McGauley/McGaulley Surname meaning & Origin

McGauley (South - related to Ue Neill)

This surname McGAULEY derives either from the Mac Cochlain sept whose territory was the barony of Garrycastle, County Offaly, or from the O'Cochlain sept from County Cork, where their descendants are numerous, usually now preferring the spelling of Coughlan. In the latter part of the sixteenth century, an influx of settlers arrived under the patronage of Elizabeth I of England, and colonized the country beyond the 'Pale', the area around Dublin that was the only part firmly under English control. At the same time , groups of Presbyterian settlers were encouraged to migrate from Scotland to Ulster, thus establishing the distinctively Scottish surnames of Ulster. During the long centuries of English domination, Irish surnames were crudely Anglicized either phonetically or by translation. In the 19th century, political repression and famine combined to force many Irish people to seek other countries in which to live. Large numbers emigrated to the United States, where strong emotional ties to Ireland are still preserved in many families, while others found themselves transported, willingly or otherwise, to Australia, often after having first tried to make a living in England. Irish surnames are now very widely dispersed, and are common in England as well as in Ireland, the United States and Australia. The rise of surnames, according to the accepted theory, was due to the Norman Conquest of 1066 when Old English personal-names were rapidly superseded by the new christian names introduced by the Normans. Of these, only a few were really popular and in the 12th century this scarcity of christian names led to the increasing use of surnames to distinguish the numerous individuals of the same name. Some Normans had hereditary surnames before they came to England, but there is evidence that surnames would have developed in England even had there been no Norman Conquest. The development of the feudal system made it essential that the king should know exactly what service each person owed. Payments to and by the exchequer required that debtors and creditors should be particularized, and it became official that each individual acquired exact identification.

This surname is connected to my tree through my husbands great grandmother Catherine McGaulley. Some of the family in other branches do use the derivative McGauley however other than that, they all share the same genealogy.

Other spelling variations of this surname include MacAulay, MacAwley, MacAuley, MacAullay, MacAulley, MacAwlay, MacCaulay, MacCawley, MacGawley, Magawley, Cauley, Caulay, McCamley and many more.

The surname was first found in the Westmeath Area of Ireland where they held a seat from ancient times. Some of the first settlers from this family name or some of its variants were: James MacCauley settled in Charles Town in 1772 with his wife: Kenneth MacAulay settled in Philidelphia in 1774; Alexander, George, Henry, James, John, William MacAuley all arrived in Philidelphia between 1840 and 1860.

The McGauley's from the family tree did indeed come from County Cavan in Ireland with James McGauley and his wife Bridget Rodgers, who were married in Knockbride, County Cavan. Their first four children were also born in Ireland including my husband's great great grandfather Patrick McGaulley who married Mary Collins.

McGauley (Ulster) connected to the Maguires