The Scots-Irish: William McIntosh Jr 1778-1825

The Scots-Irish: William McIntosh Jr 1778-1825: McIntosh and Menawa Real history is always more complex and multilayered than the history told by the modern media and even in most basic ...

Iníon Dubh

Iníon Dubh (said, Nee-an doo) is one of the most remembered and beloved heroines in Irish history.  Iníon Dubh was her pet name which means 'black haired daughter.'   Her real name was Fionnuala Ní Dhónaill née Nic Dhónaill.

Iníon Dubh was a pivotal figure in the history of Ireland.  She was the catalyst of a migration of Highland Scots, called Redshanks, into west Ulster.  This migration began in the late 1560s and continued on into the early 1600s.  Most of these Redshanks were from mid Argyll and Lennox.   

She was a Gaelic aristocrat, the daughter of the Taoiseach (chief) of clann Dhónaill, Seamus Mac Dónaill, and Anna Chaimbeul, the daughter of the third Earl of Argyll, head of clann Chaimbeul. 

She was a woman of considerable skills and talents.   She was born on Islay and spent much of her early life in the Scottish Court in Edinburgh. She was multi lingual, speaking her native Gaelic, Latin, and English.   She left the Scottish court just prior to the fall of Mary Queen of Scots.  This move very probably suggested by her very powerful cousin, Giolla Easpuig Donn Caimbeul, the Taoiseach of Clann Chaimbeul and the fifth Earl of Argyll.  

Due to a complex series of events and a course of action initiated by her cousin Lord Argyll, she married Aodh Mac Manus Ó Dónaill in the summer of 1569.   She moved to the Laggan district of Donegal with some 1,000 Redshanks recruited from clans Caimbeul and Mac Dónaill.  Over the next thirty years more Highland Scots, called Redshanks, migrated to east Donegal, brought there by Iníon Dubh and later her son, Aodh Rua Ó Dónaill, as part of an Ó Dónaill military build-up to counter both Clann Uí Neill and later the English.

the ruins of Iníon Dubh's Mongavlin Castle today

With her husband's health failing, she became the de facto taoiseach of Clann Uí Dhónaill by the mid 1580s.  She was by this time also the most powerful person in west Ulster, because she commanded her own army of very devoted Redshanks. 

Iníon Dubh was the mother of Aodh Rua Ó Dónaill who led his west Ulster army to many victories against the English in the Nine Years War (1594-1603).  During the time when her son Aodh Rua was imprisoned in Dublin, she was threatened, by the English and rival claims to the headship of the Ó Dónaill clan.  Iníon Dubh used her Redshank and Ó Dónaill followers expertly and successful thwarted all attempts to oust her.  She even personally lead her army of Redshanks to victory at the battle of Derrylaghan in 1590.  

She lived at Mongavlin just south of St Johnston, in east Donegal.  The remains of her castle are still standing.  Her legacy still lives in Donegal in the many families there that are of Redshank origin.

I had studied her life and times when working on my history degree.  I found her one to be one of the most remarkable figures in both Irish and Scottish history.  Years later, I discovered my own family was connected to her.  My family, the McCains, i.e. the Mac Eáin family of Dunamuck, Glassary, in mid Argyll, were one of the Redshank families that migrated with her to the Laggan district in east Donegal. 

An account of her remarkable career, and life and times, is in the book Finding the McCains.  I also told her story in my first book,  The Laggan Redshanks, which also includes a 1630 muster roll from the Port Lough precinct (from Port Hall to just north to St Johnston area in the Laggan) and included notes on some of the clans and surnames of the Highland Scot families that settled there.

BBC Ulster, the Kist o' Wurds program

Barry R McCain on the Thacker Mt Trail

(Update.... a Rugby match on BBC is running long, our program rescheduled for  Wednesday 30th at 19.30 hour UK time and that is 1:30 PM CDT.   The show can is archived for a couple of weeks so can be streamed during that time also.  But on a brighter note, at least Ireland is winning the rugby match)


My BBC interview will be on today, evening in the UK, at 1:30 PM (13:30) on BBC Ulster Radio.  The program is the Kist o Wurds program and I was interviewed by Alister McReynolds, well known writer and personality in Northern Ireland.  (and a friend of mine)

Here is the link:   BBC Ulster Radio

This link should go to the program page from which you can click on a link to live stream the show.

