Re Where Did the Family of Maher Come from Turnleftjo 19 6 2011

I found in researching the " MAHER " ancestry , that your descendantcy could have come from two completely different sources ' INDIAN and IRISH .
To assist you I will give you both results of my search as I dont know what race you belong to ( with respect )
They will be classified as ( a ) <-- INDIAN and ( b )<-- IRISH
source: History of the Mayer Name
They are as follows :

( a )
Most likely path of migration

The Maher people of Saurashtra, Gujarat, have generated considerable interest throughout the world. Various researchers and historians including British, Arabs, Americans, Indians, Germans and the Russians have shown a keen interest.

The Maher population

The population of Mahers distributed in a number of 155 villages and some 23 nes (habitant of cattle breeders) was reported to be 50,000 according to the Census of 1951. At present, the population of the Mers is said to be nearly 2, 50,000.

Maher lineages

It may be noted that the Mahers/ Mers are divided into 14 exogamous lineages. Each of these lineages (Sakas) is further divided to minor or major segments (clan) distributed in a number of villages (gotras). Some of these segments are names after names of the villages inhabited by the people of that segment. Out of the 14 lineages, four stands out in status on account of their population, land ownership and historical standing in the composition of the Mer community.

These four lineages are: Keshwala, Sisodia, Odedra and Rajshakha

whose decendants are settled largely in the villages of the highland located in the Porbandar region.

The other 10 lineages are: Parmar, Vaghela (Waghela), Chudasama, Chauhan, Bhatti, Vala Jadeja, Solanki, Chavda & Vadher who largely inhabit the villages in the lowland located in Ranavava & Kutiana area.

The Mer lineages
Surname Sub-surname
Keshwala Antrolia, Erda
Sisodia Godhania, Khastriya, Ranavaya, Modhavadia, Kuchadia, Haddiya,
Rajsakha Khunti, Karavadra, Gorania Sundavadra, Bokhiriya, Selor, Selan, Jethwa
Pashtriya Butad, Revdaria
Odedra Visana
Jadeja Kadcha, Tarkhala, Ratia, Kadegia
Solanki Timba, Divrania, Sida, Bhogesra, Juneja, Waghela
Parmar Mahiyaria, Balega, Mundera, Pata, Gorsera
Vadher Sarma, Sutreja, Sindhal, Dasa
Vada Bapodra, Agath, Muliasiya
Chavda Bhatti, Bhutiya, Bhadia
Chauhan Gareja
Vadhia Vadar, Bajigiya
Pathiar Tapalia
Vagh Vagh, Bhalegia, Goregia
Bhatti
Chudasama
Waghela

The Mers of Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh

The name Med-pat are (covered by the former state of Udaipur) means the land of the people called Meds. This name was possibly the original one of the region of Mewad, the habitant of Meds. In subsequent historical times, the area was said to have been controlled by the people named Mev or Mer. A part of this region is even now known as Mewad. However, the people named Mers were concentrated in and around Devgarh and Ajmer Merwada areas. Some scholars were of the opinion that the Mers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh represent a section of the Hun tribe of the historical fame.

Organisation of the Mer Sub-groups

In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, four sub-regional groups of the Mer were distributed in the past. They have had several endogamous (the social practice of marrying another member of the same clan, people, or other kinship group) groups called hissa, each named after place-names and with names of exogamous (the custom in some societies of marrying outside their people's own social group) lineages called got. These are given below:

Group 1
In this main group there were nine hissas (groups), viz., Kotah, Bhopal, Bundi, Zalavad, Lakheri, Baran, Mangrol, Iklora and Khanpur.

Group 2
In the second group, there were four hissas (groups), such as, Udaipur, Mandorgarh, Jaipur, and Ajmer located in the region known as Merwara. (This group did not send any representative to attend the Conference of all the Mers at Bhopal, referred to later in this account).

Group 3
The Mers of Bhopal also formed single independent group of hissa. These Mers were looked down upon by some high caste Hindus and by some other Mers as low. Many of the Bhopal Mers had taken to the profession of village guides and escorts as they were poor and did not own land for cultivation.

