the New World."

Are the McQuaids Scotch-Irish?

During a thorough search of available publications, I found no credible evidence that the McQuaids were originally Scotch or Scotch-Irish; all the evidence points to old-Irish ancestry.

In addition to the sources cited above, I scanned the other Scotch-Irish books listed at the end of this section.  With the exception noted, neither the name McQuaid nor any of its variations were found in these sources.  The exception is Charles A. Hanna's 1902 two-volume book entitled The Scotch-Irish.  Hanna is the Scotch-Irish counterpart of Michael J. O'Brien who, in his two-volume work Irish Settlers in America, takes a when-in-doubt-it's-Irish approach to determining the origin of surnames.  (Incidentally, there are 11 occurrences of the name McQuaid and its variations in O'Brien's two volumes.)  Hanna's index contains the name McQuoid, which is found twice in a footnote to an old account of the Counties Down and Antrim Plantation.  McQuoid is cited as the name of a family that is found in the family tree of the Orrs, a prominent Scottish plantation family.  No other McQuaid or McQuoid citations are found in Hanna's index; however, a very careful examination of Hanna's appendices turns up the name McQuaid one time in Appendix Z, which Hanna calls "Locations of Scottish Families."  Hanna's Appendix Z title is deceptive and misleading in that the data contained in the appendix are taken (although Hanna does not acknowledge this) from the Appendix to the Twenty-ninth Report of the Registrar-General of Marriages, Births, and Deaths in Ireland, which does not identify any names as Scottish.  In fact, the report appendix specifically identifies McQuade as one of the "principal Ancient Celtic Families."

Other Scotch and Scotch-Irish information sources consulted in my unsuccessful search for references to the McQuaid name are as follows:

ä Bolton, Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, 1910.
ä Ford, The Scotch-Irish in America, 1915.
ä Dickson, Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1966.
ä Sims, The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames, 1969.
ä Whyte, A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the USA, 1981.
ä Dobson, Directory of Scots Banished to the American Plantations, 1650 - 1775, 1983.
ä Dobson, Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625 - 1825 (6 volumes), 1984.
ä Dobson, The Original Scots Colonists of Early America, 1612 - 1783, 1989.
ä Smylie, Scotch-Irish Presence in Pennsylvania, 1990.

Where's The Evidence?

What would it take to prove that the McQuaids or any McQuaids are Scotch-Irish rather than old-Irish?  It would require solid evidence that any of the McQuaids in America during the colonial period (or their McQuaid ancestors) had migrated from the Scottish Lowlands to Ulster Province during the 17^th century.  Will it be possible to find such evidence?  Probably not.  If such evidence does exist, it may possibly be found in the Leslie family papers.  The Leslies were a Scottish plantation family that owned a large estate in the northern part of County Monaghan.  The area of the Leslie estate, to a large extent, coincides with the original McQuaid home territory.  The archives at Castle Leslie in Glaslough, County Monaghan, amount to 128 boxes, plus several outsize albums, numerous rolled maps, and the boxed patent of 1876 creating the Leslie baronetcy.  A small portion of the Leslie archives has been copied and is available at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).  The rest can be consulted only by prior arrangement with Miss Samantha Leslie, either in the Muniment Room at Castle Leslie or by means of a special loan to PRONI of the material requested.  So, if anyone out there has sufficient curiosity and persistence to wade through 128 boxes of papers, please let me know if you discover any information about the McQuaids.