbon.

‘Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giobúin, a patronymic from the pet form of a Gaelic form of the personal name Gilbert’. (from the Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press).

The earliest siting of the name was in 1376, when Martin m’Cubyn ‘was tenant in the mill of Dafubill’.

In 1398, Brice Macobyn, a Scottish Merchant, was given safe conduct to trade in England.

Other mentions of the name appear mainly in Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire.

McCubbinstone in Dunscore parish appears in a Sasine record in 1645, Jean Freschie spouse of Robert McCubbin, son of John McCubbin in Makcubbeinton, and Dalfibble Mill in Kirkmichael parish.

Historical occurrences

Down through history, several notable people have carried the names of McCubbin and its variants. Among the most famous and infamous were:

John Makcubyn who held the lands of Tradunnock in 1404. In 1511, Thomas M'Cubbin was proprietor of Tradunnock (now an ancient ruin). Apparently, the descendants of this family, Fergus M'Cubbin and his spouse, Margaret Kennedy occupied Knockdolian Castle at Colmonell about the middle of the seventeenth century.

John McCubbin (known at ‘John the Colonist’) is the earliest known McCubbin to arrive in America. As evidenced by early Maryland records, he was a Quaker. It was the mid 1600's, when Scotland was rife with bloodshed during the Covenanting times. (The Covenant was a protestation signed throughout Scotland in 1638, in which subscribers swore to defend the Protestant religion, and to resist all contrary errors.) Speculation is that John’s father was Lord John (or Fergus) McCubbin of Knockdolian, Colmonell.

Alexander MacCubbin was one of eight Covenanters who were executed 2 March 1685, for attending a prayer meeting.

Janet (Riddell) McCubbin arrived in Sydney aboard the 'Mary Ann' 13th December 1843. Janet was married to William McCubbin, a Master Mason in Lanark, and had children before she was transported. Two children we know of were John and James. They likely never saw their mother again. Janet's crime was 'house breaking'. She was sentenced to 7 years. She remarried in Australia after receiving her Certificate of Freedom and has living descendants there.

Frederick McCubbin, 1855-1917, is one of Australia’s most famous artists. At auction, December 12, 2007, at Christie’s in London, one of his paintings ‘Sawing Timber’ (1907) sold for $1.69 million. Said Penny McColm, granddaughter (and co-founder of the McCubbin Family History Association) “My mother would be speechless to hear such a price.”

Frequency of the name

Historically, the largest population of McCubbins has occurred in Scotland. The surname is quite rare.

When the census of 1881 was taken in Scotland, there were 540 McCubbins listed. The largest group was in Ayrshire, with 172 individuals. The next highest numbers were, Wigtownshire with 136, Lanark with 99, and Dumfriesshire with 58. By 1901 there were 620 McCUBBINS living in Scotland.

There were 99 McCubbins included in the census of England in 1881 and 112 in 1901.

Distribution of the name

The McCubbin name has spread all over the world and we are in touch with McCubbins in Scotland, England, Wales, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Data

From research and the contribution of others, we have births, marriages, deaths, censuses, wills, sasines, and many different family groups dating back to the 1700's and 1800's.

DNA project

We have just started the DNA project. The purpose of the McCubbin DNA Project is to expand our genealogical research by confirming or disproving family lines through DNA testing.

We hope to better understand our McCubbin kinship, family lines, ethnic origins, migrations, and Scottish clan affiliations.

Some of our objectives are:

*Establish the relationship of the descendants of 'John McCubbin the Colonist' of Maryland to their Scottish roots

*Establish the relationships of the McCubbins of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, England and Wales, to their Scottish roots

*Confirm or disproved the relationship between the McCubbins of Scotland and the McKibbens/McKibbins of Ireland

*Establish relationships between the various spellings of the surname

Links

To learn more:

http://www.mccubbinfamily.com

See The CUB REPORT 2007 on our website for DNA information

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mrs Lorna McCubbin
E-mail:

This page last updated 23 March 2008.

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