Doonyn History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland
• Scotland

Early Origins of the Doonyn family

Early History of the Doonyn family

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

Doonyn Spelling Variations

Names from the Middle Ages demonstrate many spelling variations. This is because the recording scribe or church official often decided as to how a person's name was spelt and in what language. Research into the name Doonyn revealed many variations, including O'Downey, Dawney, MacDowney, MacEldowney, Muldowney and many more.

Early Notables of the Doonyn 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 Doonyn Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Doonyn family

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 Doonyn or a variant listed above, including: 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.