The ancient Gaelic form of the Irish name Douggent was O Dubhaigan. The first portion of the name is the word dubh, which means black; the second portion is likely some obsolete Irish personal name.
Early Origins of the Douggent family
The surname Douggent was first found in
County Clare (Irish: An Clár) located on the west coast of
Ireland in the province of
Munster, where O'DuilAgin, O'Dugan, (or O'Deegan), chief of Muintir ConIochta, a district in the parish of Tomgraney, in the barony of Tullagh. The family line is directly traceable to Fergus Mor (Fergus the Great). In turn his ancestry is associated with King Ir, brother of the equally famous
Heremon. The name was first found near what is now the town of Fermoy, in the territory formerly known as Roche's Country. This territory encompassed the junction of the counties Cork,
Tipperary and
Waterford. In modern times, the surname is generally found in these three counties. However, there was another O'Dugan sept in the territory called Ui Maine, also called Hy Many, which spans eastern county
Galway and southern county
Roscommon. This sept gave their name to the place called Ballyduggan, near Loughrea.
Early History of the Douggent family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Douggent research.
Another 155 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1327, 1813, 1896, 1813, 1896, 1823 and 1884 are included under the topic Early Douggent History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Douggent Spelling Variations
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 Douggent are preserved in documents that were examined for evidence of the family's history. The various spellings of Douggent included Dugan, Duggan, O'Duggan, Dougan, Douggan, Dewgan, Deugan and many more.
Early Notables of the Douggent family (pre 1700)
Another 29 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Douggent Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Douggent family to the New World and Oceana
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 Douggent: James Dugan who settled in New York State in 1775; John Duggen, who arrived in Maryland in 1739; Cornelius Duggin, who arrived in Albany, NY in 1762; John Duggin, who came to Boston in 1765.
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See Also