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| Origins Available: |
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There are multitude of rich histories underlying the many Irish surnames in use today. The name MacCayery originally appeared in Gaelic as Mac Gafraidh. Gafraidh or Gothraidh equates with the English personal name Godfrey. Variations that start with the prefix Mac or Mc mean son of Godfrey.
The surname MacCayery was first found in County Fermanagh (Irish: Fear Manach) in the southwestern part of Northern Ireland, Province of Ulster, where they held a family seat at Ballymacaffrey near Five mile Town in Fermanagh near the Tyrone border. 1
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our MacCayery research. Another 51 words (4 lines of text) covering the year 1987 is included under the topic Early MacCayery History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Pronunciation, rather than spelling, was what guided scribes and church officials in recording names, a practice that often led to the misleading result of one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname MacCayery are preserved in documents that were examined for evidence of the family's history. The various spellings of MacCayery included MacCaffery, MacCaffrey, MacCafferty, MacAffery, MacAffry, MacAfferty, MacGoffrey, MacGodfrey and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early MacCayery Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants landed on North American shores. Although many of them were merely looking for a free plot of land and living of their very own, many later immigrants were desperately fleeing an overcrowded land that did not have sufficient food for its inhabitants. The exodus from Ireland was greatest during the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine had stricken the island. Although this large influx of Irish was unpopular with the great majority of people already established within the major centers, these Irish were critical to the speedy development of the United States and those colonies that would eventually become known as Canada. These immigrants provided the cheap labor required to build modern roads, bridges, canals, and railways. Research of passenger and immigration lists has shown a number of immigrants to North America baring the name of MacCayery: Biddy MacCafferty who settled in Newcastle in 1804; Arthur, Charles, Daniel, Edward, Henry, Hugh, James, John, Patrick, and Robert MacCafferty all arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between 1840 and 1860.