Tracing family roots back to Derbyshire, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

Monday, 16 July 2007

The Flynn Name - O Floinn - Red - A Silver Wolf

The Flynns are descendants of a number of Irish septs of O'Floinn. O'Floinn septs were found in Cork, Roscommon and Antrim. Today the name is most populous in in Cork, Waterford and Connacht.

The name derives from the personal name FLANN, meaning "Ruddy" or "Red".

The coat or arms displays a silver wolf.

Flynn motto: HONOR PRAEMIUM VIRTUTIS EST - "Honour is the reward of virtue"

The McKee Name - Mag Aodha - Fire

McKee, also McGee and MacGee, is a variant of Magee.

The origin of the name is from AOIDH (pronounced 'eeth') which means 'Fire'

The McKees are descendants of two different origins. Firstly, they may be descended from the Mac Aodh or the Mag Aoidh septs who were located in Ulster for a long time.

Mostly though, they are more likely to de descended from the McGees who arrived in Ulster in the seventeenth century with the "settlers" of the province from Scotland. Ironically, both these lines are probably linked as it is most probable that the Scottish settlers themselves were descended from emigrant Mac Aodhs who had arrived in Scotland from Ireland much earlier.

The birds on the coat of arms are Martlets, a mythical bird used in heraldry. The bird is similar to a swallow and can never land. The inability of the martlet to land is often seen to symbolize the constant quest for knowledge and learning.

The McKee motto is SINE FINE "Without End"

Irish Links

I do not have any Irish links of which I am aware. However, both my wife's parents are of Irish descent; so my son has a bit of the Irish in him. My mother-in-law was named Flynn, Annie on her birth certificate although she hated that name and was always known as Nancy. Her mother (Anne Nicholson) and father (Thomas Flynn) were from Dublin. My father-in-law was Thomas McKee, born in Manchester but from Irish stock - not sure when they moved to England, but I believe they were fromthe Kilkenny region of Ireland.

Sunday, 24 June 2007

Tyn Cott Memorial - Frederick Hall 30733

When I tell a friend about a distant relative who died at Passchendaele in 1918, and they tell me that they are visiting the cemetry and memorial in a couple of weeks time, and they come back with a load of photographs and they have a photograph of the memorial with the name of your relative out of the many many thousands that are there - well it gives you goosebumps.

I got the same goosebumps when I visited Brassington and it was his memorial gravestone that I first saw. At that time, I didn't know that we were related. We seem to be drawn together.

I am greatly indebted to Diane and her husband Brian who took these pictures for me (last September, but I had misplaced the disk of photos until today). Thanks.