Group 4
In this group, there were three main hissas, viz., Indore, Ujjain and Ratlam. It is interesting to note that a village near Byavar had a group of Mers called Keshwala; and that the Keshwala lineage of Saurashtra was looked upon there, as the original (adya or asl) Mers.

It may be mentioned that majority if the Mers in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were menial labourers working in small factories, textile mills and railways. Rests of the few were landholders and farmers. They spoke various sheds of Hindi dialects, and had material culture different a great deal from that of the Mers of Saurashtra who speak a variant of Gujarati dialect in villages.

Beside it should be noted that the social structure of the Mers of Saurashtra is marked by customs of bilateral cross-cousin marriage, junior sororate. The Mers of Saurashtra have fourteen exogamous lineages. It appears that there is probably no such group of Mers in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh who practise symmetrical cross-cousin marriage.

The Mers of Kathiawar

In 712 A.D Mohabed-Been-Kasim invaded Sind, a tribe of Rajputs known by the name of Mers of Medhs, was very powerful in Southern part of Sindh. Col. Walker in the history of Kathiawar notes that the Mers were intimately connected with the Jethwa Ranas of Porbandar. He also mentions that the Jethwas and the Mers belong to the same fold. The Mers could not keep up the same traditions and could not compete with the Jethwas. The Jethwas went ahead and the Mers lagged behind. In the course of time the Jethwas began to keep themselves distant from the Mers and the Mers were soon looked down upon as the sub-ordinate or second rate people. The distances went on widening and the Jethwas completely disassociated themselves from the Mers, so, much that they used the Mers to help them in their battles against their enemies and in return of the services rendered 24 villages in Barda. These twenty four villages were considered to be their possession even to this day. These Mers were exempted from most taxes except only nominal tax. Today we find a great difference between the Jethwas and the Mers in so many respects such as manners, custom, the ways of the life due to different problems and different circumstances. But one thing is quite clear the Jethwas depended for their present and past position on strength of Mers and today too we find that the Jethwas have not forgotten the debt gratitude they owe to the Mers. It was custom that when a Rana of Porbandar ascended the throne or the Gaddi, the headman of Mers used to cut his smallest finger-tip of his hand and used to make a “Tilak” mark of blood on the forehead of the Rana. This fact speaks for itself.

According to the Barots they read in their own books that the forefathers of the Jethwa and the Mers were the same and they came and settled in Saurashtra at the same time which is around 900 A.D. The problems that the Jethwa Rajputs had to solve were the same that the Mers had to solve. So we can see that they were sailing on the same boat. Barots go so far as to maintain that the Jethwas belong to the line of the younger brother and so long as they were afraid of the common enemies they lived as brothers. As soon as the common danger disappeared, they began to look at one another with strange eyes. This is not only what has happened in the case of Jethwas and Mers but in the case of so many communities. A sort of bar often comes and stands between even the children of the same father. Changing circumstances has always created petty communities and so many petty factions. There are so many other proofs also to convince us that the Jethwas and the Mers belong to a common stock.

The Rajput Mers of Kathiwar

After coming to Saurashtra it appears that the Mers must have come in contact with the Rajput families. The surnames must have been adopted by the Mers as they offered and accepted daughters from those Rajput families. It also looks very strange that we find surnames like – Valas a surname which is known to be one of the principal branches of Kathis. It is very strange things to see how fusions of castes have come into being.

Inter-State Conference of Mer community

All India Mer Conference was held on 27th and 28th of the month February, 1955 at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. In local language, it was called Akhil Baratiya Mer Parishad. The Conference was attended to by about fifty Mer leaders from Saurashtra and nearly two thousand Mers from two thousand Mers from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Maldhev Ranabhai Keshwala, the distinguished Mer leader of Saurashtra inaugurated and presided over the function. Maldev Bapu as was popularly called, addressed the gathering in Hindi, a part of which transliterated and present below:

“Dear friends”

