Ordachoy (Ord-a-hoy) is a small farm located in Corgarff, Aberdeenshire, in the North East of Scotland. One McHardy family, descendants of James of Ordachoy and Ann of Auchallater (married 1803), held tenure there from the late 1700s to 1987. This web site brings together the genealogical research of a number of family historians of different branches of this particular family tree, now spread all over the globe. It traces the McHardys, and MacHardys (the name is spelt both ways within the family), back to James on the Ordachoy side, then past Ann for three more generations on the Auchallater side. It would be possible to trace the links sideways to include a whole raft of relations with Auchallater links, but that would make the web site enormous and unwieldy, and beyond my time limits to maintain. Therefore, the scope of the web site is limited to the Ordachoyers.

Web author, designer, and coordinator

Sandra DeMartino (nee McHardy), born in Aberdeenshire but now living in the USA. Though I am the person responsible for putting this web site together, I have to make it plain that I can't take all the credit for the material presented here; the site would never have got off the ground without the many family, friends, and online genealogists who have most generously donated their time and research to making it as extensive and as worthwhile a resource as it is. The site would most certainly be less than half its size without them. I am forever in the debt of every one of the contributors listed below and I cannot thank them enough for taking the time to take part in what is a very large collaboration.

Contributing Genealogists, Family, and Friends

Below is listed everyone who made a contribution to the web site, together with what I owe them for, and their email addresses if they've gone above and beyond and agreed to act as contact for various parts of the family tree.

Roy Brown, Scotland
Information on the descendants of William McHardy and Helen Munro (m. 1831) and help on the William puzzle (WIlliam son of Charles and Janet or son of William and Helen Munro??).

John Duff, Scotland
Author of “The McHardy Boys,” an article originally published in The Scots Magazine and reprinted here with his kind permission. Also got me fired up to start collecting family stories and recollections.

Alistair Duncan, Canada.
Photos of Charles McHardy and Janet Bowman (m. 1836), Margaret McHardy (b. 1842), Anne McHardy (b. 1839) and William Cowan, Elizabeth McHardy, and Bowman and Brown.

Peter Gordon, Scotland
A wealth of Gordon genealogy, including the Bovaglie Manuscript of 1872 that corroborates pieces of the 1866 McHardy family tree.

Elizabeth Graham, Scotland
Information on the descendants of John McHardy and Helen Sinclair.

Ruby Grant and Ruby Cruickshank, Australia.
The recorded memories of Grannie McHardy and her family.

Sandra Gurney, originally of South Africa now living in Scotland.
A plethora of information relating to the Ordachoy McHardys and their Deeside origins. I've used her transcripts of the St. Nathalans, Ballater, RC records on the page with the other RC Register transcriptions.

Leslie Ann Hendra, England
Information on the Bowman side of the family and contact information for the Windsor Castle Archives.

Fenton MacHardy and Carolyn MacHardy, Canada.
Research and family tree for descendants of David MacHardy (b. 1820) and Katherine Fenton (b. 1818), family tree for descendants of William McHardy (b. 1890) and Ann, and family tree for descendants of William McHardy (b. 1807) and Helen Munro. For direct questions or feedback on these branches, please contact Carolyn at

Major William MacHardy, Scotland
Research, passed on through Fenton, on the Ordachoy line in particular.

Andrew J. McHardy, Scotland.
In particular, the photos of Ordachoy taken from the hill of Dellahaish and the issue of the first challenge to put a web site together for the Ordachoyers. In general, a wealth of research for the common McHardy good -- check out his Corriehoul web site.

Anna McHardy, New Zealand.
Transcription of the family tree prepared by Charles McHardy in 1866. For direct questions or feedback on New Zealand McHardys, please contact Anna at

Helen McHardy, Scotland.
Research and family tree for the sons of John McHardy (b. 1888) and Violet Watt
(b. 1895) and ancestors back through Alexander (Alister) McHardy and Jean McGregor (m. 1780). Helen's research gave me a jump start in starting my own research and in putting the web site together.

Norman McHardy and Nettie McHardy, Scotland.
Dates and details on their McHardy family.

Rob McHardy, Scotland.
Photos of Ordachoy and Auchallater, and a great deal of leg work in the libraries of Aberdeen and many graveyards of the northeast.

Suzanne Walker,
Transcriptions of death records and 1851 census information transcribed from LDS microfilms.    

Contact Me

This web site is a work in progress. If you wish to pass on any information or research material to add to the Ordachoy family tree, please contact me, Sandra DeMartino (the web site coordinator)at . We'd all love to see this tree bloom in its full glory! Additionally, please direct any questions on accuracy of information, typos, layout, etc. to me at the same email address.

Please Note!

The idea of identity theft may still seem a bit farfetched, but in this age of technology it is becoming an increasing concern. All it takes to open a bank or credit card account in the USA are a name, a birth date, and a mother's maiden name. Therefore, in the interests of individual privacy and in accordance with guidelines issued by online genealogists, no information regarding or impacting living members of the family is published here.