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I recently found relatives in several court documents and I'm wondering if anything survives anywhere that can help me ascertain just what these were about.  In the 1701 bill, one Fergus McClean was a defendant with an Aungier Gordon.  I know Fergus was in or around Abbeylara, Co. Longford and he or his son (likely the Fergus in the 1733 bill) is recorded there in 1721, 27, 66 parish lists. I've only been able to successfully cross-reference who the Aungier Gordon was. He was a proprietor of several townlands in Granard parish & Abbeylara and likely a maternal relative of Lord Francis Aungier, Baron Longford who held this area c1655 Down Survey. Gordon is a grantor in many early 18th century deeds, however there are no McCleans as either grantees or grantors, so it doesn't seem like they were yeomen, or either had a pre-1708 holding that was at the end of it's lease in this timeframe.  I'm thinking Fergus could have also been employed as a Smith (which was my family profession) or Mr. Gordon's bailiff.  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

  I'm searching for any McCleans from the large family that seems to have farmed the entire western half of Tullyboy townland, who were also around Lisduff, Ballaghanna, Ballyheelan, etc.  I've only come across family trees done by maternal descendants of them so I haven't been able to find any living McCleans with links to this area. 

  My ancestors came from Drumcree, Co. Westmeath not very far from Tullyboy, and the given names & occupations seem very common with this larger family from Kilbride parish.  As the first record of my family in Drumcree is 1675, the connection is beyond paper genealogy.  Ideally I would like to find a willing male descendant of this family who would like to take part in Y-DNA genealogy, at no cost to him.  I've also gone this route with a McClean from Drumgoa, Co. Cavan in recent years but that individual was unrelated. 

The Macleans, originally a highland mercenary family in the 15/16th centuries were recruiting and absorbing native Irishmen where they were billeted. So most likely (just as I am as well as the McClean from Drumgoa) the McCleans in Tullyboy have native Irish Y-DNA, and originate in this area and are either linked to my line, or Drumgoa.

Attached is some older records I plotted onto a map while studying the surname distribution, and this could either be one popuation or two.

I'm a Mac Caolain whose ancestors were around Kilkeelan, Co. Meath (Coill Caolain) since the 16th century and my YDNA points to an East Breifne origin.  I think this was part of a larger family that settled around what is today Shercock, Bailieborough, (near Crossmakeelan: Crois Mac Caolain) and was once part of Clann Chaoich an Feadha (Clan Kee of the Wood).  If any McKeelan from Cavan interested and would like to participate, I'd be happy to send a YDNA test from FamilyTreeDNA to establish whether we are or related or not.  It could also be these names spawned from two separate individuals named Caolain.  The reason I am specifically looking for someone with a papertrail in this area is because the name O'Ceilachan in Monaghan-Louth also anglicized to Keelan as it dropped a syllable somehow.

I am looking for any Keelans or Keelanes (also Clane/Clean/Killane etc) regardless of O/Mac prefix who are native to the Athboy/Rathmore area.

After doing a lot of work & research, I believe this Meath surname may have originated in this area, specifically near Kilkeelan (Coill Chaolain; "Caolain's Wood") in the parish of Athboy, and that a significant amount of this family had a Mac prefix (MacCaolain) which anglicized M'Keallayn, M'Kelane, M'Clane and later got conflated with MacLean (MacGiollaEain, a highland family from Mull) to the point of not being able to tell them apart (as there was a large family of MacLeans near Killeshandra).  Traces of this MacCaolain family is evident in another townland in Cavan, Crossmakeelan (Crois Mhic Caolain; "MacCaolain's Crossroads") near which a half-dozen McKealanes/McCallanes were noted as rebels in the 1641 dispositions.  The MacCaolain's may have been largely dispersed from the Athboy area after the Norman invasion, as the area was heavily planted with Anglo-Norman families.

However, the earliest reference to Kilkeelan is in the Gormanstown register in the year 1418 during a land dispute between the Lord of Athboy & Lord of Rathmore, where a jury tried the issue, led by one "Wyllam O'Cwyllane of Kylchewllane" (William O'Caolain of Coill Chaolain) in the manor of Athboy who decided which lord rightfully possessed the Balmartin Bog (Martinstown, Athboy p.).  In the tudor fiants, on 16 April 1558, a "Teige M'Kelane, husbandman, of Balruntagh, Co. Meath" was pardoned for the death of James O'Corregan of Moyagher. Balruntagh was part of the Manor of Rathmore, adjoining the Manor of Athboy. 

The papertrail of my own "MacKellain" ancestors emerge from the Killallon, Meath-Collinstown, W'Meath area in the early 18th century.  I believe that because the Plunkett family became landowners of the manors of Rathmore and Killallon in the late 15th cent., the MacCaolains spread in the direction of Killallon as tenants.

The reason I am searching for Keelans (or similar anglicizations) near Athboy is because the larger number of "Keelan" families are on the Meath/Monaghan/Louth border area, many of which may in fact be O'CEILACHAN, a sept of Oriel which also anglicized to Keelan.

I believe a great many of MacCaolains became "McClean/McClane" just by an emphasis on the last syllable, pronouncing it "LAYN".  There is also a type of anglicization called "Attraction", where a smaller lesser known family anglicizes their name the way a larger more well-known family does, a great example of this are the O'Melaghlins turning into MacLoughins.  So in many cases, the actual prefix plays no part. It's also possible that once the name anglicized to "M*K*LAY*N" , a prefix drop would change it to "Lane" (as there are Lanes in the Athboy RC parish records), adding yet another anglicization to the original name.

Whether this name originally had an O-prefix and a branch of them changed to "Mac" is tenuous but it seems it is the same family.  There also seems to be a point in medieval gaelic Ireland where "O" and "Mac" meant relatively the same thing as opposed to their literal meanings of descendant of vs son of.

I would love to get in touch with any members of this family and research together, as well as purchase a Y-DNA test for a male Keelan if he is willing, to see if this theory of mine holds water surrounding the (Mac)Keelans that came from Kilkeelan, Co. Meath.