General Chat

Oh bless, thanks Keith :) xxx

well done you

Found this, looks interesting,

Ulster Clans

http://www.ulsterclans.org/main.html

O'Neill


O'Cahan


McShane


O'Reilly


McCain


O'Regan

O'More


MacDonnell


O'Carroll


O'Donnell


MacShort


Gallager


McLaughlin

O'Quinn


Donnelly


Bisset


Cannon


McCartan

CLAN McLAUGHLIN

Have found this website, tis amazing ... goes back to 379AD,

The McLaughlin Family History
Inishowen, County Donegal, Ireland
379 A.D. - 1241 A.D.

http://home.epix.net/~ramcl/ancient.htmlhttp://home.epix.net/~ramcl/ancient.html

Found this one, scroll down, you'll see the Irish McLaughlin's

http://www.clanlachlan.ca/membership.htm

This is another good one, the name goes back to 1066, different spellings.

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/McLaughlin-family-crest.htm

Hi Kathleen

My pleasure hun. :)) xxx

Hi PrincessShimms

Belated thank you for the information on Clan Grant

CLAN GRANT

Surname Origin

http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/g/grant.php

Grant is a Scottish clan name. But there has been no agreement as to where these Grants came from; nor where in fact the Grant name came from.

Some have maintained that the Grants were of Norman origin, having moved north from England in the 13th century. However, this theory has been increasingly discounted. Instead, a Norse origin is now thought more likely. This was always part of the Grant oral tradition. And recent DNA analysis would seem to support this idea.

If the Norman origin is to be discounted in Scotland, then a French-type root such as "grand" or "le grand," meaning tall or large, is unlikely. So too would be the Anglo-Saxon grant, meaning crooked or bowed. Grant tradition has suggested that the name may have come from Sliabh Grianas, the name of a meadow above Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands. And the Norse gran, meaning a fir tree, has also been mooted.

In old Irish, grandha signified ugly or ill-favored, grande dark or swarthy. From these roots may have come clan Grant and the sub-sept clan Chiaran.

Ireland. There were also Irish Grants. Unlike the Scottish Grants, these do seem to have been a Norman implant, being among the Strongbow invaders in 1170. They became landowners at Iverk in county Kilkenny. After the Cromwellian confiscations, Grants moved onto Tipperary and Offaly.

The nineteenth century saw an out-migration, to Canada, America, and Australia. Many were sent to Australia as convicts. John Grant narrowly escaped this fate, as the following entry reveals:

"John Grant, a United Irishman, was arrested in 1798 and imprisoned in Geneva barracks, Waterford. His wife Judith petitioned against transportation because they had six small destitute children. On payment of a £50 fine and the swearing of allegience, his sentence was voided."

Within Ireland, Grants today are mainly to be found around Waterford and in Shinrone in county Offaly.

Further reading about Grants elsewhere,

http://www.selectsurnames.com/grant.html

Oh Kathleen,

Am so smiling! :))

I will hun, gosh what you like lol?! roflol xxx

CLAN HIGGINS Cont'd

America. There was a sizeable Higgins presence in the state of Maine, dating back to the 1750's. Many were descendants of Richard Higgins who had arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1633. Joseph Higgins moved to Gorham in Maine from Massachusetts in 1804. He was a sea captain later unfortunately lost at sea. However, his offspring were numerous. When his wife Mercy died in 1843, there were said to be 128 descendants. Saul Higgins lived to see a hundred.

These Higgins were active in a range of businesses in Maine and elsewhere; early shipbuilding in Portland (Eleazor Higgins); carpet making in New York (E.S. Higgins & Co); and pressed steel manufacturing in Massachusetts (Worcester Pressed Steel Co). John Woodman Higgins' fascination with arms and armory led him to establish the art deco Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester in 1927.

The Higgins name had become relatively well-established in America when the Irish Higgins began to arrive in large numbers. It is thought that some Hagens changed their name to Higgins on arrival. These Higgins contributed to the immigrant melting pot of places like New York. Some did move onwards, such as David and Bridget Higgins who formed a new life for themselves in Iowa. But most stayed in the Irish communities that they had formed. Vannie Higgins, active in bootlegging during the prohibition years, has been called the last of the New York Irish bosses.