The Kist o Wurds program focuses on Ulster Scots history, culture, and language.  It is a very good program, and a great way to discover an interesting aspect of Irish life and society.  This is my second time on the program.  I was also interviewed by them when I started my Finding the McCains book project.  This interview was done as the book is finished now and out at bookshops and on Amazon.  It is always enjoyable to talk with the lads and lassies back in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Celtic Life Internation Magazine

A note to one and all; there is a review of my new book Finding the McCains in the October 2015 edition of Celtic Life magazine. This magazine is the premier magazine for those of Celtic ancestry around the world. I encourage you all to pick up the October edition.  Their magazine is a joy to read.  It is an old fashioned magazine, done the right way.  Good articles, plenty of colour illustrations, items of interest for the casual reader and those who are after in-depth information on a variety of topics to all those of Irish, Scottish, Scots-Irish, Welsh, Manx, etc. ancestry and those that just love Celts, this history and lore.

Link to their website:  Celtic Life International Magazine.

Highlanders in West Ulster, 1569-1630

In the sixteenth century Scottish Highlanders settled in the Laggan district of east Donegal. They were called Redshanks. Their story is told in the book The Laggan Redshanks.  The history of the Laggan Redshanks has many fascinating elements which include Clann Chaimbeul and their dynamic leader the fifth Earl of Argyll, Gaelic sexual intrigues, English Machiavellian maneuvers, and the Redshanks themselves.

The Redshank settlement in the Laggan took place in the tumultuous years during the sixteenth century that were dominated by Elizabethan English attempts to bring Ulster firmly under the control of the Crown.  The Redshanks were vital players in the affairs of those times and indeed it was their military skills that delayed the conquest of Ulster until the beginning of the next century.

The Laggan Redshanks remained on their lands in Portlough precinct after the Plantaion began.  Their Campbell connections, Reformed faith, along with their reputation as elite fighting men, which made them not only acceptable to the incoming Stewarts, but a welcomed van guard.  The Redshanks could be considered British subjects in an ecumenical Scottish sense, complete with appropriate loyalties, and a version of the Protestant faith.  In the Portlough area, the incoming Planter Scots came from Ayrshire and Lennox.  Lennox included lands in the Scottish Gaeltacht and parts of Ayrshire were still Gaelic speaking in the early 1600s.  The Scots from these areas were familiar with Gaelic language and customs and were ethnically similar to the Campbell Redshanks.

Many of the descendants of the Laggan Redshanks migrated to the English Colonies during the Ulster Migration and became part of the Scots-Irish people. Of interest to the genealogist, the book includes appendices of the muster rolls and surnames of the Redshanks and notes on their point of origin in Scotland.

Link:  The Laggan Redshanks

Billy the Kid Update

This post in connection to my others on Billy the Kid.  I had posted before on the fact that Billy the Kid was a fluent Gaelic speaker and had even function as an interpreter for a young woman from Ireland in New Mexico who spoke only Gaelic.

This post another new piece of data on Billy the Kid.   A new photo of him has turned up.  A tintype and he is playing croquet in the photo.   Photo located in a shop in Clovis, New Mexico.   

Link to Billy the Kid new photo story:   Billy the Kid Photo

Epigenetics

Epigenetics is the study, in the field of genetics, of cellular and physiological phenotypic trait variations that are caused by external or environmental factors that switch genes on and off and affect how cells read genes instead of being caused by changes in the DNA sequence.  In layman's terms, you inherit more than the basic genetic component from your parents, you also inherit the memories, the experiences, the phobias and loves, the feelings, of our ancestors.  In the DNA you inherit from your parents, some DNA material is switched on, others switched off.  The geneticists are still researching how this happens.  But... when you stand on the land your ancestors lived for centuries and you have that feeling of recognition and familiarity with the land, the sky, the location, there is more going on than you think.  Your ancestors are communicating with you. 

Here is a short program discussing the topic:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=245&v=fMxgkSgZoJs

SNP Testing, Summer Sale from Family Tree DNA... Only $79

Some good news from Family Tree DNA regarding SNP testing.  They are running a special summer sale of interest to those in the R1b groups.   It includes 139 downstream SNPs from R-M269.  This is an excellent test and will help you fix your kinship group and the geographic origins of your family.  You can order this from your Family Tree Page.

