Doonent History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland
• Scotland

Early Origins of the Doonent family

Early History of the Doonent family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Doonent research. Another 189 words (14 lines of text) covering the year 1420 is included under the topic Early Doonent History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Doonent Spelling Variations

Pronunciation, rather than spelling, guided scribes and church officials when recording names during the Middle Ages. This practice often resulted in one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname Doonent are preserved in these old documents. The various spellings of the name that were found include O'Downey, Dawney, MacDowney, MacEldowney, Muldowney and many more.

Early Notables of the Doonent family

Notable among the family name at this time was the O'Dunadhaigh sept found in Luchair, the old name of a region that lay on the borders of...
Another 26 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Doonent Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Doonent family

The 19th century saw a great wave of Irish families leaving Ireland for the distant shores of North America and Australia. These families often left their homeland hungry, penniless, and destitute due to the policies of England. Those Irish immigrants that survived the long sea passage initially settled on the eastern seaboard of the continent. Some, however, moved north to a then infant Canada as United Empire Loyalists after ironically serving with the English in the American War of Independence. Others that remained in America later joined the westward migration in search of land. The greatest influx of Irish immigrants, though, came to North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Thousands left Ireland at this time for North America, and those who arrived were immediately put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. In fact, the foundations of today's powerful nations of the United States and Canada were to a larger degree built by the Irish. Archival documents indicate that members of the Doonent family relocated to North American shores quite early: James Downey who went to Pennsylvania in 1711; Brian Dawney arrived in Virginia in 1722; Elizabeth Downey went to Philadelphia in 1745; William Downey settled in New York in 1777.