Kinkaid History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland
Ireland

The ancestors of the Kinkaid family lived among the Strathclyde-Briton people of the Scottish/English Borderlands. Kinkaid is a name for someone who lived at Kincaid in the county of Stirlingshire. The name of Kincaith, from which the family derive their name is almost certainly of Gaelic origin, coming from the Gaelic words "ceann", meaning top or head and "caithe", meaning pass. 1 2

Early Origins of the Kinkaid family

The surname Kinkaid was first found in Stirlingshire. The earliest evidence of the surname Kinkaid was found in the parish of Campsie, Stirlingshire north of Glasgow. 3

Early History of the Kinkaid family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kinkaid research. Another 171 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1450, 1457, 1467, 1493, 1545, 1579, 1600, 1609, 1660, 1661, 1687, 1726, 1787, 1815, 1840 and 1902 are included under the topic Early Kinkaid History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kinkaid Spelling Variations

Spelling and translation were hardly exact sciences in Medieval Scotland. Sound, rather than any set of rules, was the basis for spellings, so one name was often spelled different ways even within a single document. Spelling variations are thus an extremely common occurrence in Medieval Scottish names. Kinkaid has been spelled Kincaid, Kinkeed, Kincade, Kyncade, Kinkaid and many more.

Early Notables of the Kinkaid family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Jean Kincaid (1579-1600) who led an unfortunate life with a brutal husband, John Kincaid of Warriston. Eventually, his violent ways became too much for her to bear and she incited a servant of hers named Robert Weir, to batter the man to death with his bare fists. He was admitted by Mrs. Kincaid into her husband's chamber in his house at Warriston at an early hour on the morning of Tuesday, 1 July 1600, and he killed Kincaid with his fists. News of the murder quickly reached Edinburgh, and 'the Lady Warristoun,' 'the...
Another 171 words (12 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Kinkaid Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Kinkaid family to Ireland

Some of the Kinkaid family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 121 words (9 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kinkaid migration to the United States +

Such hard times forced many to leave their homeland in search of opportunity across the Atlantic. Many of these families settled along the east coast of North America in communities that would become the backbones of the young nations of the United States and Canada. The ancestors of many of these families have rediscovered their roots in the 20th century through the establishment of Clan societies and other patriotic Scottish organizations. Among them:

Kinkaid Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

James Kinkaid, aged 22, who arrived in New York in 1812 4
Robert Kinkaid, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1879 4

Kinkaid migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Kinkaid Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Mr. William Kinkaid, Scottish settler travelling from Glasgow aboard the ship "Oamaru" arriving in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, Otago, South Island, New Zealand on 16th December 1876, for Invercargill 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Kinkaid (post 1700) +

Moses Pierce Kinkaid (1856-1922), American politician, Member of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska, sponsor of the 1904 Kinkaid Land Act
Keith Kinkaid (b. 1989), American NHL ice hockey goaltender for the New Jersey Devils
Thomas Cassin Kinkaid (1888-1972), American admiral in the United States Navy during World War II, eponym of the USS Kinkaid (DD-965), a Spruance-class destroyer
Purdy Kinkaid, American Democratic Party politician, Candidate for New York State Assembly from Steuben County 2nd District, 1932 6
Moses Pierce Kinkaid (1856-1922), American Republican politician, Member of Nebraska State Senate, 1883-85; District Judge in Nebraska 12th District, 1887-1900; U.S. Representative from Nebraska 6th District, 1903-22 6

Citations +

Smith, Eldson Coles, New Dictionary of American Family Names New York: Harper & Row, 1956. Print
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 9) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html