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.