McGuire(Maguire) Family
History
The Maguire family has a rich history in Ireland. By the 1300's began their ascendancy as rulers in the area of Fermangagh in Northern
Ireland. Donn Carrach Maguire the first Maguire king died in 1302. A couple hundred years of struggle for the area ensued but by the 1500's they firmly ruled as the kings of Fermanagh with strongholds at Lisnaskea and the
Enniskillen Castle eventually commanding both an army and navy. The Maguires allied with the O'Neills and O'Donnells were the last stronghold to fall in the long struggle of the Irish to remain a free and independent nation against the invading English. Many Maguire were then dispossessed and had to flee to Europe to save their lives. Despite this, there are still many Maguires in Ireland today.
Maguire (Mag Uidahir) means son of the brown-haired one. The Maguire Motto is: "Justitia et fortitudo
invincible sunt" (Justice and Fortitude are invincible.)
My Maguire family roots are traced to Ballykeel, County Down, Ireland, where William Maguire was born in 1775. By 1864, the family
moved to Shettleston, Lanark, Scotland working in the mines there. In October of 1870 they crossed the Atlantic on the Ship Bataniel. One son, John, was born on the way over. They lived for a while in Pennsylvania where all of the males in the
family seven years and older worked in the coal mines. In search of a better life, they traveled to Illinois, then to Oklahoma where some of the family remained
and finally my grandparents settled in Montana.
View the
Descendents of William Maguire.
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