MacHale family genealogy

Of Tulbernavine, Parish of Addergoole, County of Mayo

Arms: Same as those of "MacDonnell" (No. 1).

DUINE-EADACH, who is No. 116 on the "MacDonnell" (of Mayo) pedigree, had two brothers—1. Brian Buidhe; 2. Cathal: this Cathal ("cath:" Irish, a battle, "all," great) was the ancestor of MacCathail; anglicised MacCail, MacCael, MacCale, MacKeal, and MacHale.[1]

117. Seamus (or James) MacCail, living A.D. 1641, had:

118. Searun, who had:

119. Ricard, who had:

120. James, who m. Mary MacCale, and had:

121. Maolmuire (or Mvler) Mac-Keal, who d. in 1790. He married Anne Moffett (d. 1795), and had:

122. Patrick MacKeal, of Tubber-navine (or Tobar na Feiné, meaning the "Well of the Fenians"), in the parish of Adergoole, barony of Tyrawley, and county of Mayo, who d. in 1837. He was twice m.: first, to Mary Mulkieran (who d. in 1806), by whom he had six sons and three daughters; his second wife was Catherine MacCale, by whom he had three danghters and two sons. Of the daughters by the second marriage, Catherine was m. to Thomas Higgins, of Carropadden, Solicitor, Tuam, living in 1881. (See the " Higgins" Genealogy). Patrick MacKeal had a sister named Margaret [2] (who died in 1816), who was m. to Patrick Sheridan, joiner and farmer, from Lagan.

123. Thomas: eldest son of the said Patrick MacKeal. Had six brothers and three sisters,—the issue of his father's first marriage: 1. Martin; 2. Myler; 3. Patrick; 4. His Grace, the Most Rev. John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam, living in 1881; 5. Rev. James; 6. Edmund. The sisters were: 1. Anne, 2. Mary, 3. another Catherine, who d. young.

Notes

[1] MacHale: John, the late Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, was the first of the family who wrote the name—"MacHale." At p. 22 of The Life and Times of the Most Rev. John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam (Dublin: Gill and Son, 1882), the Very Rev. Canon Ulick J. Bourke, the worthy author of that Volume, expresses the opinion that the sirname MacHale, as borne by Archbishop MacHale's family, is derived from Clan-heil, which is of Welsh origin, and a quo the sirnames Hoel, Howell, etc. It is worthy of remark, however, that some of the Archbishop's ancestors spelled their name MacCail, while his father and grandfather spelled it MacKeal; and that in the "Book of Survey and Distribution," for the barony of Tyrawley and county of Mayo, the Clan Keale are entered as proprietors, in 1641, of Cuming and Ballymacramagh, in the parish of Adergoole, where the Archbishop's immediate aucestors resided. The Cail and Keal portion of the name so closely resembling in sound the Keale in Clan Keale, is also worthy of notice; as is the fact that it was from MATHEW HALE, an eminent Englishman in his day, and in no way related to the Archbishop's family, that His Grace, the Most Rev. Doctor MacHale, assumed the Hale portion of his name, and ceased to write it MacKeal!

[2] Margaret: Of the daughters of Margaret and Patrick Sheridan, Cecilia was married to Ulick Bourke, who is No. 34 on the "Bourkes of Lough Conn and Ballina" pedigree.