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Origins Available: |
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In its ancient Gaelic form, the Irish name MacMawant was written Mac Mathghamhna, which later became Mac Mathuna. Both names are derived from the word "mathghamhan," which means "bear."
The surname MacMawant was first found in County Clare (Irish: An Clár) located on the west coast of Ireland in the province of Munster, where the MacMahons were lords of Corca Baisgin; and possessed the greater part of the baronies of Moyarta and Clonderlaw. 1
"The Munster MacMahons formerly possessed the greater part of the Baronies of Moyarta and Clonderalaw, in the County Clare, in which county the predominant name now is McMahon." 2
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our MacMawant research. Another 110 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1119, 1519, 1600, 1606, 1643, 1644, 1650, 1660, 1680, 1707, 1715, 1727, 1737, 1747 and 1780 are included under the topic Early MacMawant History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Official documents, crafted by early scribes and church officials, primarily contained names that were spelled according to their pronunciation. This lead to the problem of one name being recorded under several different variations, creating an illusion that a single person was many people. Among the many spelling variations of the surname MacMawant that are preserved in the archival documents of the time are MacMahon, MacMann, MacMahan, MacMohan and others.
Notable amongst the family name at this time was Séamus mac Pilib Mac Mathghamhna (died 1519), was Bishop of Derry. Hugh Oge MacMahon (1606-1644), was an Irish conspirator, was probably of Sir Brian MacHugh Oge MacMahon, Lord of the Dartree in the county of Monaghan. Herber MacMahon (1600-1650), Bishop of Clogher in 1643, a Catholic leader, commanded the Ulster...
Another 59 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early MacMawant Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of thousands of Irish people immigrated to North American shores. The early settlers were enticed by the promise of their own land, but they were moderately well off in Ireland when they decided to emigrate. Therefore, they were merely carrying out a long and carefully thought out decision. The 1840s saw the emergence of a very different trend: thousands of extremely desperate people crammed into passenger boats hoping to find any type of opportunity. The Irish of this decade had seen their homeland severely stricken by crop failures which resulted in widespread disease and starvation. At whatever time the Irish immigrants came to North America, they were instrumental in the rapid development of the emerging nations of the United States and what would become known as Canada. An exhaustive search of passenger and immigration lists has revealed many persons bearing the name MacMawant, or one of its variants: Bernard, Francis, James, John, Michael, Patrick MacMahan, who all arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between 1840 and 1860; Mary McMahan settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1849.