About Me
(One Hundred Thousand Welcomes)
To The Teague Clan site! The Teague's have a long and ancient history dating back many centuries in Ireland. The foundation begins back in the Ancient Kingdom of Connacht, A.D. 1186. "Taken from the Annals of the Four Masters". (Tadhg or Teige O'Kelly, one of the commanders of of the Connaught contingent of Brian Boru's army at the battle of Clontarf, was of this ancient family. O'Maolmuaidh or O'Mulmay, was a subordinate chief over Clan Taidhg or Clan Teige in the same district.) This Kingdom was in Galway, where I have traced my ancient line of Teague through many hours of research.
Irish Names and Surnames, Rev. Patrick Woulfe, 1923:"MacTeigue, MacTigue, MacTeague, MacTague, Montague, Teige, Teigue, Teague, Tague, Tigue, Tighe; 'son of Tagu (actually a Gaelic word that I don't know how to spell in english, ed.)' (poet, philosopher); a common surname in Ulster and North Connacht. A family of this name were ancient chiefs of Muinntear Siorthachain, in Co. Westmeath; but there are, doubtless, many distinct families so called."
Another variant is described:"M'Heig, M'Keige, MacAig, MacHaig, MacCaig, MacCaigue, MacKaige, MacKague, MacKage, MacKeag, MacKeague, Keag, Keague, etc."
The Surnames of Ireland, Edward MacLysaght, 1969:"MacTeague, MacTeige, MacTigue, Tighe, MacCaig, MacKeague. (Mac Taidhg). This name has many variant spellings. It is not that of an actual sept, except in Co. Galway, where MacTeiges are a branch of the O'Kellys, but arose from the perpetuation of an ephemeral surname formed from the Christian name Tadhg, Teigue. It is chiefly found in Mayo and Donegal."
A Census of Ireland c. 1659, lists McTeige as one of the principal Irish names in "the Bar of Clanwilliam". There are 25 McTeige Titulados (gentry families).
Irish Family Names, Brian de Breffny, 1982:"Tighe: This Connacht surname derives from the Irish forename Taidhg which became the name of four distinct O' Taidhg septs. The Registrar of Births reported in the last century that in Cootehill Union, Co. Cavan, the surname Kangley was used interchangeably with Tighe. This must be for the curious reason that ceangal is the Irish translation of the English word tie which has the same pronunciation as Tighe. The surname McTigue which is found principally in Co. Mayo and its variants McTeague, McTague, McTeigue, McTeige, in Connacht and Ulster and McKeag in Ulster, also derive from the forename Taidhg. There was a Mac Taidhg sept in Co. Galway. It appears that Tighe was used interchangeably with McTeague and McTeigue in Bawnboy Union, Co. Cavan."
More Irish Families, Edward MacLysaght, 1960:"MacTigue, Teague, Tighe, (O) Tighe:
MacTigue and Tighe are the two most usual anglicized forms of the surname Mac Taidhg, other variants being MacTeague and MacTague. Teague is the form generally used in Ulster, but MacTeague, with the prefix, is commoner in Co. Donegal and Mactague occurs chiefly in Co. Cavan. The MacTigue and Tighe forms, found in Connacht, are more numerous: Co. Mayo is their principal habitat. There was found, however, no actual sept of Mac Taidhg: like MacShane, MacTigue as a surname came into being in a number of places independently, and was at first an ephemeral appellation formed from a father's christian name which at some point became fixed.
O' Taidhg, on the other hand, was a genuine patronymic, which, in fact, belonged to as many as four distinct septs, whose present day representatives, where they survive, are now either Tighe or have become MacTigue or Mac Teague by attraction. An example of this is to be seen in the case of Donnchadh O' Taidhg, Archbishop of Armagh from 1560 to 1562, whose name appears in some records as Donat Macteague. He was presumably of the Ulster sept of O' Taidhg of Oriel origin, erenaghs of Termonkenny, Co. Down, located also in Feara Li (barony of Coleraine). James Tighe (1795-1869) was of this sept. There were three other O' Taidhg septs. Before the Anglo-Norman invasion an O' Taidhg was chief of Imail, a territory in what is now Co. Wicklow, subsequently occupied by the O'Tooles. Then there was the sept located in Connact in the country of the O'Connors, to whom they were akin: they are frequently mentioned in the Annals and O'Teige is described in a manuscript written by Donogh O'Mulconry in 1228 as chief of the household of the King of Connacht. Lastly, the Thomond sept whence came Tadhg O' Taidhg, Bishop of Killaloe, whose death in 1083 is recorded in the Four Masters. I wonder was John O'Tayg, of Cnockanveegh, Co. Tipperary, from whom 30 sheep value 8d. each were stolen in 1307, one of these. The Justiciary Rolls, which so often afford an interesting picture of life in mediaeval Ireland, do not in their relation of this case help to answer the question, which might equally be asked about Thomas O'Taig, an Ormond tenant at Carrick in 1444. The use of Taddeus in Latin documents to denote the surname tends to increase confusion between Mac and O: thus Father Patrick MacTeig O.P. is called simply Patricius Taddeus in a processus datariae relating to the see of Kildare in 1629. (Italized mine; original spelling of my last).
The name Tighe presents a good example of pseudo-translation of Irish surnames. Kangley, a rare Breffny (Cavan) name is Mac Ceanglaigh in Irish; ceangail is the Irish verb for tie, hence Tighe has been used as a synonym for Kangley!
The best known family of Tighe in Ireland, that of Woodstock, Co. Kilkenny, is unconnected with any of those mentioned above. The first of these came from Market Deeping in England and, becoming sheriff of Dublin in 1649, M.P. in 1656 and three times mayor, was the ancestor of a long line of sheriffs, D.L's and M.P's. One of these, Henry Tighe (d. 1836), M.P. for Inistioge, was the husband of Mary Tighe (nee Blatchford) (1772-1810), a poetess whose work went into six editions."
THE TEAGUE CLAN is certified as a registered Irish Clan with The Clans of Ireland Limited Register # 11585