Since centuries, our ancestors ruled Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Saurashtra by the dint of their unity, solidarity and physical power. They served the people as rules and became famous for their popular rule in neighbouring states. History provides ample evidence of this. We the children of Unuh, (a powerful Mer ancestor), have today gathered together here for the upliftment of our community. I am glad to welcome you and to have the opportunity of inviting you to stand on a common platform in order to strengthen the bonds of unity and brotherhood among all Mers. I have no words to express my heartiest thanks for the honour you have given me to preside over this function and to guide the deliberations”

He then briefly described the socio-economic conditions of the Mers of Saurashtra, and indicated as to how they were trying to raise the educational status of the Mers by running a Mer Students Boarding House in Porbandar, and encouraged young boys from villages to avail of better occupational opportunities. This , he said had helped in having created a group of highly qualified people such as barristers, doctors, advocates, engineers and a few other specialist and professionals among the Mers, Referring to the historical past of the Mers, he said that the historians called them Maitraka, meaning descendants of the son of God. He also stated “Among the Gurjars we were known as Mihir. In fact we all are Rajputs, and are counted as one of the thirty sic clans of the Rajputs.”

The conference noted that the Mers of Saurashtra were the most advanced, while the Mers of various groups in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were relatively backward. The Conference therefore, recommended that a strong social reform movement to improve rules and regulations of the caste phanayats in the latter two states (Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh) should be started as quickly as possible. Four resolutions were also passed at the conference, viz. against dowry, drinking and other social evils prevalent among the Mers living in all the regions.

source:Article supplied by Kishan V Sisodia

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Maher Surnames and their Kuldevs, Gotra, Vansh, Isthtadev, Gor and Barot
Surname Bhaiyat
Gotra Vansh Ishtadev Kuldevi Gor Barot
Keshwala Antrolia, Bheynia, Ratadia,Butta, Erda, Bagordara Kashyap Suryavanshi Ramchandra Khodiyar Mataji
Shri Vindhyavasini Aai
Girnara Brahmin
Sonrat
Sisodia Modhwadia, Kuchhadia, Khistriya, Godhania, Ranavaya, Hadadiya, Pashtariya Kashyap Suryavanshi Ramchandra Shri Vindhyavasini
Aai Shri Chamundai
Shri Gatran Aai
Shri Sikotar Aai
Thanki Brahmin
Rehnuka
Rajsakha/ Jethwa
Karavadra, Khunti, Tilak, Gorania, Chundavadra, Jethwa, Surya, Jog, Modedra, Selot, Selar, Pariya- (Bhosiya) Bokhiria Aashtang Suryavanshi Shri Hanumanji Shri Vindhyavasini Aai
Shri Chamundai
Joshi Brahmin Brahbhat

Odedra

ઑડૅદરા

Visana, Ji (Odedra)
Okhai, Tukadiya.
Kashyap Chandravanshi Gorakhnath
Vacharadada, Patha Pir
Shri Sikoter Mataji
Chamunda/ Balvi Joshi Brahmin
Sonrat
Jadeja / Kishore
Kadchha, Ratiya, Tarkhala, Kadegiya, Pipraniya, Mekhadiya, Kulranmiya Atri
Samved Chandravanshi Ashapuri Ambaji, Kandhali Aai, Ashapura Ma

Girnara Brahmin
Lagdhir
Vaghela
Solanki, Timba, Samja, Vadaliya, Jakhniya, Bhanvadiya, Chabhhad, Divraniya, Bhogesra, Juneja, Gariyana, Sida, Chhaya Atri Chandravanshi Vacharadada Shri Shikoter Mataji
Joshi Brahmin Brahbhat
Parmar Mahiyaria, Chatraviya, Liboriya, Kahaliya, Kotadiya, Jilaniya, Mosa, Mandera, Pata, Gorsera, Badeja, Chandela Gautam Rushi Agnivanshi Simiyar - Mandvari
Shri Maha Kali
Shri Mandavadi Aai Girnara Brahmin
Sonrat
Vadher/ Rathod
Sharma, Sutreja, Sindhal, Padodariya, Chandesha, Dasa,Pandavadariya, Chanrodariya,Mahikya Kashyap

