About us
The McPheeters Surname Project includes all variant spellings of the name McPheeters, including McPeters, McPheters, McFeaters, McFeeters and less common names such as McPhetres, McFeatters and McFeeture. It does not include McPhee or McPherson.
The first immigrants of record to the American Colonies came from Northern Ireland to the Pennsylvania Colony (five -- William, Alexander, Charles, John and James --to the Scots-Irish Settlement in Chester and Lancaster Counties, and two -- Archibald and John-- to the Massachusetts Bay Colny (Maine) between 1710 and 1730. Three of those young families -- William, Alexander and Charles -- moved south to Orange/Augusta County, Virginia, by 1740. Charles then moved on to western North Carolina by 1750 and later changed the spelling of his name to McPeters at the time of the Revolutionary War.
Other families of McFeeters immigrated mainly to Pennsylvania between 1800 and 1850, but one such family went first to Canada and then to Vermont, while still another went to South Carolina and later became McPeters in Alabama.
There are also African-American and Mulatto McPheeters and McPeters families who are related to the McPheeters and McPeters families who owned slaves.
This DNA Project has shown that most of the McPheeters/McPeters (and variant spellings) families have a fairly recent common ancestor with rather close DNA matches.
A prominent Presbyterian clergyman, Rev. William McPheeters of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote in his genealogy -- Some Account of My Paternal and Maternal Ancestors -- in 1842 that the origin of the McPheeters name was with a William, the son of a Peter Hume of the Highlands of Scotland, who was dissatisfied with the treatment given him by his half-siblings of his father's first marriage and decided to call himself William McPeter (i.e., son of Peter). A recent comparison of the DNA patterns of the McPheeters and Hume descendants shows that this legend is NOT true. Nor is the McPheeers DNA pattern a close match to those of some Scottish clans that claim us.
The first immigrants of record to the American Colonies came from Northern Ireland to the Pennsylvania Colony (five -- William, Alexander, Charles, John and James --to the Scots-Irish Settlement in Chester and Lancaster Counties, and two -- Archibald and John-- to the Massachusetts Bay Colny (Maine) between 1710 and 1730. Three of those young families -- William, Alexander and Charles -- moved south to Orange/Augusta County, Virginia, by 1740. Charles then moved on to western North Carolina by 1750 and later changed the spelling of his name to McPeters at the time of the Revolutionary War.
Other families of McFeeters immigrated mainly to Pennsylvania between 1800 and 1850, but one such family went first to Canada and then to Vermont, while still another went to South Carolina and later became McPeters in Alabama.
There are also African-American and Mulatto McPheeters and McPeters families who are related to the McPheeters and McPeters families who owned slaves.
This DNA Project has shown that most of the McPheeters/McPeters (and variant spellings) families have a fairly recent common ancestor with rather close DNA matches.
A prominent Presbyterian clergyman, Rev. William McPheeters of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote in his genealogy -- Some Account of My Paternal and Maternal Ancestors -- in 1842 that the origin of the McPheeters name was with a William, the son of a Peter Hume of the Highlands of Scotland, who was dissatisfied with the treatment given him by his half-siblings of his father's first marriage and decided to call himself William McPeter (i.e., son of Peter). A recent comparison of the DNA patterns of the McPheeters and Hume descendants shows that this legend is NOT true. Nor is the McPheeers DNA pattern a close match to those of some Scottish clans that claim us.