Casey Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Casey Family History

Casey Family History

The Casey ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Casey is an Irish name meaning valorous, brave and watchful. There were six unrelated septs of O'Casey.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

One septs territory was comprised of Balrothery West, County Dublin, and another held lands in County Fermanagh. Both have now dispersed although the name is still common in these parts. The four other septs held territory in West Munster and North Connacht, where the name is now chiefly found. The archaeological remains called O'Casey's Lios at Ballygunnermore, bear testament to the Caseys near Waterford. A well known person of the name was Admiral Joseph Gregory O'Casey, 1787-1862, Minister of Marine in the Government of France.The Casey family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Casey descendants.