Suryavanshi Shri Khodiyar Aai

Shri Gatran Aai
Girnara Brahmin
Sonrat
Vada Muliyashiya, Khimdaniya, Bapodra-(Mashani) Amar, Agath, Mihikiya, Timmasiya, Bhetakiya Kashyap Suryavanshi

Visant Mataji,
Shri Vindhyavasini Aai
Chamunda Mataji
Vihot Mataji
Joshi Brahmin Brahbhat
Chavda Navadiya, Kothvada, Kothadiya, Padorodiya Kashyap Suryavanshi Shri Shikoter Mataji Joshi Brahmin Brahbhat
Chauhan Gareja
Agnivashi Shapurna mataj
Shri Chamuda Mataji
Joshi Brahmin Brahbhat
Vadar Nandaniya, Nakura, Badhsa, Hilla, Jasiya, Bamaniya Chandravanshi Shri Chamuda Mataji Joshi Brahmin Brahbhat
Parihar Thapaliya Agnivashi Shri Chamuda Mataji Joshi Brahmin Sonrat
Vagh (Chudasama)
Bhalejia, Gorejiya Atri
Chandravanshi Shri Amba Mataji
Shri Khodiyar Mataji
Joshi Brahmin Sonrat
Bhati Bhutiya Atri Chandravashi Shri Vindhyavasini Aai Joshi Brahmin B
------------------------------------------------------------------------( b )---> Remember !!! " MAHER " is from the early name of the following

The O'Meagher's of IKERRIN & ( in general IRELAND )

The family of O'Meagher, which held long sway, played no inglorious part in the history of Ireland. The Cinel Meachair are descended from Fionnchada, son of Connla, so of Cian, second son of Oiliol Olum, King of Munster in the third century.

In 1617, it was conceived so important to ascertain who were the heads of the clanns, that the Earl of Thomond compiled a "Book ol Pedigrees of the meere Irish", in which he records that of Meachair, who was thirteenth in descent from Cian. Sor George Carew, President of Munster about this time, also collected for the use of Lord Burghley "Descents of the meere Irish", in which he gives five generations of the O'Meaghers. "Pedigrees of the Irish nobility", preserved in the British Museum, also record five generations of the O'Meaghers; and beside these there are nine other pedigrees of the O'Meaghers in the libraries of Lord Roden, of the Royal Irish Academy, and of Trinity College. That in possession of Lord Roden, written on vellum by Duald Mac Firbis, brings the pedigree down to Teige or Thaddeus O'Meagher, who was thirty-eigth in descent from Cian; and a pedigree in the Royal Irish Academy, which was compiled in 1664 by Cucory O'Clery, one of the Four Masters, also on vellum, brings the pedigree down to John O'Meagher, who was thirty-ninth in descent from Cian.

At the foot of this pedigree was inserted the following note: "The steed and battle-dress of every Lord of them belong to the Comarba of Cronan and Inchanambeo, and these must go thrice round him (the chief of the Meachair) when proclaiming him Lord, and the Comarba should be at his shoulder (i.e. the place of honour), and he should rise before the Comarba, and that Meachair was King of Ele"

The territory of the Cinel Meachair was called Ui Cairin, modernized as Ikerrin, a barony in the north of the County Tipperary, situate at the foot of Bearnan Eile, i.e. the gapped mountain of Ely, now called the Devil's Bit from its curious outline. The barony contains 69,381 acres of arable land and land and water, and is subdivided into twelve parishes, rated at the annual value of 45,000l. The rivers Nore and Suir rise in the parish of Borrisnafarny.

