Meachan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Wales
• Ireland

Early Origins of the Meachan family

Early History of the Meachan family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Meachan research. Another 65 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1541, 1600, 1614 and 1675 are included under the topic Early Meachan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Meachan Spelling Variations

The Welsh have an extremely large amount of spelling variations of their native surnames to their credit. It was up to the priest or the scribe taking the official records to determine how the spoken name was to be made literal. As time progressed, the old Brythonic names of Wales were recorded in English, which was especially problematic since the English language had extreme difficulty recording the highly inflected sounds of Cymraeg. Spelling variations were, however, also carried out according to an individual's design: a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations could be indicated by spelling variations of one's name. The spelling variations of the name Meachan have included Machen, Machin, Machon, Mackon, Makin, Makins, MacMacken and many more.

Early Notables of the Meachan family

Prominent amongst the family during the late Middle Ages was Thomas Machen (c. 1541-1614), an English mercer who was mayor of Gloucester three times, Member of Parliament for Gloucester in 1614; Bathsua Reginald Makin (c.1600-c.1675) English middle-class proto-feminist who...
Another 39 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Meachan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Meachan family to Ireland

Some of the Meachan family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 31 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Meachan family

During the latter half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the people of Wales journeyed to North America to find a new life. They made major contributions to the arts, industry and commerce of both Canada and the United States, and added a rich cultural heritage to their newly adopted societies. A look at the immigration and passenger lists has shown a number of people bearing the name Meachan: Bernard, Charles, Hugh, James, John, Michael, Patrick, Steven and Thomas Mackin all arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between 1840 and 1860; Hugh, Michael, Patrick, Thomas and William Macken also arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1860.