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Note: In considering this subject it should be understood that we do not know the specific origin of the Coffey line. However, all of those coming to America seem to have originated in Ireland. The name Coffey is an English rendering of the Irish Cobhthaigh or Cobhthach, which means " victorious". As is true with many other Irish names it was in earlier times given as O'Coffey and O'Cobhthaigh, meaning "of the family of" or "Descendent of". The name Cobhthaigh is Gaelic, originating from Celtic bands that roared over much of Europe in the third and fourth centuries, B.C. and involved Ireland sometime later. The Cobhthaigh line is traced back to Cobhthaigh grandfather Olliol Flann Beag, King of Munster ( about 240 A.D.), and from there to the brothers Ithe and Bile, relatives of Milesius, King of Spain. In 803 A.D. Fergus Mos O'Cobhthaigh brought the leaders of the 3 most powerful warring clans of Eire ( Ireland), the O'Briens, O'Niels, and McCarthys, together at Tara, the ancient capitol of Eire, where a peace treaty, a position which has been hereditary held by the family for seven generations. Members of this family seem to have settled in various parts of Ireland, but there were 3 main septs. The best known was O'Cowhey, O'Cowhig, or O'Coffey of Fuin Cleena, chief of Triocha Meona, now the barony of West Barryroe, Corca Laoighe ( Cork County) in Munster. These once powerful chiefs had seven castles along the coast and their ruins of them still exist today. A second group was Ui Maine ( counties Galway and Roscommon in Connaught). They lost their lands and influence in the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscation's of the 17th century. The Irish Civil War of 1641 is credited with being the cause of the Commonwealth confiscation's in Ireland. Because of their devotion to faith, King, and country the estates of the Irish Papist landed gentry were almost wholesale confiscated to make room for the Cromwellian settlement. In 1649 Cromwell became commander in chief of all English forces in Ireland and soon conquered most of the country. There followed a great deal of redistribution of the land. In 1675 12 1/2 million acres were forfeited by Irishmen loyal to king James the Second. About one-fourth of these were eventually returned to their former owners ( by the Treaty of Limerick), but most went to personal friends of King William the Third. Another conquences of the Commonwealth confiscation of Ireland was the suppression of prefixes like O'. some families later returned to use but the Coffeys did not. Some of the Coffey's transplanted or otherwise removed from their lands included in 1665-1654: Thomas Coffie, Balligiffe , County of Westmeath; and Daniel Coffey, Province of Connaught. Others, date and locality not given, were: Teige Coffie, and Hugh and Owen Coffy. The third Coffey family was that of county Westmeath in Leinster, a celebrated bardic family. In ancient Ireland the bards ranked next to royalty. They preserved the folklore, handing it down from generation to generation by word of mouth. A bardic Coffey family also lived in Connaught. There are genealogical charts listing descendents through over 90 generations down to Edward Coffey in the America's in the 1800's. however, we do not know which point our line branched from this genealogy. It is quite possible the ancestor went from Ireland to England for sometime before migrating to America. The later ( 19th century) Coffeys who came to America from Dublin were probably of the Munster Sept ( largely from County Cork). If one wishes to trace their origins further than a good source is O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees and the annals of the Four Masters by O'Clery, et al. After listing the generations from Adam to Noah as given in the Bible, and that Noah's son Japhet was given Europe and most of Asia as an inheritance, O'Hart mentions some descendents of Japhet that settled and developed the Scythian nation. Ireland was invaded by a series of Scythian groups in very early times but the most prominent were the Melesians. They seem to be descended from Japhet's son Magog ( as were the earlier groups) but through the latter's son Crete before one Brigus conquered large areas around the some time in Phoenicia, Egypt, and Crete before one Brigus conquered large areas around the Mediterranean, including what is now Spain. He had 2 sons, Ithe and Bile. The latter was King of these conquered countries and his son Milesius succeeded him. Milesius was quite an adventurer. He went to Scythia where he became a general and married the kings daughter. Because he was so popular the king became jealous of him and ensuing events led to Milesius slaying the King. He than went to egypt where the Pharoah made him a general and gave him his daughter, Scota, in marriage, as Milesius was a widower at this time. At length he took leave and returned to Spain. Some years later he sent his Uncle Ithe along with the latters son Lughaidh to Ireland. Ithe was subsequently killed by the ruling group there. Lughaidh and some of the men escaped to bring back word to Milesius who than dispatched his sons and many men to conquer Ireland. Milesius' son Heremon eventually became the sole ruler of Ireland and his brothers' sons received large inheritances. He also gave a part of Munster to Lughaidh. The Milesians ruled Ireland for 2,885 years down to their submission to the Crown of England in the person of Henry the Second. The Heremonian nobility included all the king of Scotland down to the Stuarts and the Kings and Queens of England from Henry the Second down to the present time. A list of the principle or well-known families in Ireland from the 11th to the beginning of the 17th century included O'Coffey, chief in Westmeath, O'Coffey in Galway and O'Coffe. In 1960 there were listed as being 4,250 Coffeys in Ireland. Since Ireland was invaded by many groups over the centuries, the O'Coffey line as well as others must have been mixed. Goiner, another descendent of Japhet, is thought by most scholars to be the ancestor of the Cimmerians who in turn were the source of, among others, the Gaelic and Celtic peoples, some of whom settled Ireland. It should be mentioned that the terms Gaelic and Celtic come to be almost synonymous in terms of origin. There is another source that suggests that the name which means " fair haired victor" (Cobthach Fionn) must have come from a Norserax, during the Norse invasion in the 9th and 10th centuries, who stayed around and married a native Irish girl. This does make sense as would not ex[ect a line from Spain or southern Europe to produce someone who was " fair-haired" and we know that the Norseman did remain in Ireland for several centuries and intermarried with the Celts and others who were already there. However, I know of no other records indicating this to be the case and it would seem that the name Cobthach ( or Cobhthaigh) Fionn was used before the Norseman came.
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