We find the earliest notice of the clann in Colgan's "Tripartite Life of St. Patrick" "Patrick went into Muscraighetire to baptize and to preach and plant the faith there. He met three brothers of that nation - men of power - Furic and Muinnech and Mechair, the sons of Forat, son of Conla (son of Tadg, son of Cian, son of Olioll Ohim). Muinnech believed at once, and Patrick baptized and blessed him, and said that illustrious heroes and clerics should descend from him for ever; and that the chief kingship of his country should be (filled up) from him for ever, as the poet said:

" Muinnech the Great believes

The National Archives of Ireland
Maher/Meagher transported to Austrailia
Search results

O'Meaghers of Ikerrin

Surname List
First Generation
Second Generation
Third Generation
Fourth Generation
Fifth Generation
Sixth Generation
Seventh Generation
Eighth Generation
Ninth Generation
Tenth Generation
Eleventh Generation
Twelfth Generation
Thirteenth Generation
Fourteenth Generation
Fifteenth Generation
Sixteenth Generation
Seventeenth Generation
Eighteenth Generation
Nineteenth Generation
Twentieth Generation
Twenty-First Generation
Twenty-Second Generation
Twenty-Third Generation
Twenty-Fourth Generation
Twenty-Fifth Generation
Twenty-Sixth Generation
Twenty-Seventh Generation
Twenty-Eighth Generation
Twenty-Ninth Generation
Thirtieth Generation
Thirty-First Generation
Thirty-Second Generation
Thirty-Third Generation
Thirty-Fourth Generation
Thirty-Fifth Generation
Thirty-Sixth Generation
Thirty-Seventh Generation
Thirty-Eighth Generation
Thirty-Ninth Generation
Forthieth Generation
Forty-First Generation
Forty-Second Generation
Forty-Third Generation
Forty-Fourth Generation
Forty-Fifth Generation
Index

AODH-MOR, CEALLAIDH, CIAN, CONNLA, CORMAC CAS, CUCHOILLE, DITHORBA, DLUTACH, DOMHNALL, DONNCHUAN, DUBMERCON, EIGNECH, EOCHAIDH, EOGAN, EOGON MOR, ETCHU, FAEBHASDEARG, FEILIMIDH, FERGNA, FIACHU, FIONNACHTA, LUGAIDH, LUGHAID, LUGHAIDH, MEACHAIR, MOGH-CORB, O' MEACHAIR, O' MEAGHER, O'MEACHAIR, O'MEAGHER, OILIOL OLUM, TADG, THADG, UA-MEACHAIR

Excerpts from:

O Meagher, Meagher and Maher - and their dispersal in Tipperary

source: By William J. Hayes

Published in the 1993 Tipperary Historical Journal.

Note: This is only a portion of the original article. Parts of this article are not printed here including the complete sections titles "18th - 19th Century Records" and "Meagher of the Sword". To obtain the complete article can be ordered from the County Tipperary Historical Society

The good relationship which the O Meaghers, the Ui Meachair, established and maintained with the Earls of Ormond and other major Butler houses contributed to their ability to retain and control much of their ancestral tuath of Ui Cairin in the north-east of Tipperary right up to the Cromwellian period. Ui Cairin, which emerged as the barony of Ikerrin in the Anglo-Norman period, was a division of the ancient kingdom of Éile, which stretched over southern Offaly and most of north Tipperary, and which was ruled over by the O Carrolls, the traditional overloads of the O Meaghers.

The Civil Survey records that in some of the parts of Ikerrin which they owned the O Meaghers continues to practise the ancestral Gaelic form of land tenure, that is, holding land in common without partition. In the formal parish of Killea in the southern part of Ikerrin, for instance, no less than fourteen O Meaghers shared in the ownership of the whole parish, the exception of the townland of Killmocuddy, the proprietor of which was Colly McSweeney. These fourteen O Meaghers are described in the Survey as "being all descended out of the house of O Meager whose title they clayme by fee from their ancestors."
Clonakilly - Principal Stronghold

One of the fourteen was John O Meagher, who occupied the tower house of Clonakenny, the principal O Meagher stronghold in Ikerrin. Besides his share of the lands in Killea, he individually owned some 3,500 acres, mainly in the former parish of Bourney. He also owned the lands and tower house of Rathnaveorge, and held the lands of Knockballymeagher "motively" with the Earl of Ormond. He was one of the largest Gaelic landowners in Tipperary.

