The Rest of the Cormac and Maguire/McCown Story

My source has sent additional information that counters the last issue of this blog.  It seems
that the Eoghain(Owen) was not of the Maguire line but was an early progenitor of the
Ui O'hEoghain (modern Owens, O'Howens families) and none of those are DNA matches with
me.  I was really excited with the potential break through with my deep family history, but
now that I know more about that period, I am not particularly disappointed.  After all, what I
want is what actually applies to my McCown/Maguire connection and so the lack of
dejection.  Actually, it was a ray of hope in a generally grim research.  The O'hEoghains were
a family of church men and therefor would have been a welcome part of my family tree but
apparently they were closer to being of the O'Neill sept than the Maguire sept.  Now that the
decks have been cleared, I am still interested in the McChoens in the Barony of Lurg in
northern County Fermanagh as possibly being of my surname.

Dr. William Roulston of the Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast, shows interest in them as
well, so that is a bit of encouragement.  I have read that very few Americans of American
descent have been able to locate others in Ireland who descend from the same ancestors but
a couple of them in my Maguire group have a record of their earliest known ancestor and where
he lived in Ireland.  My hope is that maybe some of these families can be found in the same
general area and thus my line might as well.

Explanation of Possible McCown/Maguire Ancestors

Found 2 additional names among the 1641 Depositions taken at Magheraculmoney, Fermanagh.  Names included many Magwyers, a sampling: Rebels Rory, our friend Hugh mcAdeganny, Hugh Boy, Bryan Carragh, Donagh oge, Redmond, and finally, Patrick mc Choen and Cahell mc Choen.  This folio 201v document places 2 McCoens among the Magwyers of Magheraculmoney, which is a parish in the Barony of Lurg, county Fermanagh.

Now to your Mac Eoghain forebears whom you cite in your latest blog:

Father Gallachair in Clogher Record Vol 7, No.2, states that the Ui Eoghain of Fermanagh and Clogher, Tyrone, were Ui Cremthainn of the Airghilla confederation.  Eoghain, or Eoghanan, was fourth in direct descent from Cormac, the brother of Daimhin of Clogher, from whom Feargel of Tamhnach also sprang. Eoghain was a brother of Mag Uidhir, and they were both sons of Cormac.  At this time surnames were not used.  Since Owen and MagUidhir were brothers, they should have the same dna.

 

I received the above information from my very helpful genealogical friends, the Leibells.

It is my hope that this will jumpstart our first connection to County Fermanagh as it names

names and the time (before the general use of surnames).  It is being sent to Dr. William

Roulston of the Ulster Historical Foundation in Belfast to see if it does indeed give us a

way around our current impass.

Spelling Variants of McOwen (McCown) in Ulster

In the Fermanagh Census of 1659, in the parishes of Aghalurcher, Enniskillen and
Magheraculmoney, there were four individuals with the surname of McCoen.  The fair
Coane also found Cucghanagh O'Kohan in the Barony of Lurg, Edmund McCone,
Culmaine, Cluncagh in the 1659 Hearth Money Rolls of Fermanagh and John McCone, of
Coolcran in the 1788 Poll Electors.

Previously, I had also found several with the surname McKown in Aghalurcher and McCown
in  Galloon parishes.  All of this causes me to wonder if our McKown and McCown were
spelled phonetically when they came to Virginia and South Carolina respectively.  The
reason I suspect this spelling problem could have possibly occurred, is that in the 1850
census of Kentucky, my great great grandfather was shown as McCowen, my great grand-
father was shown as McCown and a younger brother was shown as McKeown.  All three
lived in the same tiny village within easy walking distance of each other by the same census
taker on the same day.

I believe that all of these spellings derive from MacEoghain (pronounced "McOwen).  Our
name did come through correctly in the case of William McCown deported from England in
1748 to Port Oxford, VA and Elizabeth McKown was deported on the same voyage to
somewhere in North Carolina.  I have been in contact with a descendant of this William.