Australia. Australia started out as a penal colony and the Irish particularly suffered here. The records show Mary Higgins receiving a flogging of 26 lashes in 1791. James Higgins, who took part in the Vinegar Hill uprising in 1804, escaped execution but was exiled to the Coal river near Newcastle. More than a hundred Higgins were transported there as convicts between 1790 and the 1850's. John Higgins, transported on the Phoebe Dunbar in 1853, can be founded listed on the welcome wall of the Western Australian museum at Albany. But only a few records of these lives survive.

Gold fever brought settlers in the 1850's, including one Sligo farmer, Patrick Higgins, who did very well for himself. He worked hard and became the leading public works contractor in Victoria.

PrinceShimms

Will start swimming back across the Irish Sea, what one has to do for love!!!

If I haven't reached Scotland by next week,.
launch a search

CLAN HIGGINS

Higgins or O'Higgins is an Irish clan name originating from the Gaelic uigan, meaning Norse seaman or Viking. However, the clan or sept is thought to be of native Irish origin. The name first appeared in Sligo records on the west coast of Ireland around 1100.

There is also a separate English derivation; from the medieval Higgin, a diminutive of Hick which was a pet-name for Richard.



* The O'Higgins Clan Website. O'Higgins clan history and news.
* Higgins Surname Forum. Websites on Rootsweb freepages/H website - MJ Higgins Genealogy.

Select Higgins Ancestry

Ireland. The O'Higgins as lords of Ballynary held sway in Sligo until the seventeenth century. They were renowned throughout Ireland as bards and poets. However, their Gaelic order was crushed by Oliver Cromwell and his armies. Lands were confiscated and families driven into exile. The clan did secure some land at Summerhill in county Meath where they suffered under the English yoke. O'Higgins also migrated landless to Galway and Mayo. And many anglicized their names from O'Higgins to Higgins as the English penal laws took effect. Others sought refuge overseas, across the Atlantic and even in Spain and its Spanish colonies in South America.

In 1725, two Higgins brothers from Dublin went to Trim in county Meath and built their Higginsbrook estate by the Boyne river. The little house there still stands (it was used as the setting for the 2007 Jane Austen film). Although many Higgins have moved away, F.R. Higgins, a friend of Yeats, had a special love for the area and was known as one of the Boyne valley poets. Contemporary with him was Brian O'Higgins, also from Meath, who was an active promoter of the Irish language and played a prominent part in the 1916 Easter Rising.

South America. Among the descendants of the Spanish exiles was Amrosio O'Higgins. He was made viceroy of Peru in 1796 in recognition for his services in the Spanish army. No one expected his red-haired illegitimate son to make much of his life. But he did. Bernardo O'Higgins is famed today as the liberator of Chile for his leadership in driving Spanish rule out of that country.

England. Most Higgins in England are likely to be of Irish origin. But home-grown Higgins do appear in the west country and in Kent. Higgins in Herefordshire date from the early 1500's. Richard Higgins from Herefordshire appears to be the first Higgins to have stepped foot in America. He arrived in Salem, Massachusetts and his descendants settled in Maine (including one, Paul Higgins, who took up Indian ways). Two more adventurous Higgins left rural Wiltshire in the 1780's; Robert who joined the NSW Corps and served in Australia in its formative years; and John who settled in what is now called Higginsville in Nova Scotia.

Canada. For later Higgins emigrants across the Atlantic, Newfoundland was an early port of call, if this refrain from The Banks of Newfoundland is anything to go by:

"We had on board an Irish girl, Cassie Higgins was her name
To her, I'd promised marriage, on me she had a claim
She tore her flannel petticoat to make mittens for my hands
Before she'd see her true love freeze on the banks of Newfoundland."

Higgins also settled in Quebec and Ontario. In the 1830's, William Higgins was the first chief of Toronto police at a time of strife between the Protestant and Catholic immigrants. He himself was set up for murder but later exonerated of the crime. In the twentieth century, Newfoundland's favorite son Jack Higgins fought valiantly but in the end unsuccessfully against federation with Canada.

Cont'd ...

Hi Bob

Will try to find out for you. :))

Oh bless, of course you are Kathleen. :)

Have just discovered my OH is a member of the Grant clan, just have to trace our line back, the name is there and it has been his family name forever, only thing is it's the other thread lol, Scotland! xxx

This is ... well, have just remembered to return, I was so engrossed in reading lol.

