Heaney History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

In the late 18th century, Irish families began emigrating to North America in the search of a plot of land to call their own. This pattern of emigration grew steadily until the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s cause thousands of Irish to flee the death and disease that accompanied the disaster. Those that made it alive to the shores of the United States and British North America (later to become Canada) were, however, instrumental in the development of those two powerful nations. Many of these Irish immigrants proudly bore the name of Heaney:

Heaney Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

• Robert Heaney, who landed in New York in 1819 3
• Charles Heaney, aged 21, who arrived in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1823 3
• Thomas Heaney, who arrived in New York in 1835 3
• Charles, Daniel, Hugh, James, John, Patrick, Samuel, and Thomas Heaney all, who arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1860

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Heaney Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

• Mr. Michael Heaney, aged 40 who immigrated to Canada, arriving at the Grosse Isle Quarantine Station in Quebec aboard the ship "Odessa" departing from the port of Dublin, Ireland but died on Grosse Isle In August 1847 4

Heaney Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

• Miss. Eliza Heaney, English convict who was convicted in Liverpool, Lancashire, England for 10 years, transported aboard the "Baretto Junior" on 5th April 1850, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 5

Heaney Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

• Mr. Patrick Heaney, (b. 1855), aged 20, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Helen Denny" arriving in Hawkes Bay, Napier, North Island, New Zealand on 20th September 1875 6

• Robert C. C. Heaney (b. 1906), American Republican politician, Treasurer of Michigan Republican Party, 1949-51; Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from Michigan, 1952, 1956 7
• Gerald Heaney, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Minnesota, 1952, 1960 7
• George A. Heaney, American politician, Member of New Jersey State House of Assembly from Hudson County, 1892 7
• Daniel Heaney, American politician, Mayor of Rochester, Minnesota, 1869-70 7
• Gerald William Heaney (b. 1918), American federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals
• Charles Heaney (1897-1981), American photographer and painter
• Harry Heaney, Emeritus Professor of Organic Chemistry
• Seamus Justin Heaney (1939-2013), Irish winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature, Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (1968), the E. M. Forster Award (1975), the PEN Translation Prize (1985), the Golden Wreath of Poetry (2001), T. S. Eliot Prize (2006) and two Whitbread Prizes (1996 and 1999)
• Dermot Heaney (b. 1971), former Irish Gaelic footballer
• Thomas Heaney (1888-1928), Australian rules footballer
• ... (Another 5 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)