Haffey

Joseph, Marie, Grace and Thomas Haffey circa  1896

Haffey or Haughey is considered a varient of the gaelic O hEachaidh meaning Grandson of Eachaidh (rich in cattle).  Other variations include Hoy, Haughey and Haghey.  All of the different spellings are found in the Ulster area especially in the Donegal and Oriel country around counties Armagh and Monaghan.  MacLysaght in The Surnames of Ireland states that the variant Haffey is exclusive to the Armagh area.

The sept of O hEachaidh was of such importance in early times that its chiefs were Kings of Ulster until the end of the twelfth century when their kinsmen the MacDonlevys superceded them in that dignity.

Another possible origin for a person who cannot connect with the Armagh Haffey's could be a corruption of the Scottish Gaelic name Mahaffey (Mac Dhuibshithe) meaning a black haired man of peace (soith).  This name has been anglicized to MacAfee, MacHaffy and MacFie as well as Mahaffey and is present in County Donegal.  Although many of the Irish dropped the O from their names in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it is less common to drop Ma or Mac, however, it is possible that a family coming to the US or Canada might have done so.

DNA has finally put out Irish Haffey's on the map.  We  match at around 4th cousins to other descendants of John Haffey of Mageraville.  Although there is no christening record for a son John it is due to a gap in the available records, with the years 1811-1817, 1819-1826 and 1828-1833 missing.  A sister Susan born around the same time is also missing, See the page for John (4) for more on the family.

Lineage: 

1. Isabel Louise Haffey 1897-1989 m. Francis Martin Madden  [Dropbox]
2. Joseph Phillip 1848-1917 m. Mary Murphy  [Dropbox]
3. John   1819-1884 m. Margaret Keenan  [Dropbox]
4. John 1780? -  m. Alice MacArdel
• Haffey Family Genealogy 
5. Background   [Dropbox]

Places:

• Bay City, Michigan 
• Adjala, Ontario, Canada  [Dropbox] 
• Armagh, Ireland

Notes:

There are some links to a family for John James Haffey on Ancestry and other websites.  The problem with the linked family is that every other child has a christening record and there is none for John.  I searched through the entire parish register to see if it might have been missed in indexing and it isn't there.  That doesn't mean the connection is wrong but it is definitely unproven and won't be included here until there is more evidence.

Links:

• Haffey Gedcom File  (Includes unrelated Haffey families) 
• Link to Haffey Documents, News items and Pictures