Only two O Meagher landowners in Co. Tipperary outside of Ikerrin are recorded in the Civil Survey. They were William Meagher of Higginstown in the former parish of Peppardstown, now in the Fethard parish, and Teig Meagher of Ballindrummenn in Clonoulty parish.

The O Meagher relationship with Ikerrin was to change profoundly through the Cromwellian settlement. John O Meagher lost his Clonakenny stronghold and all its lands, as did the other O Meagher landholders their bastions and hearthlands in Bawnmadrum, Boolabawn, Cloneen (or Clonan), and Killea.

The O Meaghers had finally yielded their landowning status to a new elite of planted stock. However, beneath the landowning layer of the old society, the O Meagher clan not only substantially survived in its old tuath, but remained by far the most common surname in Ikerrin, which at that period had a population of something between 800 and 1,000 adults.

The dispersal of the population which the Cromwellian settlement caused affected the landowning Gaelic and Anglo-Irish catholic stock, while the middle and lower levels of the old society survived and endured in their old localities, maintaining a continuity which is still ongoing. This is very well exemplified in Ikerrin. The O Meagher landholders of 1640 were dispossessed, but the clan remained strong in its old tuath.
Forms of the Surname

The Civil Survey of 1659, embarked on with a view to the Cromwellian confiscations and settlement, had among its aims the standardising into current English not only of the Irish townland names but the family names as well. The name Meagher is rendered as Magher in the Survey, which was obviously the closet phonetic rendering of the Gaelic name which the particular .scribe came up with. The 1659 Census, however records the name as Meagher, without the O prefix.

The quant phrase that the Civil Survey uses about the O Meaghers of Killea "being descended out of the house of O Meagher" has a ring of family and clan pride about it. The effort of the Civil Survey scribe to anglicise the original Irish form of the name, Ui Meachair, i.e. descendant of Meachair (cineal Meachair), probably gave rise to the English version Meagher, the only version of the name that remained in vogue up to at least the beginning of the 18th century. The simpler version of the name Maher was to emerge around the 18th century.
The Irish Form

According to MacLysaght (in his Irish Families, their Names, Arms and Origins) , Meachair is derived from the Irish word meaning hospitable. This word is now obsolete, leaving one to wonder if it came from the root word maith, good. The 1659 Census, which records the already wide dispersal of the clan by that date, also bears out that Meagher was the form of the name in general use. This is supported by the Hearth Money Records of 1667-69.

The Census records that while the Meaghers were still the most numerous surname in Ikerrin, the home barony, there was a dispersal of the clan not only into different parts of Tipperary, but also into Offaly, Laois, Clare, Waterford and Carlow. As far as Tipperary is concerned, the main dispersal from Ikerrin was southwards into the baronies of Eliogarty, Slieveardagh and Middlethird. (See Figure 1.)

After Ikerrin the largest concentration of the Meaghers (all non-landholding) was in the barony of Middlethird, which had Cashel and Fethard as its principal centres of population. By 1659/60 there were 72 adults named Meagher living in that heavily colonised and densely populated barony. At that date Meagher was the next numerous family name after Ryan in Middlethird.

The next largest concentration of the Meaghers by 1659/60 was in the Barony of Slieveardagh, where the Census enumerates 46 adults of the name. The main centres of population in that barony are Killenaule and Mullinahone. The barony of Iffa and Offa, which has Clonmel, Chair and Clogheen as its centres, had 26 adults names Meagher, while Clanwilliam, which has Tipperary town and Emly as its centres, had 14.

Outside of Tipperary the biggest drift of the Meaghers was into the barony of Clonlisk in the south Offaly, which borders the barony of Ikerrin. There were 26 Meagher adults settled there by 1659/60. The dispersal of the Meaghers recorded by the Census of 1659 is probably linked mainly to the dispossession and disappearance of the old landowning and prominent members of the clan from Ikerrin through the Cromwellian confiscations.

This page was last updated on April 15, 1996

I hope from this you will eventually be able to to trace most of your family tree _( with respect ) from what ever race you are from Let me know which way you are searching . I may be able to assist you further

Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan