MacQueen, MacGuire and MacEwen

Barry McCain of the Ulster Heritage Group, http://ulsterheritage.com, found mention of MacEoghain in Argyll who were bards and had some connection with the Maguires. Using the Google search term "MacQueen and MacGuire" I found that the names in the title block above are associated with each other. And also with McKown and McQuown, which latter is itself a spelling variant of McCown.
The MacEwens (MacEoghain) were bards to the Campbells of Argyll and Breadalbane and to the MacDougalls of Dunollie.

This does not prove anything about my family history, but is an avenue which must be investigated because it ties together my Irish and Scottish matches and surname with my Maguire DNA. That in itself offers some encouragement.

Barry says that he will look into this more closely when he returns from Ulster in the next couple of weeks. It also give a bit of credibility to our word of mouth family tales of being of highland Scots descent. In this case the Scots most likely having come from Ireland.

Help ont the Way

Barry McCain reports that Dr. Roulston sent parts of my DNA package to Dr. Brian Traynor in Fermanagh. Dr. Traynor specializes in Fermanagh genealogy and is personally known by Barry. I am most anxious to see what Dr. Traynor has to say about any connection between MacEoin/McCown and any of the Maguire Clan surnames. The momentum seems to be building and that gives us hope for an early connection. It would be great if we could find someone in Fermanagh who has the same surname or a spelling variant thereof willing to be tested to see if we match at 67 markers.

This Just in to Our Newsdesk

Dr. William Roulston has recived and read our DNA genealogical package and will send his comments to Barry McCain next week. Barry's email included a short piece about how easily surnames changed between Mag Uidhir (Maguire) and Mac Eoin (McCown) although he didn't use this specific example. If you would like a copy of that email please contact me.