P1E1: COUNTY DOWN:
In the overall Irish
“Coffey” population map from Dr. Tyrone Bowes (see category “Coffey
Geography”), County Down in Northern Ireland is indicated as a potential
“Coffey Homeland”. And I have a story that is connected to the population in
Down. First, have a look at this map:
The Ards Peninsula is part of County Down in Northern Ireland, and
there are a lot of Coffey families there. And I have a “spy” in the area. I had
been corresponding with Fintan Coffey,
one of our “Irish Coffey” group, who actually now lives in Northern
Ireland. Fintan thinks he comes from
County Meath,
but his job is now in Belfast. And here’s what Fintan wrote about the Coffeys from County Down, with specific reference to villages
on the Ards Peninsula:
FROM FINTAN: “You raise some interesting points about County Down in your
notes. I now live in Northern Ireland, and someone pointed out some of
the local history to me. The County Down cluster is interesting because
it comprises two distinct, but 'linked', family lines. One
line seems to have stayed in Ireland, but the other is a line that has
descended from the returned migrants from Ayrshire, Scotland who came back
during the Ulster Scots Plantation. Originally, they are likely to have
migrated to Scotland as part of the Gaelic expansion into West Scotland.
Today the County Down Coffeys are associated with the fishing industry and have settled in
some of the coastal towns and villages, for example, Portavogie, Kilkeel and Donaghadee. There are some church records from some of the Presbyterian
churches on the Ards Peninsula, and probably records of lands granted during
the Plantation. Today there are some Coffey families still in
Ayrshire, Scotland. As far as I gather, one might be a politician for
SNP, the Scottish National Party.”
“The source of my
information was a work colleague who lives in County Down, but he is not a
Coffey.”
“I did however get chatting
with Alan Coffey from Belfast's Fish Market. I met him last year,
once. He confirmed his family origin as Ulster Scots settlers.”
MY FOLLOWUP (FRED): I’m not shy about asking for DNA, but I must not be very good at it
since I get turned down (or ignored) more than half the time! Anyway, I did send a note to “Alan Coffey from Belfast’s Fish
Market” – and never got a reply.
And with a little help from
Google I also had no trouble finding the “politician for SNP, the Scottish
National Party” in Ayrshire. In my first note to him I didn’t mention DNA, and got a very pleasant and informative reply. His
roots are actually in Tipperary, and of relatively recent origin – much later than the “Ulster
Scots Plantation”. He told me about several generations of his ancestry. In my
second note I mentioned that I was also very interested in Tipperary, and in DNA samples, and never heard from him again.
I have worked with
Lena McVea and Mary Becker, who are administrators of the “Ards Peninsula Families DNA Project”. Their project has several
“Coffey” members, but for the most part those appear to be people with no clear
and known connection to the area. Some of them are already members of our own
Coffey DNA Project.
There are many men on the
Peninsula who use the spelling “Coffey”. Lena McVea and Mary Becker helped me identify a few, and I sent some
notes seeking their participation. One agreed to the y-DNA test, but never returned
the test kit.
I did find one test result,
for “an American in Texas who descended from an immigrant from Scotland who
probably actually came from County Down”. You may find this newsletter article
of interest:
THE “CAUGHEY” CONNECTION: The Ards Project does not presently have a “Coffey” with clear
connection to the Ards Peninsula. But they do, however, have a “Caughey” member who claims a clear link to the Peninsula, and I suspected
it was quite possible that Coffey and Caughey
were just spelling variations. (Lena McVea has corrected me on
this, advising that they are locally pronounced quite differently, as Coff–ee
versus KAGH-ee.)
A ”Caughey”
did join our project, but I’ve seen no evidence of a Coffey connection,