If you want to know what Clan you really belong to, this is it, you'll find out, also sept-clans, there's another link there down the bottom of the page.

http://the-red-thread.net/genealogy/Clans-Septs.html

CLAN AND SEPT DIFFERENCES

The word 'clan' simply means 'children'. Clan members [families] were related by blood or marriage, whereas Septs were families who lived within a territory of a Clan and were accepted by the Clan Chief as part of his Clan. The Scots used the name 'Clans' to designated their family members, while in Ireland the term 'Sept' was used to designate family members. In later years, both terms were used in Scotland, one to show family association, the other to show those who gained recognition from a particular Clan Chief as part of the Clan.

A Clan is a family who were all once connected under a head, who was/is called the Clan Chief. Example: Supposing that a man named 'Angus MacPhearson' was the chief of the MacPhearson Clan who once controlled a certain geographical area in Scotland. In his territory lived many of his family members, who were called a Clan, as well as several families not related by blood or marriage, called Septs. Family members and their descendants within the MacPhearson Clan would always belong to the MacPhearson Clan no matter where they lived, but the unrelated Septs, when relocating, would oftentimes seek out new Clans in which to be associated. The individual Chief of any particular Clan determined the recognition of any said Sept living within his territory.

A Sept is a family who was not related to the Clan by blood or marriage, but lived within the territory of the Clan Chief. The Sept families choose to give allegiance to the Clan Chief in turn for protection under his banner. Many unrelated Septs changed location over the years and may be found listed under several different Clans, depending on the territory in which they lived, and whether or not the Chief of that particular Clan recognized the people as a Sept of his Clan.

Hi PrinceShimms

You were so marvellous with OH's maternal line from Scotland, please am I allowed to add his paternal line, GRANT.

His gg grandfather left Ireland around 1830, but am not sure if they originated from Scotland

hello princess
what do you know about the higgins from ireland

This is fascinating, explains the meaning of Irish names and more, how they arrived what they mean. If you click on the link next to the meaning of your name, you can view your coat of arms.

It also advises how to search for your Irish ancestors and more.

http://www.ireland-information.com/heraldichall/irishsurnames.htm

The Origin of Irish Family Names

It is a help when tracing your family history to know something about the origin of and evolution of Irish names and particularly how names have changed over the centuries.

Early times: In ancient Ireland the population was much smaller than today and the mass movement of people was uncommon. It was usual therefore for a person to be known only by one name: Niall, Eoin, Art, etc. Once there was no one else in the locality with the same name then this was not a problem.

The Gaelic Clann system was well established and this gave people a common identity with their people of the tribe and with the commonly shared area. This single name system began to break down during the eleventh century as the population was growing and there was a need for a further means of identification. The solution was to adopt a prefix such as Mac (Mc is an abreviation) or Ó. Mac means 'son of' whilst Ó means 'grandson of'. Mac surnames are generally of a much later date than Ó. The vast majority of Gaelic Irish surnames were created during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

It should be noted that the Scottish Gaels were actually descendants of Gaelic emigrants to Scotland. The word 'Scotus' is Latin for 'Irishman'. Scottish settlers who moved to Ireland (and especially Ulster) may already have been of Gaelic Irish descent.

Septs: The Clans eventually broke up into a number of distinct septs or groups. These groups were headed by an original member of the clan and dominated a particular part of the countryside. It was not uncommon for septs from the same clan to be found in completely different parts of the country (O'Connor for example) so it is important when researching your roots to try to find out the original part of the country that your ancestors came from as this may be a completely different area from that where the 'major' sept was domicile.

The sept system was an integral part of Gaelic society and survived and was even propagated by the Norman invaders. The system did not survive the English invasion and colonisation of the seventeenth century however, and it became a disadvantage to have a Gaelic sounding name.

Anglicization: The Penal laws that were enforced by the colonists attempted to completely subjugate the Gaelic way of life. It is about this time then, that many Gaelic names changed to their Anglo equivalent or translation. This can cause confusion as many of the names were misinterpreted or misspelled. The name McEaneny for example has a number of variants including McAneny and Bird (the Irish word for bird is éan). Mac an Thomáis was converted to Holmes, Mac Giolla Íosa to MacAleese, etc. The conversion of names beginning with Mac and Mc was even more difficult because the removal of the M sound from the name often completely changed the sound of the name.

