Geoghan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

In the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of Irish families fled an Ireland that was forcibly held through by England through its imperialistic policies. A large portion of these families crossed the Atlantic to the shores of North America. The fate of these families depended on when they immigrated and the political allegiances they showed after they arrived. Settlers that arrived before the American War of Independence may have moved north to Canada at the war's conclusion as United Empire Loyalists. Such Loyalists were granted land along the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara Peninsula. Those that fought for the revolution occasionally gained the land that the fleeing Loyalist vacated. After this period, free land and an agrarian lifestyle were not so easy to come by in the East. So when seemingly innumerable Irish immigrants arrived during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s, free land for all was out of the question. These settlers were instead put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. Whenever they came, 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 Geoghan or a variant listed above, including:

Geoghan Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

• John Geoghan, who settled in Philadelphia in 1854

Geoghan Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

• Anne Geoghan, aged 25, a domestic servant, who arrived in South Australia in 1855 aboard the ship "Admiral Boxer"
• Rose Geoghan, aged 23, a farm servant, who arrived in South Australia in 1855 aboard the ship "Admiral Boxer"
• Thomas Geoghan, aged 35, a stone mason, who arrived in South Australia in 1856 aboard the ship "Fitzjames"

• John J. Geoghan (b. 1935), American Roman Catholic priest
• Lisa Maria Geoghan (b. 1966), English actress best known for playing Polly Page in the police drama The Bill