GENELACH CLAINNE COLGCAN.
(Rawlinson MS) 1029 Annals of the Four Masters Mac Tíre, mac Donnghaile, MacBain states the name should read: Paul Mac-ic-Tire. Mac Tíre Úah-Uallacháin m. Desmond, Thomond, Tipperary-Waterford, Ui Bairrche, Uachtar Tire, Cruachan , Ancient Connacht Kings, Leinster, Ulster,
Cuiléoin m.
Benntraige, Ui Briuin Cualand, Ui Fergusa, Fothaírt, Osraighe, Ui Mail, Cuallan Leinster, Munster Conchobuir m. Ui Eathach Cobha, Airrtir, Iarthaír, Ulster, Connacht
Meic Thíre m.
Ulster
h-Uallacháin m
Clan Colgcan, Hy- Fiachra, Munster
Fogartaich m.
the Eugenians, Collada Chrioch , Ancient Connacht Kings, Connacht, Munster
Cumascaig m.
MacComiskey Leinster, Ulster
Colgcan m.
Clan Colgcan, Ancient Connacht Kings, Meath, Munster
Mugróin m.
Ui Ria-cain, Ancient Connacht Kings, Leinster, Munster Flaind Dá Chongal.
Leinster
The Annals of Ireland (ca. 1650) spell t-saoir with a sl 's'; the Annals of Tigernach have a capital "s" . The later annal entries for other mac an t-saoirs seem to vary between sl and capital "s" The passage stating that his mother was Dar Erca, from whom many saints were born ….these saints were born in her line and that she was an ancestor, not literally a mother of all of them…the Annals occurred in the O'Brolchain of Donegal family, in either 1029 or 1097, followed by a Michael Mac-an-tShair in 1268, Bishop of Clogher in Tyrone Co. This last is definitely a surname, as apposed to the uses in the earlier Annal entries, which are merely descriptive terms.
Mac Tíre Úah-Uallacháin m. Cuiléoin m. Conchobuir m. Meic Thíre m. h-Uallacháin m. Fogartaich m. Cumascaig m. Colgcan m. Mugróin m. Flaind Dá Chongal. 1029 Annals of the Four Masters Mac Tíre, mac Donnghaile, MacBain states the name should read: Paul Mac-ic-Tire. GENELACH CLAINNE COLGCAN (Rawlinson MS). The 'ic' here is a second 'mac' forming with Tire the 'son of a wolf' meaning. Written Paul mac Mac-Tire, but when spoken, the second M would tend to drop out of the name, resulting in the form quoted by MacBain. possible that MacIntyre is simply a form of Mac-ic-Tire or Mac-in-Tire, , in shortened form, simply MacTire or MacTyre, pronounced Mac-ic-Tire …
The McAteers of Donegal, may have been a branch of the O'Brolchains of Donegal.
In looking at a clan map of Scotland, the lands of the Clan Ross were far to the north of Kintire in Argyle, making a descent from this historical Paul Mac Tire doubtfull, unless one takes into account the fact that the Clan Ross were granted lands in northern Argylle in 1225 by Alexander II.The Kingship of Tirconnell or Donegal was held by two families for centuries, the O Cananains and the O Muldoraighs; then suddenly in around 1180 A.D., the O'Donnells came out of nowhere to claim the kingship of Tirconnell. This was just slightly after the heyday of Somerled, the ancestor of the MacDonalds, in Scotland. Shortly after 1200 A.D., we find Domnall oge O'Donnell marrying a MacDonald of the Isles and a Mac Suibhne from Kintire. Later the Mac Suibhne gallowglasses were settled in Donegal under the O''Donnells. The MacMeanmans of MacMenimans of Donegal, were a branch of the O'Donnells who originated as a separate family in 1303. The O'Donnells of Donegal's arms also feature a hand holding a cross - and this is a clan emblem of ancient usage. The hand faces the other way. There is a legend associated with their clan arms, that St. Patrick placed a cross on their ancestor's shield (Conal Gulban) and the image was burned into his shield.
