McCabe Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McCabe Family History

McCabe Family History

The McCabe ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The McCabes arrived into Ireland from the Western Isles of Scotland about the year 1350 as gallowglasses to the O'Reillys and the O'Rourkes, the principal septs of Breffney in Ireland. They became a recognised sept in Breffney, their chief being 'Constable of the two Breffneys'.

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.

They were associated with County Monaghan and County Cavan but lost their estates after the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. In the eighteenth century Cathoir MacCabe, 1740, is best remembered as the life-long friend of Turlogh O'Carolan whose death is commemorated in a fine elegy in Irish. In modern times the McCabes are still more numerous in the Breffney area than anywhere else.The McCabe 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 McCabe descendants.