| This name is found in all the provinces of Ireland but is
common only in Ulster, where it is strongest in counties Down, Derry and
Antrim. It is also well known in Dublin. It has been recorded in Ireland since
early medieval times but its current prevalence in Ulster probably stems from
post-Plantation Scottish settlers. The name is Norman, originally le
Mareschal. It stems from the Old French mareschal, meaning a 'farrier'.)
Although the position of marshall became one of great dignity, it is though
that, in Scotland at least, the majority of Marshalls derive their name from the
more humble occupational name. A particular concentration of the name was
noted north of Newry in Co. Down in the late nineteenth century.
GLOSSARY
| Clan |
From the Gaelic clann which means literally
'children'. |
| Mac- |
From the Gaelic mac, meaning 'son' |
| O' |
From the Gaelic Ó, meaning 'grandson',
'grandchild' or 'descendant'; Ní is the femine form of Ó, meaning 'daughter' or
'descendant' |
| Plantation (Ulster) |
The redistribution of escheated lands after the
defeat of the Ulster Gaelic lords and the 'Flight of the Earls' in 1607. Only
counties Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Armagh, Fermanagh and Cavan were actually
'planted', portions of land there being distributed to English and Scottish
families on their lands and for the building of bawns. |
| Sept |
A family group of shared ancestry living in the
same locality |
| Undertakers |
Powerful English or Scottish landowners who
undertook the plantation of British settlers on the lands they were granted. |
| Gaelic |
This word in Ireland has no relation to
Scotland. As a noun it is used to denote the Irish language, as an adjective
to denote native Irish as opposed to Norman or English origin. |
| Erenagh |
From the Irish Gaelic airchinneach, meaning
'hereditary steward of church lands'. A family would hold the ecclesiastical
office and the right to the church or monastery lands, the incumbent at any one
time being the erenagh. |
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