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McMahans in the American South |
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MacMahans in Scotland and Noteworthy Laird s McMahans in the Thirteen Colonies and Early America, Including Tennessee, below the Mason Dickson Line. John and Jenny McMahan's Children Archibald and Ann Payne McMahan and Their Children Jessie and
Caroline Barrett McMahan and their Children
Other Descendents of John and Jenny
McMahan
Ti gerville
reache d Fairview Southern Methodist Church
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Social Conditions in Scotland circa 1740 McMahans in Scotland in the 1800's Summary: The McMahans, with all the variations in spelling, were in the beginning Celts, a Galeic speaking group who were first identified in Austria. The Celts were in the British Isles by 300 B.C. The Gaelic Clan MacMhathain (MacMathan) was in Ireland in 500 A.D. and a portion of the clan went along with Fergus mac Eric to colonize and found the kingdom of Dalriada on Scotland's west coast. By 843 the Clan MacMaghan or MacMathan was well established in Scotland. The fortunes of the Clan arose and fell and they assumed the Clan name Matheson somewhere around 1500. McMahans emigrating to Colonial America fell into several categories:
The McMahans who had always lived in Ireland, those whose families had
lived in Scotland since 500 A.D., and came directly to America from there,
and those who traveled from Scotland to the Ulster Plantation and other
Irish destinations before they moved on to America.
MacMahans can trace their origins as Celts (Celtic people) to the earliest known evidence of Celts from Hallstatt, Austria, near Salzburg. (The Hallstatt Celts were one of the first peoples in Northern Europe to make Iron). By about 300 BC the Celts had spread to France, Spain and the British Isles. The Gaels, were members or the Goidelic (Gadhelic) branch of the Celts and they settled in Ireland. From there, some went to the Isle of Man. The Gaels introduced the Gaelic Language to Ireland and to the Isle of Man. Scotland's first inhabitants came from the European mainland around 4,000 B.C. People called the beaker folk arrived in Scotland around 1,800 B.C., and several Celtic tribes from Western Europe invaded Scotland about 300 B.C. When the Romans invaded Scotland in A.D. 80, they called the country Caledonia, and they called the inhabitants Picks. Between about 300 B.C. and A.D. 100 the Romans conquered much of Europe. The only Celts who preserved their own culture were those of Ireland, Scotland and Western England. Around A.D. 500, Fergus mac Eric left Irish Dalriada (the area now known as Northern Ireland) with an invading or colonizing force of Gaels to found the kingdom of Dalriada on Scotland's west coast. These invaders were called Scotti which was the Latin name the Romans gave the Irish people, and so the invaders gave Scotland its name and also introduced the Gaelic language. The Gaels became the ancestors of the Scottish Highlanders. Accompanying Fergus mac Eric and a fleet which carried 150 men were his three sons, Fergus Mor, Loarn and Aengu Mor. The date given in the annals for this event is the end of the fifth century of the beginning of the sixth. The Irish Dalriada was a comparatively small district in the north of Co. Antrim, in which the chief place was Dunseverick. Saint Columbia, an Irish monk, followed Fergus mac Eric and the Scots to Dalriada in 563 and founded a monastery. With the help of the Scots, he began to convert the Picks to Christianity. In 843 Kenneth MacAlpin who was established as the king of the Scots, successfully fought the Picks, and established the first united kingdom in Scotland called Alba. At this point, the Celtic clan MacMaghan or MacMathan (the clan of the bear) is mentioned in Collins Guide to Scots Ktih and Kin as one of the clans that fought with Kenneth MacAlpin against the Picks.1 H. M. Chadwick, in discussing the war with the Picks, said: ".....we need not hesitate to believe that Kenneth attained his success largely through the help of his hereditary subjects from (Scottish) Dalriada, and that he rewarded them a the expense of the Pickish nobility." 2. By 843 the Celtic Clan MacMaghan or MacMathan (MacMhathain in Gaelic) was well established in Scotland, and at the same time a sept or family called Mac Mathghamha or MacMathghamhna, meaning "son of the bear like one" could be found in the kingdom of Irish Dalriada. A portion of the Mac Mathghamha family left Irish Dalriada with Fergus mac Eric, becoming established as the Scottish Clan MacMaghan in New Dalriada. Beginning then, around A.D. 500 we have MacMaghan or MacMathan Clans,, septs or families living in Northern Ireland and Western Scotland. The MacMaghan clan's activities were noted in 1262-63 when Kermac Macmaghan assisted the Earl of Ross against the King of Norway at Largs. (3) The Gaelic Manuscript of 1450 derives the Clan MacMathan, or Matheson, from the same source as the MacKenzies, and indicates that in 1427, the chief of the Matheson had 2,000 men, making them as powerful as the more famous MacKenzies.(4) Tradition holds that the Clan MacKenzie and the old Earls of Ross came from their stock. (5) Some time after 1427 the Clan was split in two. The main stem of Lockalsh was located in Wester Ross. Feuds with neighbours began to reduce the MacMathan clan's numbers and they began to dispurse, and follow the MacKenzie banner. At some point the Clan adapted the somewhat similar south -county name Matheson. The Matheson clan was composed of the following Septs or families: Bairnson MacMahon Massie Mathieson MacBirnie Macmath Matthewson MacBurnie Massey Mathie (6)
In 1719 the Spanish expeditionary force set up their headquarters at Eilean Donan in the unsuccessful Jacobite Rising in favor of the Old Pretender. On May 10 of that year the Castle was attacked by three English frigates and destroyed. The ruins of the castle remained neglected for 200 years until Lt. Col. John MacRae-Gilstrap, grandfather of the present constable of Eilean Donan, rebuilt the castle with the aid of Farquhar MacRae, who had seen a vision of the ruined stronghold restored to its former glory. The dream became a reality and every detail was accurate as was confirmed by old plans found in Edinburgh Castle. Eilean Donan Castle can be reached by rail by traveling west from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh (112 miles). From there is is approximately 7 miles by road, located on a rocky promitory at the meeting of Lochs Long, Duich and Alsh. The Matheson Clan: Plant: Four-petal rose. -Badge: Broom, Holly. -Motto: Do and Hope -Crest Badge: Out of an eastern crown, or a naked arm holding a drawn
sword, proper.
1 Scots Kith & Kin A guide to the Clans and Surnames of Scotland, Harper Collins Publishers, Glasgow 1989, p. 80. 2 Early Scotland The Picts The Scots & The Welsh of Southern Scotland, H. M. Chadwick, Octagon books, New York 1974, p193 3 The Scottish Tartans Histories of the Clans Chiefs' Arms and Clansmen's Badges Johnson and Bacon, Johnson & Bacon (Books) Ltd, Stirling, Scotland, 1984, p.95. 4. Clans and Tartans 5 Scots kith and Kin Other References Collins Gem Clans and Tartans, HarperCollins Publishers, Glasgow. 1991 (The Collins Gem Clans and Tartans is based on and Abridged from the Clans and Tartans of Scotland by Robert Bain, published by HarperCollins Publishers) Scotland from the Earliest Times to 1603, W. Croft Dickinson, Archibald A.M. Duncan, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1977. ©2004 Gary L. McMahan
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