The revival of Gaelic consciousness in the later eighteen hundreds saw many Irish families reassume the Mac, Mc, Ó or other Irish form of their names although this was reduced in a number of cases depending on the sound of the name (Kelly is still much more prevalent than O'Kelly, Murphy more prevalent than O'Murphy, etc.)

Surnames today: There are many different origins for Irish names today but the vast majority can be broken down into either of three categories: Gaelic Irish, Cambro-Norman, and finally Anglo-Irish.

Appendix D gives a listing of the 100 most commonly names found in Ireland and their meanings. These details were compiled from the 1890 Matheson report.

CLAN PRUNTY

This surname of PRUNTY is the anglicized form of the Gaelic O'Proinntigh, a personal name meaning bestower, generous. This east Ulster name is better known as BRONTE. Other spellings include BRUNTY and PRONTY. It is an Ulster Gaelic surname appearing in the 17th century County Monaghan Hearth Money Rolls as O'PROUNTY, chiefly in the barony of Cremorne and in those of County Armagh as O'PRUNTY. Ireland is one of the earliest sources of the development of patronymic names in northern Europe. Irish Clan or bynames can be traced back to the 4th century B.C. and Mac (son of) and O (grandson or ancestor of) evolved from this base, the original literal meaning of which has been lost due to the absence of written records and linguistic ambivalences which subtly but inexorably became adopted through usage. Genealogists and lexographers accept that the patronymic base does not refer to a location, quite the contrary. The use of the prefix 'Bally' (town of) attaching to the base name, identifying the location. The base root was also adopted by people residing in the demographic area without a common ancestor. These groups called 'Septs' were specially prevalent in Ireland. The first Normans arrived in Ireland in the 12th and 13th centuries to form an alliance with the King of Leinster. Under Elizabeth I in the 16th century, settlers from England established themselves around Dublin, then under English control and Presbyterian Scots emigrated to Ulster, introducing English and Scottish roots. The ancestor of the three famous women novelists Charlotte BRONTE (1816-1855), Anne BRONTE (1820-1849) and Emily Jane BRONTE (1818-1848) was Patrick O'PRUNTY, the Ulster Gaelic poet; their father was the Rev. Patrick BRONTE, who was the son of Hugh PRUNTY, a small farmer in County Down. The lion depicted in the arms is the noblest of all wild beasts which is made to be the emblem of strength and valour, and is on that account the most frequently borne in Coat-Armour.

Oh Carol,

Am pleased you enjoyed the sites, I noticed the word generous too. :))

I've just looked up one of mine (by marriage) Reynolds, tis an ancient one from Somerset, William the Conqueror.

Will go read your pm. xxx

CLAN REYNOLDS

MacRagnaill, Reynolds

First granted lands in Somerset by William the Conqueror. Gosh, tis amazing isn't it, who would have thought that this name would be as old as say, McArthur and others.

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/reynolds-coat-arms.htm

The name Reynolds was a Norman import to England, from Reginald or in Old French Reinold. The earlier root is the Old Norse Rognvaldr, comprised of the elements ragin meaning "counsel" and wald meaning "rule." Reynold was a Viking leader who harried the English and Irish shores in the 10th century.

Name variants have included Reynold and Reynell. The Irish MacRaghnaill derives from the Gaelic of Randal or Reginald. This name became anglicized to Reynolds.

Select Reynolds Resources on The Internet

* Reynolds Family Association. Reynolds arrivals in America.
* Reynolds Family Records. Book by J. Montgomery Seaver.
* Reynolds Family History. Reynolds from Ireland to America.
* Reynolds to America. A Reynolds family history.
* Reynolds to New York. A Reynolds family history.

Select Reynolds Ancestry

England. The Reynolds name first appeared in Somerset where they were granted lands after the Norman Conquest in 1066. William filius Raunaldi is recorded in the Domesday Book.

A Reynell family originally from Cambridgeshire transplanted themselves to Devon in the 14th century where they were substantial landowners. They were described as "men of great credit, fidelity, and service to their kings, country and state in peace and in war." Both the Reynell and Reynolds names are to be found in Devon. A Reynolds family in Plympton produced the great 18th century portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds. And the naval Reynolds came from Cornwall.

A Reynolds line dating back to the 16th century in East Bergholt in Kent included descendants who were among the early immigrants to America. From a later navy family came George Reynolds who got himself involved in the Chartist movement in the 1840's. He founded a radical newspaper, Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper, which became popular. The paper continued in a different guise as Reynolds News until 1967.

