Seeking McCartney / Bray Connections: From Counties Antrim & Down to Benton County, Tennessee

Hello everyone,I am researching my maternal ancestral roots and looking to connect with any distant relatives or researchers familiar with the McCartney family line that migrated from Northern Ireland to the United States.Through my grandfather, Jerry Delbert McCartney (born 1932 in Tennessee, died 1999) and my grandmother Willie "Cricket" Myrtle Bray McCartney (born 1934, died 2025), our family has been deeply established in Camden, Benton County, Tennessee for generations.Family history and DNA matches indicate that our branch of the McCartneys belongs to the Scotch-Irish (Ulster Scot) migration waves. The line traces back to County Antrim (specifically around Belfast and Cloughmills) and County Down before our pioneer ancestors (believed to be connected to an Andrew or James McCartney) crossed the Atlantic to the American colonies in the late 1700s. They eventually pushed westward through Virginia and North Carolina before settling in West Tennessee after the War of 1812.Our Tennessee branch frequently intermarried with other deep-rooted southern families, including the Bray and Aldridge lines.I am eager to learn more about the specific parishes or townlands our McCartneys left behind in Antrim or Down, and I would love to connect with any cousins whose branches stayed behind in Ireland. If you have any information, overlapping family trees, or local record recommendations, please reach out!

Contact info : barnyard1909@outlook.com