Searching for McDonnell and Horan Family History

I don't have an answer to your specific question, but as I have McDonnell ancestors from Mayo, I can provide some background info.

According to MacLysaght’s “Surnames of Ireland”, the McDonnell surname is of three separate origins in Ireland, two of them related to one another. There was a gallowglass (in Irish, gallóglach, or “foreign fighter” = mercenary) family living in the Glens of Antrim (many people in Ireland have ancestry in such gallowglass families), and a western Connacht sept (or tribe), living principally in what is now Mayo, which is related to the first group. The third family lived further south in Ireland, and was unrelated to the first two.

In his “Lore of Ireland”, Ó hÓgáin explains that the McDonnell's in Antrim were related to the Scottish MacDonald clan. The McDonnell’s came from Scotland to settle in the Glens of Antrim in the 13th century, from where, by the 15th century, they controlled all of North Antrim. If you've been to Ireland, the ruined Dunluce Castle which is a popular tourist site near the Giants Causeway on the North Antrim Coast was the main McDonnell family castle. A large number of those McDonnell's were brought from Antrim to what is now Mayo in the late 14th century, to assist the ruling family of that area, the Anglo-Norman Burke family. Some also live across the border in neighboring counties (the county boundaries were a later creation).

The surname in Irish is Mac Domhnaill, which means “son/descendant of Donal”, but it is spelled MacDhòmhnaill in Scottish Gaelic (with the same meaning). The “d” at the end of MacDonald is a later addition to the anglicized version of the name. MacDonald is more common in Scotland (and among post-Reformation Scots settlers in Ireland, especially in Ulster), but McDonnell and McDonald were both used in Ireland as anglicized forms of the surname, sometimes within the same family in various records (that happened in my own family). The MacDonald settlers who came to Ireland (mostly to Ulster) after the Reformation tend to be Presbyterians, whereas the descendants of the earlier migrants largely remained Catholic (as is largely the case in Mayo).

Hello Ann

I was very interested to read your January  message re the McDonnell and Horan families. The names of them seem to be my grandparents who lived in Callowbrack near Newport. I have been researching them for many years and  would like to contact you and exchanged infirmation if you would like to . One of the sons of Thomas and Catherine was my  late  father John McDonnell who left Ireland as a young man in 1900 and married and lived in England for the rest of his life. I now live in Australia and can send my email address if needed. Hope to hear from you

Kind regards

Michael McDonnell

Hello Ann

I did send a message re your interest in the McDonnell and Horan Families. I wonder if you have managed to read my message in reply. I would like to contact you to follow up your information with a lot of family details I have .. Please respond as soon as you can

Michael McDonnell

Thank you, kevin45sfl, for that wonderful information on the Scotland>Antrim>Mayo McDonnells / McDonalds! The info about Dunluce Castle was timely, too, as I plan to visit that area next spring and don't want to miss it.

What's very interesting to me, is your McDonald background info gave insight into what I've encountered in my research. My reformed presbyterian, 2nd great-grandfather, Patrick McDonald (1823 Donegal), was orphaned after immigrating to the US with his parents, so I've been trying to discover who his parents were through documents and genetic genealogy. I have exhausted the document trail, but DNA has pointed me to Co Mayo and Co Donegal and to a few promising surnames, with Burke being one of the Mayo families I share DNA with. Hegarty is another one. Honestly, Co Mayo seems to be one HUGE family! Trying to find these parents is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Thanks again for your insight. It's appreciated!

Keri