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| Mccabe Family Tree |
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| Art Work By JoAnn |
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forename of the origional bearer's father. In this case the surname, found in Irish as Mac Caba, simply denotes the "son of Caba" the surname is in fact of Scottish origin and arrived in Ireland from the Westerm Isles around the year 1350. The eaely bearers were decended from the Clan Macleod of Arran and were leaders of the gallowglasses (mercernacy soldiers ultimately of Norse- Hebridean origin) in the armies of the O'Reillys and O'Rourkea, the principal septs of Breffny and princes of Oriel. The McCabes continued as gallowglasses for two centuries and their chiefs held the titles Constable of Breffny, Constable of Oriel and Constable of the two Breffnys, Fermanagh and Oriel. The earliest references to the McCabes in Ireland appears in the Annals of 1368 which note the death in battle of one Hugh McCabe. In time the McCabes came to be regarded, themselves, as a Breffny sept and held large areas of land in counties Monaghan and Cavan, where the surname is still numerous today. The principal McCabe families were dispossessed of their lands in the Catholic debacle following the Battle of Aughtrim in 1961. Notable members of the sept include the Cavan bard Cathaoir MacCabe (died 1740), the lifelong friend of Curlogh O'Carolan who wrote an elegy on MacCabe after having been hoaxed by him into believing he was dead. MacCabe went on to write a moving elegy to Carolan on the latter's death. William Pubnam McCabe (1776 - 1821)was one of the more romantic characters among the United Irishmen.
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