Exciting news! If you haven’t already heard, we’re offering members of Y-haplogroup R1b the opportunity to purchase the beta release of our new R1b Backbone Panel for only $79!     Starting today, Wednesday, July 29, we’re sending notices to customers who are eligible to get in on this great deal.   We created this panel of carefully curated Y-DNA SNPs with the assistance of Mike Walsh, who is administrator of several R1b groups, including the gateway R1b and All Subclades Project.   The 140-SNP panel includes R-M343, which is above the R-M269 SNP we use to designate the R1b branch, plus 139 downstream SNPs that come from a number of testing sources and which represent the upper portion of the R1b branch of the Y-DNA haplotree. Eighty of those 140 SNPs are being newly added to the FTDNA Y tree.     Keep in mind that the R1b Backbone Panel is not meant to provide your project members with a terminal SNP. Rather, it’s designed to help identify the branch of the enormous R1b haplogroup to which those members belong, and will hopefully encourage further exploration of their ancestral origins. Even if your project member has done some preliminary SNP testing, this panel can be valuable since it includes SNPs not previously found on the tree.   This special beta price of $79 is just $1 more than the cost of testing two individual SNPs! All they have to do to order is click on the banner ad on their myFTDNA dashboard.   Here are the SNPs included in the R1b Backbone panel:     SNPs Already on Tree   A6454 BY2896 A1773 A2150 A274 A4670 A517 BY2823 BY2868 BY575 CTS10429 CTS11567 CTS11994 CTS1751 CTS3386 CTS4466 CTS4528 CTS5330 CTS5689 CTS6937 CTS7763 DF103 DF110 DF13 DF17 DF19 DF21 DF41 DF49 DF63 DF81 DF83 DF88 DF90 DF95 DF99 F2691 F2863 FGC10516 FGC11134 FGC13620 FGC13780 FGC20761 FGC22501 FGC396 FGC5301 FGC5336 FGC5338 FGC5344 FGC5345 FGC5351 FGC5354 FGC5356 FGC5367 FGC5373 FGC5494 FGC5798 L1335 L2 L21 L23 L238 L277 L278 L371 L389 L408 L47 L48 L51 L513 L584 L617 L881 M1994 M222 M269 M335 M343 M73 MC14 P297 P310 P311 P312 PF3252 PF331 PF6610 PF6658 PF6714 PF7562 PF7589 PF7600 S1026 S1051 S11493 S11601 S12025 S1567 S16264 S1688 S18632 S18827 S6317 S7721 SRY2627 U106 U152 V88 Y5058 Z156 Z16500 Z17 Z17300 Z18 Z1862 Z195 Z198 Z209 Z2103 Z2106 Z2109 Z225 Z251 Z253 Z2542 Z255 Z2573 Z262 Z295 Z296 Z301 Z302 Z36 Z367 Z381 Z49 Z56 Z8056 Z9   New SNPs Being Added to Tree BY2895 A6454 BY2896 A1773 A2150 A274 A4670 A517 BY2823 BY2868 BY575 CTS11994 CTS5330 DF103 DF110 DF17 DF41 DF81 DF83 DF88 DF90 FGC10516 FGC11134 FGC13620 FGC13780 FGC20761 FGC22501 FGC396 FGC5301 FGC5336 FGC5338 FGC5344 FGC5345 FGC5351 FGC5354 FGC5356 FGC5367 FGC5373 FGC5494 FGC5798 L1335 L277 L408 L584 L617 L881 M1994 MC14 PF331 PF6658 PF7562 PF7600 S1026 S1051 S11493 S12025 S1567 S16264

Anglicized Surnames; the many forms of John

Knowing the Gaelic form of our surnames is a very helpful in genetic genealogy research.  There are many surnames in Ireland and Scotland that include the name that we say in English as "John." However, that is not entirely true as the etymology of many of the "John" surnames are not from English, but Gaelic, taken from the Latin name Iohannes, which in turn is a loan word name from the Hebrew Yohanan.

Surnames in the "John" category include Johnson, Johnston, Johnstone, Jones, Jackson, MacCain, MacCane, MacEoin, MacOwen, MacKane, MacKean, MacKeen, MacKeon, MacKeone, MacKeown, and  MacShane.   All these surnames come from the Latin Iohannes by one route or another. I discovered this complexity when researching my own surname early in my McCain genetic genealogy project.

You would think the etymology of the surname McCain would be simple enough, but it is not.  If you open a standard Irish or Scottish surname book, it normally says McCain is the anglicized form of the Scottish name Mac Iain. This is usually followed by a reference to either the Glencoe or Ardnamurchan Mac Iain families of Scotland.  What these books do not tell you is there were several dozen McCain families scattered throughout the Gaelic speaking world.  

To complicate matters, there are several Gaelic surnames that have been anglicized as McCain.   A list would include the surnames Mac Eáin, Mac Catháin, Mac Aodháin, Mac Caodháin, and Ó Catháin. Notice the surname book version, Mac Iain, is not listed.  This is because Iain and Mac Iain are late entries into the Gaelic world.  In the case of my own family, I knew the Gaelic form fortunately, which is Mac Eáin.