There was a Reynolds family in Lancashire which inherited the Strangeways estate near Manchester in 1711. Francis Reynolds from this family distinguished himself in naval actions in the West Indies and later took over the family estates at Tortworth in Gloucestershire (his home there is now a country house hotel).

Lancashire received an influx of Irish Reynolds in the 19th century. Mary Reynolds from Mohill in county Leitrim settled her young family in Manchester after the death of her husband during the famine years. Her letters recently published, The Reynolds Letters: An Irish Emigrant Family in Late Victorian Manchester, present a story of Irish immigrants making good in industrial England at that time.

Ireland. The Reynolds name came to Ireland at the time of Strongbow in the 1200's. These English invaders took the titles of Earls of Cavan, Lisburne and Mountmorris. A later English invasion in the 17th century gave rise to the Reynells from Devon of Reynell castle.

However, the largest numbers of Reynolds have been home-grown. From early times the lands around Lough Rynn in county Leitrim were owned and settled by the MacRaghnaill clan. Sean na gCeann (or Sean of the Heads) was their chieftain in the late 1500's. However, the next century saw the English taking over Leitrim and the Irish, including the McRaghnaills, being gradually pushed out. A second exodus occurred at the time of the potato famine. Even so, nearly half of the Reynolds in Ireland today come from Leitrim. The Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds was born in nearby Roscommon.

America. The English Reynolds came first. Early Reynolds settlers in New England were Robert and Mary Reynolds and their four children who got there in 1630. Christopher Reynolds from Gravesend in Kent arrived in Virginia in 1622 on the Francis and John. Their family line is documented in Stephen Tilman's 1959 book, The Rennolds-Reynolds of Virginia and England.

Members of this family were subsequently involved in the freighting business in upstate New York. They later moved west. P.G. Reynolds became a mail contractor and stage operator in Dodge City for the trails heading south to the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. His brother Milton, who adopted the writing name of "Kicking Bird," covered Indian council meetings as a roving reporter and became an advocate for Western settlement. Another Milton Reynolds, but of German origin, introduced the first ballpoint pen to an unsuspecting public in 1945.

Abraham Reynolds was a poor tobacco farmer in Virginia in the early 1800's. His son Hardin started a plantation at Rock Spring in Patrick county. His son, RJ, the second of sixteen children, decided to build his own tobacco factory in Winston Salem. It was he who developed the huge tobacco empire that is RJ Reynolds.

Irish Reynolds also came to America. John Reynolds arrived in Virginia in the 1770's. His descendants moved onto Kentucky and Missouri. Robert and Margaret Reynolds from Louth reached Tennessee in 1784 and then continued to Illinois. Their son John rose to be the fourth governor of that state. Nineteenth century arrivals were more numerous. And many Reynolds went to Canada at that time as well.

Canada. Early arrivals had been Empire Loyalists, such as William Reynolds, leaving America after the Revolutionary War. William had been a coronet in the British army and led a group of Loyalists out of New York in 1796. He and his family ended up in Dorchester (near London), Ontario. Bernard and Mary Reynolds came in the late 1830's from county Leitrim and settled in Renfrew county, Ontario. Other Reynolds followed, from both England and Ireland, as the 19th century proceeded.

Select Reynolds Miscellany

If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for further stories and accounts:

* Reynolds Miscellany


Select Reynolds Names

Walter Reynolds was the son of a Windsor baker who became a favorite of King Edward II. He made him Archbishop of Canterbury.
Sir Joshua Reynolds from Devon was a leading English portrait painter of the 18th century.
R.J Reynolds, a Virginia tobacco farmer, founded the R.J Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1890.
Paul Revere Reynolds, a descendant of the American patriot Paul Revere, was the first literary agent in New York, in 1893.
Milton Reynolds, a Chicago businessman, introduced the first ballpoint pen on the market in 1945.
Albert Reynolds was the Irish Prime Minister in the 1990's.
Debbie Reynolds, born in Texas, is an American actress and singer
Burt Reynolds is a well-known American actor.

My pleasure Carol, wish I could have put it all here for you. Could have taken it down in shorthand yet then I'd never leave GR!

Happy reading, I'll be going through them all too at some point.

xxx