The Mighty McCabe Clan

Each of Ireland’s ancient clans have a fascinating backstory. I remember years ago visiting the old reference Library, in Cavan, and as a youngster finding myself mesmerised by all the framed heraldic crests of families associated with the county. Everywhere, descendants from ancient clans like the McCabes exist all over the world from Dublin to Melbourne to Honolulu.

In August, I received an invitation to speak at the McCabe Clan Rally in the Slieve Russell Hotel. The following column is based on part of what I talked about.

Firstly, we may ask, from where did the McCabe family originate. According to Ebe McCabe who wrote ‘My McCabe History and the Greater World’, the McCabes who now live in Ireland came over from Scotland as leaders of Gallowglasses for the first time in 1368. Gallowglasses were mercenary soldiers for hire and the word Gallowglass is said to come from an Irish word gal-glec, meaning the ‘courageous hand’. You can read in more detail about Gallowglasses in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, volume 2, 1854.

The etymology of the surname McCabe is from the Irish word ‘cabach’, which when translated means a maker of a cloak or helmet that in appearance is uneven or awkward. Taking it a step further, and some suggest it may mean a big awkward man, a description that historians say befitted the tall Norse-Irish warriors who assisted the native Irish when forcing back the Anglo-Normans into a small stretch of the Pale which lay to the East of Ireland.

The fearsome McCabes dressed in armour made from chainmail to go into battle and carried battle-axes, which struck fear into the enemy. One account I read, suggests that they first settled in Monaghan and sometime afterwards they ventured into Cavan, where they settled in the baronies of Clankee and Tullygarvey. The Book of Cavan referred to them as commanders of the battle-axemen in the employ of the O’Reillys of Breifne.

Afterwards, I wondered if there were any older connections other than the Scottish McCabes. This brings us to the Biblical Book of Maccabees. The Maccabees were a priestly family living in Palestine during the second century BC whose name meant either a hammer, hammerer, or extinguisher according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. One wonders, might there be a definitive connection between them and the McCabe Gallowglasses who settled in Cavan and Monaghan.

Returning to Cavan again, the Historian Philip O’Connell, in a paper for the Breifny Antiquarian Journal wrote that the McCabes inhabited East Breifne and made reference to them appearing in the Annals of the Four Masters where it is recorded that they accompanied the O’Reillys on ‘incursions’ into the Pale where they created ‘havoc’ amongst the ‘English settlers’.

They were a ‘powerful clan’, said O’Connell, but not of the Ui-Briuin race, but were ‘professional soldiers who came over from the Scottish Hebrides in the 12th and 13th centuries, to enter the service of the O’Reillys.’

The Cavan seat of the MacCabes was at Lisreagh, where they had a castle near to the site that Moyne Hall House later occupied. Until the reign of Elizabeth I, the McCabes had held onto their lands. However, during the reign of James I (under whose rule the plantation of Ulster took place) a quantity of Edmund McCabe’s estate was handed to the Moyne family ,which must have created resentment. In the book, Elizabethan Ireland, by Grenfell Morton, the author pointed to a concerted effort under Queen Elizabeth to begin the ‘slow process of conquering the unsubdued areas (in Ireland)’ and therefore end ‘the powerful Gaelic and Anglo-Irish lordships’.

By 1603, all of Ireland was under English law and ruled by a ‘central government’, from Dublin. However, Edmund’s son Alexander, stayed on at Moyne Hall until he forfeited his property in 1691 and afterwards bought a castle, accompanied by 16 townlands, in Stradone. There are famous McCabes all over the world and I thought it might be timely to consider a few. The following are a small selection of McCabes, or persons related to McCabes.

Born in Grenfell, New South Wales, in 1910, Stan McCabe became an Australian cricket player, nicknamed ‘Napper’. A short and stocky player, he was active from 1930 to 1938 and was renowned for his quick footwork and speedy bowling skills. He played cricket at international level until his retirement on medical grounds. He suffered greatly with feet problems and, on August 25, 1968, while out walking, he slipped and fell off a cliff to his death.

Matthew McConaughey is well known in Hollywood for first class performances as an actor who has starred in many movies and television shows, including the highly acclaimed True Detective. He is fiercely proud of his parents Irish roots and was keen to have his children educated in Irish in the Gaeltacht. His mother, Mary Kathleen (Kay) née McCabe’s family ancestral links are to Monaghan and Cavan.

Harriet Calista Clark McCabe was born in Sydney, New York on January 19, 1827, to Arvine and Eliza McCabe. She converted to the Methodist Episcopal Church when she was aged 20 years. From 1851 to 1857 she served as preceptress of the Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Throughout her long life she served as an American pioneer in the field of female temperance and became the first president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. For two decades, she was the editor of Woman’s Home Missions. When the ‘Bureau for Indians and Frontier’ was founded, they made Harriet the society’s first secretary.

Harriet married Lorenzo Dow McCabe a mathematics professor and later professor of philosophy at Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio, Delaware. In Delaware, she died at the age of 92 years. Her obituary in the Santa Cruz Evening News, on September 27, 1919, made certain to credit her ‘with being the founder and writer of the first constitution of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union’.

Born in Ireland during the Great Hunger, the inventor, Nicholas McCabe (1850–1914) came to Australia as a child with his parents. He owned a farm in Pinkerton Plains, and it was there that he perfected his invention known as the ‘McCabe’s Wheat Pickler’. An example of his ‘pickler’ is still on show at Mallala Museum, Adelaide Plains, Australia. The McCabes certainly have a rich heritage, which they can proudly share with fellow clansmen and clanswomen around the globe.

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