Mehan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

To escape the religious and political discrimination they experienced primarily at the hands of the English, thousands of Irish left their homeland in the 19th century. These migrants typically settled in communities throughout the East Coast of North America, but also joined the wagon trains moving out to the Midwest. Ironically, when the American War of Independence began, many Irish settlers took the side of England, and at the war's conclusion moved north to Canada. These United Empire Loyalists, were granted land along the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara Peninsula. Other Irish immigrants settled in Newfoundland, the Ottawa Valley, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The greatest influx of Irish immigrants, however, came to North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Thousands left Ireland at this time for North America and Australia. Many of those numbers, however, did not live through the long sea passage. These Irish settlers to North America were immediately put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. Irish settlers made an inestimable contribution to the building of the New World. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Irish name Mehan or a variant listed above, including:

Mehan Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

• William Mehan, who arrived in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1837 3
• Patrick Mehan, aged 23, who landed in Mobile County, Ala in 1840 3
• Hugh Mehan, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1856 3

Mehan Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

• Joseph Mehan, who arrived in Arkansas in 1900 3

Mehan Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

• Miss Biddy Mehan, (Meehan), (b. 1839), aged 12, Irish house maid who was convicted in County Fermanagh, Ireland for 7 years for vagrancy, transported aboard the "Blackfriar" on 24th January 1851, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), she died in 1856 4