The Origin of Fordyce
Fordyce (fȯr-dīs-) is a toponymic name. More than half of all English surnames used today are derived from the names of places where the bearer’s ancestors once lived. Fordyce is no exception and originated from a quaint little village located in northeastern Scotland along the Aberdeen coast. According to Forebears, it is ranked the 74,228th most common surname in the world, which hardly seems common at all until you learn that there are currently more than 30 million total surnames in existence.
The etymology for the word is disputed, with theories ranging from the Roman root for “man of the south” to a corruption of the Scottish Gaelic fuar deas, meaning “a cold place southward.” The Gaelic word -dyce means “opportunity,” so the full name could also translate to “man of opportunity.”
What we do know, however, is that Fordyce existed as a place before it was ever mentioned as a surname. According to the Dingwall-Fordyce family records, the name could also be a more loosely Gaelic translation of “the bleak country,” which at that time, would have been true, as the trees in the area had not been cleared, nor the swamps drained of the inlet’s water.
The village was most likely founded as early as the seventh century A.D. by St. Talarican (also known as “St. Tarkis”), a Catholic missionary who traversed along the northern Scottish coast, planting churches along the way in an attempt to support the “Great Commission” to bring all pagans to Christian conversion.
The oldest church in the village is named after St. Tarkis, and he also served as the first bishop in the Fordyce region. Although he established the church in Fordyce, its existence would not be officially documented for another six centuries. Old Fordyce Church was first mentioned in 1272 A.D. in an account of Andrew de Garentuly being confirmed as the parish’s minister by King Alexander III himself. In 1802, a newer and bigger church was built.
The surname “Fordyce” first appeared in 1460 during the appointment of a vicar in the region of Athy named John Fordise. Nearly 100 years later, it would be mentioned again in land documentation drafted by a Helene Fordyce in Elgin, Scotland. From there, the name began to form a great tree, branching out to include several notable names throughout history.
Notable Fordyces throughout History
Dr. James Fordyce, DD (1729–1796) – This prominent pastor, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, revolutionized the Church’s focus on the “evils of women,” which had lasted nearly three centuries prior. In his published work Sermons to Young Women, he helped reform public thinking to better understand aspects of womanhood such as virtue, purity, and self-respect from a biblical perspective. This collection of sermons took the public by storm, helping establish the concept of the “ideal Regency girl” in the 18th century. Jane Austin even referenced his work in her 1813 classic Pride and Prejudice. James was also mentioned in correspondence to William Smith by Benjamin Franklin himself, stating, “But [I] saw with Concern in some of the publick Papers last Year, an Article of News, relating, That one Mr. Fordyce, the ingenious Author of the Dialogues on Education, perished by Shipwreck on the Coast of Holland, in returning home from his Tour to Italy.”
Samuel Wesley Fordyce (1840–1919) – The founder and financier of Fordyce, Arkansas, Samuel was a major contributor to the construction of the Cotton Belt railway and fought for the Union during the Civil War as captain of Company H and as a cavalryman in Ohio.
Samuel Fordyce (1734–1824) – If you are a Fordyce in the United States, there is a strong likelihood that you are a descendent of Samuel Fordyce, the first recorded immigrant from Aberdeen, Scotland. According to historical records, he had ten children and settled first in Morris County, New Jersey, before ultimately putting down roots in Greene County, Pennsylvania. Samuel Fordyce fought bravely in the Revolutionary War in 1783 at 49 years old.
Christine (Orrick) Fordyce (1873–1919) – As president of the St. Louis Suffrage League from 1916 to 1917, Christine petitioned the Missouri Legislature and is most famously quoted as saying, “Gentlemen, 50 years ago, my grandmother came before you asking for the enfranchisement of women; 25 years ago, my mother came to make the same request; tonight, I am asking for your ballot. Are you going to make it necessary for my daughter to appear in her turn?” Christine wrote an essay titled “Early Beginnings” about the inception of the suffrage movement in Missouri, which was published posthumously. Christine died just before the 19th Amendment was ratified in the U.S. Constitution.
For more information on famous Fordyces, please join the Fordyce Genealogy Facebook group.