Also, in the census of 1790, there is a William McCown in York Co., South Carolina.  An
interesting thing about Jim McKown, Sam McCown and I, William McCown, is that all
three of us have good Y-DNA matches with the Maguire Sept of Fermanagh and uniquely
share Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) P66+ between the three of us.  All three of
us are closely matched at 111 markers through Family Tree DNA proving that we are closely
related going back to about 1662.  SNP's show deep ancestry and markers show ancestry in
the male line going back to about 950 AD.

FTDNA Reverses Itself and a New McCown?

After all of the fanfare about more new matches, I am now back to ground zero because
FTDNA has reversed out all of the new matches at 111 markers.  The good news is that
Rev. Bill McCown sent an email to me wanting to share his family history with me and mine with
his.  His ancestor was born in 1792 in Anderson (formerly Pendleton Co., South Carolina.  He is
now living near there.  My earliest known ancestor was Lawrence McCown, born ca 1790,
somewhere in South Carolina.  I don't believe that we will be able to connect our ancestors
unless he takes the FTDNA Y-DNA test.  I haven't heard back from him and the deadline for
the year end discounts was supposed to be on Dec. 31st.  I heard tonight that FTDNA extended
the grace  period for three more days, but now they are also past.

Some time ago, I also exchanged emails with still another William McCown who is descended
from a Scottish Rebel prisoner deported to Oxford, Maryland in 1748.  On the same ship was a
woman prisoner named Katherine McKown but she debarked in North Carolina.

A number of McCowns settled in South Carolina by 1790, at least one William McCown was
listed in the 1790 census of York Co., South Carolina.  Many others moved down from
Pennsylvania and Virginia and settled in Chester and Union Districts.  Two William McCowns
were shown in the 1790 US census in the Old 96th District of South Carolina.  It is conceivable
that Rev. Bill McCown's ancestor was one of those.

New DNA Results

Family Tree DNA (familytreedna.com) recently changed how they report matches at each level
of testing.  If you have been thinking about it, they are currently discounting the costs of the tests
and upgrades.

Since upgrading to 111 markers some time ago, I have waited patiently for more matches at that
level and due to their new method of determining matches, I now have 11 where I had only 4.
This is very encouraging to me as well as it is to others.  One member of the Mag Uidhir
Airgialla Group now has 34 matches.  There are about 60 members of the group.

Brad McGuire has suggested that FTDNA has stopped counting some of the fast moving markers
but we won't know for sure until we hear that from FTDNA.  Also, both Brad McGuire and a
scientist from FTDNA have suggested that many more Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP's)
will soon become available to test and these are perhaps even more important than the Single
Tandem Repeats (STR's) or markers in establishing relationships.  That is all for now.

Out of Touch

My blog has fallen far behind because I have not been able to straighten out my password
difficulties with blogspot.  That said, there has been nothing new to report.  Hopefully, that
will change since I have received an email from someone who matches me closely at both
37 and 67 markers with the McManus surname.

Y-DNA to the Rescue?

Two of my DNA contacts came up with some interesting ideas.  First, Brad McGuire mentioned
that the three of us with Maguire DNA but the McCown/McKown surname, were also the same
value, 16, on marker DYS 464b.  Then Pat Meguire, adm. of the McGuire Surname Group
suggested that since about 25% of his group were also 464b=16, that perhaps this indicated
a particular Maguire family line that we could trace back in time.  Then, Brad McGuire
suggests that the following markers and values in combination could identify those with
a McGuire surname that should be tested for SNP P66+.  That would then tie that particular
line of Maguires to which the McCown/McKown lines are descended.  Sounds good to me,
now all that is left to be done is to find Maguires with those specific marker/values and get
them to test for SNP P66+.  The markers and values are as follows: DYS 390=25, DYS 481
=24, DYS 640=12 and DYS 464b=16.

Brad McGuire is the adm. of the Airgialla Mag Uidhir Group and also points out that some
markers mutate faster than others  and that some SNP's mutate within a given family.  For
example, all five of the markers that separate me from being an exact match for the Maguire
modal at 25 markers are fast mutating and he mentioned that fast mutating markers could
take 3,000 to 4,000 years to mutate.  To me, that would put past mutations well before the use
of surnames became common in Ireland, about 1,000 AD.  I don't know yet whether
mutations repeat over the years and began at different times or if they vary within a single
family line.  I hope to have more on this later because I surely am at my limit tonight.