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.  As descendants emigrated further corruptions in spelling occurred, with Hafey, Haffy, Heaphey and more joining those shown above.  

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were the Royal Kings of Ulidia (Eastern Ulster) until the end of the twelfth century when their kinsmen the MacDonlevys superceded them in power.

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.  There are a number of families in the US and Canada where the spouse was of Scots origin.

DNA has finally put our Irish Haffey's on the map.  We  match at around 4th cousins to other descendants of John Haffey of Magheriarville, Derrynoose Parish, Armagh.  Although there is no christening record for a son John, our John's 1819 birth falls into 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 1776 bef 1855 -  m. Alice McArdle [Dropbox]
5. Background   [Dropbox]

Places:

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

Notes:

The link to John Haffey and Alice McArdle is only proven by DNA.  The fact that some of the McArdle links are to siblings of Alice is a deciding factor in believing the link is correct.  There are a number of other Haffey/Haughey families in  Derrynoose Parish, Armagh at the same time that John and Alice were in Magheriarval.  Finding a DNA connection to any of them would possibly lead back another generation.  Unfortunately though, DNA autosomal connections get much less reliable the further back in time we go finding Haffey's in the lines who have done YDNA might help verify further connections. 

Links:

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