TRANSCRIPTIONS-EIRE-L Archives

From: "Jean R." <>
Subject: More Co. Cavan-associated surnames
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:46:46 -0800

SNIPPET: The SHERIDAN family originated in Co. Longford but later moved to Cavan where they became devoted followers of the O'REILLYs. In Irish the name is O Siridean a personal name the derivation of which is uncertain. While Cavan is the county in which they are to be found in greater numbers than elswhere, the SHERIDANs are now dispersed widely throughout each province though less in Munster than elsewhere. The prefix O has been entirely dropped since the 17th century. The most famous bearing the name include Richard Brinsley SHERIDAN (1751-1816) who was born of Cavan parents and, who apart from being one of the most well known darmatists in the English language, was also an MP and held various ministerial posts at Westminster. Of General Philip SHERIDAN (1831-1888) General GRANT, later U.S. President, said: 'as a soldier there is no man living greater than Sheridan ... I rank him with Napoleon and Frederick and the great commanders of history. (Unfortunately, it!
was General Phil who has now achieved dubious celebrity with the famous phrase ascribed to him - 'the only good Indian is a dead Indian.'

FARRELLY or O'FARRELLY was a Breifne sept associated in early times and still today (1998) with Cos. Cavan and Meath. Co. Cavan has nearly half of all the Irish FARRELLYs. Their leading family were erenaghs of the abbey and lands of Drumlane, Co. Cavan. Erenaghs were hereditary stewards of church lands. The Gaelic poet Feardorcha O FARRELLY who died in 1746 was born in Co. Cavan. In parts of Ulster the English name FARLEY was widely used as a synonym of FARRELLY.

GALLIGAN is almost exclusive to Co. Cavan and, although distinct from GILLIGAN, the two names have been much confused and are almost completely synonymous. In Irish it is O Gealagain, a Sligo sept and it has been anglicised as WHITE, from geal meaning 'bright.' Peter GALLIGAN (1793-1860) a Cavan schoolmaster, was a great collector of manuscripts, some of which are now preserved in Edinburgh and NY and which bear testimony to his active life as a schoolmaster and scribe.

Catherina MacKIERNAN is one of Ireland's finest women athletes. Cornafean-born Catherina has taken marathon running by storm with her brilliant performance in a past London marathon. This followed a brilliant debut in Berlin when she ran the fastest ever first marathon for a woman. Catherina has performed with great distinction throughout the 1990s. She won four silver medals in the World Cross Country Championships as well as a European Cross Country Gold and many world ranked 5k and 10k events. Catherina is a proud ambassador for the MacKIERNAN name which from the 13th to 15th centuries figured prominently in the 'Annals of the Four Masters.' Almost all of the MacTIERNANs mentioned in the annals were Chiefs of Teallach Donnchadha now Tullyhunco which covers the area of Killeshandra where Catherina hails from. The name is still found chiefly in the Cavan-Letrim area. The name in Irish is MacTighernain derived from Tighearna, a 'lord.' It is also spelt Mac Thighhe!
arnain, which was phonetically anglicised MacKIERNAN. Today the two names with and without the Mac are about equal in numbers in the county.

In Irish the name BRADY is MacBradaigh so that it should be correctly be MacBRADY in the anglicised form, but in modern times the prefix has seldom been used. The MacBRADYs were a powerful sept belonging to Breifne and held sway in an area a few miles east of Cavan town. The Four Masters record many illustrious chiefs of the name there. The name is found in the same area today: in parishes such as Castletara and Larah the BRADY name predominates. BRADY ranks third (in 1998) among Cavan surnames. Among themost notable were Thomas BRADY who was born in Cootehill in 1752 and who became a Field Marshal in the Austrian army and governor of Dalmatia, and Phelim BRADY who was the subject of the famous ballad "The Bard of Armagh." There were five BRADY/MacBRADY Bishops of Kilmore. The Cavan Crozier, staff of the early MacBRADY bishops, is one of the few Irish croziers to have survived the Reformation and is now in the National Museum in Dublin.

Historically, the MacGOVERNs are better known as MAGAURAN. Both forms are phonetic approximations of the Irish 'Mag Samhradhan' (i.e. son of Samhradhan or /"summer"). Samhradhan lived about 1100 when surnames came into being. This man descended from Eochadh, whence the territory of the MacGOVERNs was called Teallach Eochaidh - now Tullyhaw in the mountainous region of NW Cavan and on the border of O'ROURKE's County of Leitrim. There is a townland called Ballymagauran in this area. The leading families of the sept were allied by marriage to the MAGUIREs, O'ROURKEs and other powerful families of the region and are frequently mentioned in the annals during the 13th to the 16th centuries. Ballymagauran in Tullyhaw was burned by MAGUIRE in 1481 for an allegedly dishonorable act by the MacGOVERNs of the day. The 'Book of the Magaurans' is one of the famous old Gaelic manuscripts. Though the form MAGAURAN is still used to some extent, MacGOVERN is much more numerous nowada!
ys. It is mainly found in its original habitat of NW Cavan and the Counties of Leitrim and Fermanagh. Edmund MAGAURAN who was archbishop of Armagh from 1588 to 1595 was one of the earlier Catholic martyrs in Ireland.

Excerpts, "Irish Roots" 1998 #3) magazine published in Cork with with a signed photo of Catherina MacKIERNAN (London Marathon 1998, apparently).

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