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McHugo/McCogue family

Hello,

I have previously posted a few queries about my ancestors the McHugo family. I have done a lot of research in recent months and I believe they may have come from the townland of Ballargadaun in parish of Leitrim.

I know I have found baptsim records going back to 1820's fro children of Thomas McHugo and Mary Brehenny in parish of Leitrim. I then searched Tithe Applotment records and found McHugo families in 1843 (Thomas Snr, William and Thomas A McHugo) in Ballyargadaun. I also found records in adjacent Kylebrack east for Thomas McHugo (snr) and Thomas McHugo (jnr)

I then searched Griffiths Valuation records and found McHugos in 1856 in Ballargadaun (Thomas at Map Ref 2A to 2G, with a house at 2C and Ajax McHugo at Map Ref 5A & 5B, with house at 5A) and also in Kylebrack East (Thomas McHugo together with John Flaherty and William Linskey at Map Ref 6)

I then put in an application to the Valuation Office to get the history of these land parcels and confirmed that Thomas McHugo and Ajax McHugo held the same parcels until the period 1867 to 1882, when at some stage during this period Thomas McHugo was replaced by Bridget McHugo (possibly his daugther).

In addition, in the period 1882 to 1894, Bridget McHugo is replaced by Michael Power (her hsuband) and also Ajax mcHugo is replaced by Thomas Deely (possibly his nephew)

I have subsequently researched these different names and found birth, marriage and death records for a number of them. I will not make this any longer by quoting all the different names I have found.

However, I have two questions coming out of this that I am hoping someone may be able to help me with:

1. My understanding is that Ballyargadaun is quite a small townland so I presume that if I find multiple families with the same surname that they are likely related. Would that be the case?

2. In going back to Catholic Parish records to research some of these names, I have stumbled on the surname McCogue and it appears to relate to the families I am researching. For example I have found baptism entries for children with father Ajax McCogue and mother Maria Conway in Ballyargidan. Does anyone know if McCogue is a typical different spelling of McHugo?

Thanks for any help you can provide

Reagrds, Peter McKenna

 

pmmacca54@gmail.com

14 replies

Hi Peter, 

 

Doubt this will help but Brehenny is also known as Judge.

 

Are you on FB? There are a few Leitrim groups and the members are quite helpful.

Another suggestion. Local Genelogist from Carrick on Shannon has a website you might be able to search  yourleitrimancestors.ie 

Good Luck !

Annie

pistrittomoran…

Hi Annie and Peter,

It appears that there is some confusion over the name Leitrim. The Leitrim mentioned here is a small parish in South Galway. Here is an account of the area from 1837.

 

https://www.libraryireland.com/topog/L/Leitrim-Galway.php

 

The McHugo name is associated with South Galway. Here is a map showing the distribution of the name in the 1901 census.

 

https://barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/surnames.php?surname=McHugo

I am going to check with a McHugo contact I know there to see if they can shed any light on your query.

Regards

Anne McCarthy Murphy

Kilbeacanty

 

 

Anne McCarthy MurphyIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Peter,

John Mc Hugo has replied to me and he has very kindly offered to send you an invitation within the next few days to join The Mc Hugo (Derrybrien Tree). For this, he will need your email address.

I.R.O.on this site is launching a facility where volunteers can message diaspora privately , which means your email address is not on a public forum,but I am unsure if this has been activated yet, so perhaps if any of the other volunteers are familiar with it please advise me.

If not, you can post your email address here and remove it after a day or two and I will pass it on to John Mc Hugo.

 

Regards,

Anne Mc Carthy -Murphy.

(Kilbeacanty)

Anne McCarthy MurphyIrelandXO Volunteer

 

Thanks very much Anne,

I would be very happy happy to join up with any local groups. My email address is pmmacca54@icloud.com and I am also on Facebook.

i will also have a look at those references someone posted. I was aware that Leitrim parish is fairly small and hoped that when I found the land records for McHugo in Ballyardagaun that it was my family although there is no guarantee

Thanks again,

Peter McKenna

pmmacca54@icloud.com

pmmacca54@gmail.com

Hi Peter,

John will send you an invite to view their ancestry family tree this evening. Could I ask about your reference to McCogue? It is a name I have not come across. There are McTigue on the census in Kiltartan and Kilthomas ( nearby parishes) just in case there was a spelling error. Often people were Irish speakers and the records were in English.

Anne McCarthy Murphy

Kilbeacanty

Anne McCarthy MurphyIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks very much Anne,

I have received the invite from John, and will start having a look at his tree shortly.

In terms of the McCogue name the only place I have found it is in some Catholic Parish records. I will attach a couple of them here so you can see. The reason I believe it is the same family is that in this particular lot of records I found it shows not only the name but where they are from so in the two I attach below they are death records, which mention Ajax McCogue of Ballyardigan. Now I had previously found land ecords for an Ajax McHugo of Ballyardagaun which I assume is the same place, and therefore same person?

My earliest identified McHugo ancestor is Thomas McHugo (father of Catherine "Kitty" McHugo born in 1826, Thomas born 1824 and John born ~1832). Catherine, or Kitty is my 2nd great grandmother. I have found Cathloic parish baptism records for Kitty, Thomas, and 3 more siblings Francis, Bridget and Joseph (but not John). These records show the parents as Thomas McHugo (or maybe McHuge) and Mary Brehenny, but unfortunately do not show where they are from, other than they were baptised in the parish of Leitrim.