Eáin (said Ane) is a variation of the common Gaelic name Eóin (said Owen).  The Eáin form is peculiar to Argyll and the southern Hebrides and it is considered Scottish Gaelic in origin.  The surname was introduced into Donegal by Argyll Gaels that settled there in the 1500s.  Eóin appears in early medieval Irish sources and is the Gaelic form of the Latin name Iohannes, or as English speakers know the name, John.  Iohannes is itself a loan word to Latin from the Hebrew Yohanan (in full y'hohanan) meaning “Jehovah has favored.”   

As you read through the Gaelic manuscripts you will not find any evidence of the variant Eáin form of Eóin until 1499 AD.  That year in the Annals of Connacht one writer spelled the name of Eóin Mór Mac Dónaill, King of the Isles, as Eighín Mor Mac Domnaill, with Eighín being a slender vowel form of Eáin.  This Eóin Mór Mac Dónaill was the chief of the McDonalds in Argyll, Islay and north Antrim.  From that time on you can find the name sporadically written to reflect this Eáin form, but Eóin was still the dominant written form in literary Irish regardless if the name was said Eóin or Eáin.  Literary Irish was the Gaelic used in both Ireland and Scotland by the educated classes.

By the mid-1600s, the Mac Eáin variation had its own spelling in literary Irish.  The Scottish Mac Mhuirich family of Islay, historians and tradition keepers for the McDonalds, used several similar spellings of the surname when writing in the mid-1600s.  In their Red Book of Clanranald, they spelled the surname mac Ceaain, Mac Eaain and Mac Ea'ain.  The mac Ceaain spelling is an abbreviated form of the longer Mac Mhic Eaain, a clan surname form meaning “son of (the) son of Eáin.” This form functions much like the Ó does in Gaelic surnames, especially Irish ones.  I asked the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, which is the Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye, for the current spelling in Scot’s Gaelic and they gave me Mac Eain, with no accent over the “a.”  Mac Eáin is the modern Ulster Gaelic form.

The Lallans spellings also demonstrate the pronunciation shift from Mac Eóin to Mac Eáin by the 1500s in Argyll.  Lallans spellings of Mac Eáin from that time were McAne, McEan, Makayn, Mcayne, McEan, and McKean.  In my research, I made an interesting discovery. In the 1400s, the northern Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin Iohannes was Ean.  In the northwest Spanish dialects and Portuguese the surname form of Ean was Eanes and Eannes.  The es suffix functions like the Gaelic Mac.  So Eannes means Son of Iohannes as does Mac Eáin.  In modern Spanish, you see this surname written Yanes and Yáñes.  It did occur to me there might have been some connection there, perhaps a loan word that had come into use from Portuguese or Spanish to Gaelic due to the increasing contact between Argyll and Spain during that time, but it would be a difficult point to research.

Mac Eóin itself is anglicised as MacEoin, McKeon, MacKeone, MacKeown, Keon, Keown, and MacOwen.  It can be found from the southern tip of Ireland to the far north of Scotland, everywhere were Gaelic is and was spoken.

Seaán Ó Neill an Diomais

Seán came into Gaelic from the French form of the Latin Iohannes which was Jehan and Gaelicized as Seán.  In the northern dialects of Gaelic, Seán is said 'Shane.'  From this we get the surname Mac Seáin.  Some of the descendants of the great Seaán Mór Ó Neill an Diomais use the surname MacShane today, while others have translated their surname and use both Jackson and Johnson.  Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United Stages, claimed to be a direct descendant of Seaán Ó Neill and it is very true some of his descendants took the surname Jackson.

The Johnson and Johnston form are obvious as they are simple translations.  Some families, for reasons unknown, chose Johnston and Johnstone, as the anglicised form of their Gaelic surname.   It is a mistranslation as Johnston is from the two words 'John' and 'ton' the latter meaning a town. 

It is very helpful know the Gaelic form of your surname and the anglicised forms also.  Some of the non surname DNA matches may turn out to be just another form of your surname.  

An Ruaille Buaille

an tábhairne

Tagann an pótaire seo isteach sa tábhairne agus labhraíonn sé le fear an tí.  "Gloine uisce beatha go gasta, le do thoil, sula dtosaíonn an ruaille buaille."

gloine uisce beatha

Déanann fear an tí gáire beag, ach tugann sé an deoch do...  agus ólann an pótaire siar é agus ansin, labhraíonn sé le fear an tí, "Ceann eile, le do thoil, sula dtosaíonn an ruaille buaille."

"Seo do dheoch," arsa fear an tí (fear an-chineálta atá ann).   Labhraíonn fear an tí, "ach cad é seo fá ruaille buaille?  Cá huair a thosaíonn an ruaille buaille?"

"Nuair a fhaigheann tusa amach nach bhfuil pingin rua agam," deir an pótaire!


Barry R McCain on Amazon