The Irish surname, in the Annal enties of 1268 and 1288 as Mac an t-Saoir (Michael Mac an t-Saoir, archbishop of Armagh and Clogher in Tyrone). The Mac an t-Saoir tag, …does not mean son-of-the-wright. (perhaps meaning saintly, like St. Ciaran, or even Christlike (Christ was a carpenter or wright himself). Michael Mac-an-tshair, Official of Ard-Macha, was consecrated bishop in Clochar by the archbishop of Ard-Macha on the morrow of the Nativity of Blessed Mary [Sept 8). Bishop Michael Mac Antsair, in 1279, exchanged with the abbot the episcopal residence that had been built near the abbey by Bishop Donat O'Fidabra, between 1218 and 1227, for a piece of land outside the town, called Disert-na-cusiac, on which he erected another episcopal palace. Or it could have some meaning related to church-building or construction. The O'Brolchains were noted for their construction of churches in Derry. ….It was common practice condoned by the church for priests and clergy to marry and have families at this period in Irish History. The Gallaghers and McMenimens of Donegal both had married priests and Bishops in their family trees; so although we don't have a pedigree for this Michael Mac an t-Saoir, it is certainly possible he was an ancestor of the MacAteers of Donegal and Tyrone.
The Gaelic surname Mac an tSaoir belongs both to Ireland and Scotland. In Scotland it is always MacIntyre. In Ireland the Maclntyres slightly outnumber the Mac Ateers, but a number of the former are Ulstermen of Scottish extraction. Together they are estimated in population statistics to number some 4,500 people in Ireland: almost all the MacAteers are in Ulster (Armagh, Antrim and Donegal), while the MacIntyres are less concentrated in that area, with a considerable number in Co. Sligo. Ballymacateer is a place near Lurgan; Carrickmacintyre is in Co. Mayo.
The last Mac an t-Saoir in the Annals was actually Michael, bishop of Clogher in Tryone Co., in 1288. By this date the mac an t-Saoir nickname had clearly become a surname. little researched family names in Donegal. The fact that the last Mac an t-Saoir in the Annals was an O Brolchain, a Donegal sept, in 1097, was about the time when surnames were first being adopted in Ireland. This Michael was a bishop of Clogher in Tyrone is not very important - men from other counties were routinely made bishops of dioceses outside of their home counties. The bishop of Clogher who held the sea from 1268-1287 was Michael Mac An tSaoir and the famous St. Kieran of Clonmacnois, who flourished seven centuries earlier, was called Mac an tSaoir. MacAteer, or MacIntyre, is one of those names which had been subjected to anglicization by translation. Saor is the Irish word for a certain type of tradesman such as a mason or a carpenter. The name has never become Mason, but Carpenter was fairly widely used as a synonym, so that the surname Carpenter in Ireland is often not English in origin but MacAteer in origin. Also, since saor has another meaning of free, the English surname Freeman sometimes hides a MacAteer beginning. It is not improbable that the English name Searson was also sometimes used in the same way. It has been used as the anglicized form of Ó Saorthaigh. Freeman also does duty, in this case by mistranslation, for Ó Saorthaigh, the name of a small Westmeath sept normally called Seery in English. A branch of this, or possibly a distinct family of the same name, was also at one time located in Donegal, today descendants are now found in small numbers in north Connaght, where some of its members are called Seery and some Freeman.
The 1659 census shows that the MacIntyres were numerous in Co. Donegal at that time, and the hearth money rolls of somewhat later show that the name was also common in Co. Monaghan. The adoption of Carpenter for MacAteer took place for the most part in the Dublin area, so that Most Rev. Dr. John Carpenter, Archbishop of Dublin from 1770 to 1786, who is remembered for his prominent part in the struggle for Catholic Emancipation, probably belonged to a branch of that sept. He was interested in Irish and in close touch with the Irish poet O'Neachtain; he wrote his name in Irish as Mac an tSaoir. However, Henry Carpenter (fl. 1790), poet and scribe, known in his native Irish language as Enri Mac an tSaoir, was a Clareman. The name also occurs in Co. Clare in a place-name-Cahermackateer, near Corofin; but as a surname it is very rare in that county in any of the above forms.