The only other records I found for a McHugo family in the parish of Leitrim were land records (Tithes in 1843, Griffiths Valuation in 1856, and Valuation Office records for the same Map Refs as in Griffths Valuations for years from 1857 through to 1894). My assumption (unproven) is that these proeprty records are for the same family as in the Cathloic Parish baptism records, but that may not be the case of course. McHugos listed in the land records are Thomas (senior and junior), William and Ajax. somewhere around 1867 to 1882 a Bridget McHugo replaces Thomas McHugo as the occupier of his land (I believe she would be his daugther or maybe granddaugther) and she is later replaced by Michael Power who I ahve since discovered was her husband. Ajax McHugo was eventually replaced as occupier by Thomas Deely (his nephew)

Based on likey birth years, Ajax might be a brother or cousin of the Thomas McHugo who was the father of my 3 convicts (Kitty, Thomas and John).

Anyway, hope that is not too confusing, because I am getting very confused trying to put all the McHugos, McHuge and McCogues I ahve found together into some sort of family tree!

Regards,

Peter

pmmacca54@gmail.com

Hi again Anne,

I should have mentioned in  he last note that the land records I found are for Ballyardagaun but also Kylebrack East (almost next door from what I can work out). It appears, though that the houses they lived in were in Ballyardagaun and the land in Kylebrack east was unoccupied

Thanks again, Peter

pmmacca54@gmail.com

Hi Peter,

Thank you for posting the Church records with the priests handwriting, We can compare some of the letters to other entries on the page, I am wondering if it still could be a variant on the Mc Hugo name rather than Mc Cogue/McCouge.

Regards,

Anne.

Anne McCarthy MurphyIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Peter,

 I came across this article which offers an explanation for the name McCooge. My guess would be that the person writing it out knew the history and Irish name. I am posting an extract and link.

http://burkeseastgalway.com/burke-part-2/

The chief family groupings in the mid fourteenth century

The de Burghs never established a lasting line in the earldom of Ulster but by the mid fourteenth century there were several powerful branches of the de Burghs or Burkes in Connacht and Munster.[ii] The antiquary H.T. Knox classified these chief branches into four main groups;

  1. The mainline descended from Richard, the Red Earl of Ulster, based primarily about Limerick and Tipperary in Munster. Following the murder of the Brown Earl the foremost of these was seated about Castleconnell, northeast of Limerick, descended from the Red Earl’s son Edmond fitz le Counte. This grouping was collectively known as the Clanwilliam of Munster (as distinct from the Clanwilliam of Mayo).
  2. Those most closely related to the mainline, descended from the younger sons of Walter Earl of Ulster, the Red Earl’s father. It has been suggested that, in the first half of the fourteenth century, these were collectively referred to as the ‘Clann Ricaird’ or ‘family of Richard.’ Their descendants formed family groups in county Galway, the heads of which would be known by such gaelic names as MacHubert and MacRedmond Burke and possibly McCooge (McHugo). The name ‘Clann Ricaird’ was also later used to refer to the family descended from a younger son of Sir William liath de Burgh, who would gain ascendancy over the McCooges, McHuberts and McRedmond branches and rule a territory centred about Loughrea, known as Clanricarde, which would cover much of the later County Galway.

 

 

Also when you consider the name phonetically Hugh and Cue are very similar. McHugo sounds like McCuego and various spellings would have been tried as you are transcribing from one language to another.

 

Anne McCarthy Murphy

Kilbeacanty

Anne McCarthy MurphyIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks Anne,

Yes, John McHugo also sent me some history material on this clan with the name McCooge appearing. It doe smake me wonder whether it wa san individual priest around the early 1850's who knew the history so spelt the name that way. However, earlier, and later records seem to show the name McHugo (or maybe McHuge) for what I think is the same person. The one I can find quite a few records for across a fair time period is Ajax McHugo, who I believe married a Maria Conway, but during the 1850's where i have found some bpatism records for their children the name is spelt McCogue, or something similar.

Of course, I cannot be sure yet that Ajax is one of my relatives, but my premise at this stage is that my Thomas McHugo (born ~ 1790 and married to Mary Brehenny) might be a brother, or maybe even father, to Ajax. There is a also a William of the same vintage who could be a brother to the Thomas above. I think I am going to try and patch together 2 or 3 family trees for those I know are related to each other and see if somehow they might tie together.

Anyway, thanks for your continuing help. Although very tedious, I feel as if I am making some amount of progress on my McHugos.

A pity I cannot say the same about my McKennas!

Regards,

Peter McKenna

pmmacca54@gmail.com

Thanks Teresa,

I am actually looking at the parish of Leitrim in Co Galway (near the town of Loughrea). I think your references are for village of Leitrim in Co Leitrim - is that correct?

Thanks anyway

Regards,

Peter

pmmacca54@gmail.com

Hi Peter, you're right it was Leitrim Village, my apologies. I noticed your query was in the message board for County Leitrim, so I thought that your ancestors were from there. You could put your query in the message board for County Galway and you might get some more information from volunteers in that county. Wishing you all the best with your research.

tercanada@gmail.comIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks Teresa,

Sorry, I thought I had put the query in Co Galway, so I will have to go and fix that. Thanks for letting me know

Regards,

Peter

pmmacca54@gmail.com

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