The Fordyce Family’s connection with Clan Forbes
One traditional account of the Fordyce surname’s origin posed by Dingwall-Fordyce is that there was once a gentleman of the name Forbes, who, in one of the feuds of the time, had the misfortune of slaying another man by the name Innes and found it necessary to change his surname, instead adopting that of the parish he belonged to. There was also great similarity in the armorial bearings of the two families, as well as the motto altius ibunt qui ad summa Nituntur (“he who aims highest rises highest”), which was shared by both the Forbes of Pitsligo and Sir William Fordyce simultaneously.
George Black, a prominent Scottish clan and surname expert of the early 20th century, listed the Fordyce name as a sept family of Clan Forbes. “Sept” families were commonly extended family or just provincial tenants of clan-owned territories, which is likely why Black made this assertation. In The Highland Clans of Scotland, published in 1923, George Todd listed Fordyce as one of just three septs associated with Clan Forbes, along with Bannerman and Michie. Although the exact origin of this alliance remains a mystery, after a brief glance through archival research, it is easy to see the parallels that substantiate this deductive reasoning.
Firstly, the town of Fordyce is well within the Clan Forbes’ area of control, as it is only just over thirty miles north of Castle Forbes itself. Because Fordyce is a locative surname, it is likely that the Fordyce family was well aware of Clan Forbes due to the Forbes’ prominence in Aberdeen.
I have personally developed a statistical analysis chart regarding the lineage of the Fordyce family from the 15th century to the 19th century. The chart contains more than 100 names, 90 percent of which originate from the Aberdeen area and Forbes-controlled territories.
Another fragment of evidence is the parallels between well-documented Forbes events and their Fordyce associations in the region. For instance, Arthur Forbes’ feud with Aberdeenshire clans and families in 1529 occurred at nearly the same time as King James V’s acquisition of Helen Fordyce’s property in 1541. This brief window spanned little more than a decade but presented substantial documentation of both the clan and the sept in the same region at the same times.
A more prominent parallel is that of Duncan Forbes, 5th laird of Culloden and Lord President of the Court of Sessions, resisting the Jacobite rebellion in 1745 with the support of the Fordyce sept, including Thomas Fordyce and his brother-in-law Sir Adam Whitefoord, loyalists who sided with British King George II. Thomas Fordyce’s son would grow up to be none other than Captain Charles Fordyce of the 14th Infantry. On the other hand, Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Pitsligo, commanded the cavalry on the Jacobite side of the rebellion, and a young boy of eighteen named Alexander Fordyce was chronicled as supporting Lord Pitsligo's cause by providing arms as a volunteer for the rebel army, who sided with Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie."
Here, we again see Clan Forbes and the Fordyce sept working together during a specific historic engagement on both sides of the coin. Even during a confusing time of crisis, there was Fordyce support on both sides of the Forbes’ cause.
It is hard to imagine, as the Forbes Clan was growing in prominence throughout Aberdeen from the 16th to the 18th century, that they would not be aware of such reputable Fordyces as Sir William Fordyce, a celebrated physician who founded the agricultural lectureship at Aberdeen University; David Fordyce, a professor of moral philosophy at Marischal College; and the Reverend James Fordyce, D.D., the aforementioned renowned preacher and author. All three of these men were brothers and were well known across the region at the beginning of the 18th century.
In 1780, the castle of Pitsligo and its 70 acres were sold to John Dingwall-Fordyce’s family, but it was ceded to Sir William Forbes’ oldest son, William II, upon his barony, so there is even an account of land exchange between both parties.
There are countless other citations of these names being used synonymously across the Aberdeen region that can be found in documentation in the Clan Forbes Society’s Reference Library. For me personally, however, one of the best corroborations of the apparent relationship between both Fordyces and Forbes—as if the historicity itself was not compelling enough—was taking a Y-DNA test. The results matched me with four individuals in the Scottish Y-DNA Project, and sure enough, two of my closest ancestors through scientific processing (i.e., haplo-marking) were descendants of James Forbes himself.
This was the final push needed to validate my relationship with Clan Forbes, and I immediately set out on a personal mission to see society grow and mature by reigniting a deep connection with my closest allies in times past, with Fordyces and Forbes fighting together for the same causes once again: pride and preservation.
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