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Author: WBostick9509
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.cathey/242.2.1/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
Early history of the Catheys, from "Maury County TN History and Families"
(Turner Publ., 1998), pp 221-2: The ancestry of the Maury County Cathey family goes back
to the ancestral home on the island of Colonsay and Oronsay off the western coast of
Scotland. In 1493, the Cathey family, members of the McFie clan, were driven from the
islands to Galloway and Carrick in the lowlands of Scotland after their land was taken
away by the Scottish Crown. Between 1611-1618, the Cathey's migrated to Ulster, North
Ireland, after powerful landlords confiscated their lands. Mary Cathie Gillis, of
Glasgow, Scotland, wrote: "The process was aided by the English Crown persecution,
killing and banishment of many who would not deny their Presbyterian beliefs.. the
Cathey's took to Ireland and to America, their religion, their firm belief in a good
education, and a character to work and to prosper.." The Catheys remained in Ireland
90-100 years before migrating to America.
From:
http://www.cagenweb.com/mariposa/cathey.htm
CATHEY FAMILY CHRONICLE
The Origins of the Cathey Family Family Name: The derivation of the Cathey family name is
believed to be from the Clan McAfie (Scotland). The Gaelic spelling is MacDubhSithe"
meaning 'Son of the Dark Fairy or Elf'. The ancestral home of the Macfies was on
the Island of Colonsay, off the coast of Scotland. They were descendants of "low land
Scots." In a rebellion against King Malcomb of Scotland in 1615, the Chief of the
Clan was killed. He was murdered at the Standing Stone. The lordship of the Isles changed
in the fifteenth century. The name "Macfie" was changed into many different
spellings over the years. Our family kept the Anglo spelling of "Cathey".
It is believed many of the Catheys emigrated to Monaghan County, Ulster, Northern Ireland,
perhaps as early as 1611-1618. The Catheys lived there approximately ninety to one hundred
years before immigrating to America. The earliest known "Cathey" descendant in
America was James Cathey, born in Ulster, North Ireland in 1685. He was a millwright. At
the age of thirty-three, he married a woman known only as "Ann" in 1708.
James' records show that he purchased land in Cecil, Maryland in 1718 and remained
there until 1724.
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