McShane (name)

McShane
Family name
Pronunciation	mc-SHAYN
Related names	Shane, MacShane, Johnson

McShane is a patronymic surname originating in Ireland. Also appears in Scotland and England. The surname evolved from the given name Shane, a derivative of John, of Hebrew origin. Some of the earliest historical records regarding the surname are documented through Hugh McShane O'Neill of the royal O'Neill dynasty. Many families translated their name from the Irish "mac Shane" to the English "son of John" upon immigration and in difficult economic times in the northern portion of Ireland, in current day Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The sept of MacShane–Johnson is a closely related branch of the Tyrone O'Neills. Its independent origins begin in the 16th century. There are English reports of a sept of the greater O'Neill dynasty known as the Clan Shanes living in the dense forest of Glenconkeyne and Killetragh dating back to the mid-16th century; and another in County Armagh that is related. When Shane an Diomas O'Neill, Prince of Tyrone and chief of all the O'Neill clans, was killed in 1567, he had more than ten male children from his various wives and girlfriends. As a group they were very young. During Shane's lifetime, he made claim to the patrimony of these children and thus they were raised in the courts of their various maternal grandfathers and aunts upon his death. These houses included the Gaelic noble families of O'Donnell, Maguire, MacDonald, and MacLean.

Sixteen years later in 1583 a confederation of the brothers met at the court of their uncle, the Chief of the MacLean clan in the Scottish isles. They were given an army of more than 2000 Scots to return to Ulster to attempt to retake their father's estate and title. When they invaded the brothers took the English and the O'Neill chiefs by surprise and seized a large sphere of control in eastern Ulster, in alliance with the MacDonald's of Antrim. In an attempt to characterize them, the English began to refer to the group of brothers as "the Mac-Shanes" which in Gaelic was "the sons of Shane O'Neill". For seven years they battled Sir Turlough O'Neill, the recognized O'Neill Mor at the time, and the rising Baron Dungannon and eventually Earl of Tyrone, Hugh Rua O'Neill. The brothers were dealt a blow in 1590 when the Earl of Tyrone captured and hung three of the men. The earl succeeded in capturing and imprisoning three more brothers over the remainder of the decade. By 1591 there were only two or three of the brothers free from the Earl. Two brothers, Hugh and Ever, were hiding out in the Glenconkeyne forest in eastern Tyrone. They became field commanders within the O'Neill clan living there during the 9 Years War. That sept had protected them as babies when their father had been killed nearby and had since been referred to as the Clan Shanes. The Clan Shanes were a boundary sept between the Clannaboy and Tyrone O'Neill lords.

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