Welcome to my "Casey Family Page". I have been thinking about this for a long time. I wanted to put up every possible bit of information about people named Casey. (I also wanted to get the scoop on the Cronin's and Macliffe families!) I soon discovered that that just wasn't going to happen. What we have ended up with here is some information on the "Kerry" Caseys, and links to other resources. This project will never be completed, so please check back often.
As for my people being the "Kerry" Casey's, it is just an easy way to classify the family. I am told that there were originally six unrelated Casey septs (clans). If you would like to see where mine started out, click here. The sad part of this is that if you look at the index to the Griffith Valuation which listed the vast majority of householders in County Kerry in 1852, it lists 6 Casey householders in the civil parish of Brosna. The trouble is that there is a Catherine, a Denis, two Eliza's, a John and a Patrick. That is sad because my Greatgrandfater's name was Timothy. Oh well, I will just keep looking.
A word or two about the coat of arms shown above. If you look in Burke's General Armory, it describes the Casey coat of arms as" "AR. A CHEV. BETW. THREE EAGLES' HEADS REASED GU." which roughly translates to "silver; a red chevron between three red eagle's heads, jagged." Above the shield and helmet is the crest which is described as "A hand placed horizontally, issuing from a cloud, lifting a sheaf."
One of the things that I love about this site is that I get to meet lots of interesting people. If you are searching for the Casey family, I suggest that you look here.
Clearly, that describes what is shown above. The problem is that under most heraldic rules, only first sons of first sons of the recipient of a coat of arms are permitted to bear the ancestors arms. Younger sons may use a version of the father's arms, but the rules of heraldry say that they must be changed ("differenced") somewhat. To complicate matters even more, my research indicates that there was more than one Casey coat of arms. I will continue to use this one, but my right to it could be called in to question. At one time I had a good explanation of the rules, but that site has been taken down.
A thought on the name. My trusty copy of "The Surnames of Ireland" by Edward MacLysaght, tells me that the name Casey was used by six unrelated septs (clans). Those of Fermanagh, Mayo, and Roscommon were erenagh families. It goes on to say "The name is now widely distributed in all the provinces except Ulster. (I guess I should tell him that it is pretty widely distributed here also.)
On the subject of the way that both sides, along with most of the Irish, were treated, here is a little bit about how Cromwell got his.
Lastly, I am sometimes asked if I am any relation to John Keegan Casey, the fellow who is often described as the "poet to the fennians" and wrote the song "The Rising of the Moon". Sorry, I have not been able to find a link, but you can see his tombstone here. )
The other side of my family is the Cronins. The same source says "A sept of the Corca Laoidhe. The leading family were erenaghs of Gougane Barra. The name is now very numerous in Counties Cork and Kerry. So it looks like I am the product of folks from Cork and Kerry. I have lots of friends who find this hard to believe.
I am also asked from time to time if I speak Gaelic. Sorry, I don't! However, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and want information on Gaelic Language, you can go here.
If you want to download maps of Ireland, you should go here.
As I mentioned above, my Mom was a Cronin. Here is the coat of arms. I will put up additional information within the next few weeks.
I recently ran across this site, and I love it. As noted above, my people are from Cork and Kerry, but this site which is in Waterford, is great! (They also said some nice things about my site!)
Casey Sites
Here is a very small sampling of people who are working on tracing "Casey" ancestors. None of these people are part of my clan, but they have all done good work, and are nice people.
Catholic Encyclopedia JOHN CASEY (No relation, but an interesting fellow)
Casey Family Services (Jim Casey had several great ideas. One was UPS, another was this group!)
Casey Genelogy (This one has more than 5000 names!)
CASEY SITES (NON FAMILY)
This page is a few of the links in my collection about sites that mention the name Casey, but have nothing to do with my family.
IRISH GENEOLOGY SITES
The first site that I am listing has tons of information. For example, they have information on more than 50,000 surnames. A lot of what they have is not Irish, but it is a great resource.
IRISH LINKS
My collection of Irish Links is here.
ORAL HISTORY
I want to memorialize some of the family stories here. It may take a while, but I think that it needs to be done.
NON RELATIVES
There is no truth to the rumor that this article relates to any of our ancestors.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have several hundred photographs of various members of my family. I am slowly getting them scanned. Here is the start of this project.
This site was created on March 1, 1999, and last updated on January 12, 2012. Unfortunately, I am still having troubles with the counter.
© 1999 by John D. Casey Jr.
Most of the graphics on this page were supplied by
