Sir Cullo O'Neill of Clanaboy Ulster. 1317 Knighted by King Edward Bruce

Question

Sir Cullo O'Neil is the supposed direct ancestor of the McCulloch, McCullo, McCullough, MC Uladh, etc.. Sir Cullo O'Neil was the 1st Laird of Myrton, Scotland, Knighted by King Robert Bruce in 1317 for being his Secretary of State, Captain of Horse and military prowess by Edwards side during his campaigns to free Scotland. B approx 1375, death approx 1325 -1340. Sir Cullo' s son Godfrey O'Neill II Laird of Myerton took the name McCullo. I believe other sons were William, Matthew, Thomas and Micheal all with last name MacCuUladh. Three of four are all signers of the Ragmon Rolls along with Angus MacCallum of Tyree. I have found documentation of Cu Uladh 1st Laird of Myrton Earl of Ulster Ireland approx b1275 d1325, and Feudal Baron of Navan, Ulster. Son of Aodh Buidhe King of TIR-EOGHAIN Down Ireland 1230-1283. Brian MacAedo Buidhe king of TIR-EOGHAIN 1260-1319 Shane's Castle - supposed Half Brother of Sir Cu Uladh O'Neill. Any documentation tying any or part of these together or with King Edward Bruce 1290-1350 before or after is greatly appreciated. Sir Cullo is my supposed direct ancestor back to him. I have no confirmation of documents of who he is or was and before. If anyone needs any pieces of data to help confirm, please contact me.

Thank you Everyone

Answer 1

Excellent information regarding the McCullough surname. My surname is McCullough, my father is from Ulster, Ireland. Do you have any more information on the McCullough surname?

Comments

McCullough is an Irish variation of McCulloch from Scotland. Although the Irish McCullough's are originaly from Scotland Wales and England before the 12th century. The McCullochs of Cardoness 1675-1699 fleeing religous persecution, migrated to Ireland and changed their name to McCullough. Hoping not to be found. Sir John McCulloch and the Cardoness Castle family had recieved 1000 acres from a family member in Ireland to settle on.

This period of turmoil in Scotland gave way to our family being escorted to Austraila, Ireland and the Americas and other countries. If you need information on this, please let me know. I have thousands of documents of our family and its colorful history. I'm a DNA match back to Thomas MacCon Uladh 1250 and his son Patrick. Patrick had a son also named Patrick b. abt 1300. Other DNA matches are Sir Andrew b. 1425 and Sir Godfrey McCulloch of Cardoness Castle executed at Edinberg Castle on the Iron Maiden in the late 1600's. I have over 20,000 McCullough's and variations documented to date. Several decades of research. Hope this helps you. Good luck

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James McCulloch Undertaker of Scotland was granted a 1000 acre plantation in Ireland in the late 1600’s. Sir Godfrey McCulloch  of Cardoness Castle was executed on the Iron Maiden at Sterling Castle for shooting his neighbor Gordon. James took Sir Godfrey’s widow and children to Ireland and changed their last name from McCulloch to McCullough to avoid religious persecution from the English Monarchy. The McCulloch family has had family members in Ireland and Wales for 500 years. James and Sir Godfrey 1640 are direct DNA ancestors of my family. Other direct Y-DNA ancestors of mine are Sir Thomas Mac Con Uladh (MacCulloch) Del counte de Wigton 1240. Son, Sir Patrick Mac Con Uladh 1261, his brother William 1262. Sir Patrick’ Son, Sir Patrick Mac Con Uladh all Del counte de Wigton. All Signers of the Ragmon Rolls 1289. Sir Andrew McCulloch of Ardwell Castle, Of Ardwell, Wigtonshire 1489. Many others. All were associated with king Edward, King Henry, King William, King Robert, King Alexander, King James I & II. Different variations of our name are mostly due to illiteracy through the 20th century. Conversions from one language to another also plays a big part in name variations. I personally believe our family is from Brittany France. As one of these bothers was counte of Navarre, located in France next to Spain. Hope this helps you with your name variation. As you travel back in time, you’ll find when and where your family name changes several times. Good luck and happy ancestoring.

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It is interesting that ancestry.com says McCullough is an Irish name and not Scottish, what is your opinion and knowledge surrounding the origins of this surname? Irish (especially Ulster): Anglicized form of the Gaelic surname Mac Cú Uladh, a patronymic from Cú Uladh ‘hound of Ulster’. Compare McNally, which is from Mac Con Uladh, genitive form of the same name. It has sometimes been erroneously associated with Gaelic cullach ‘wild boar’, and some families in County Sligo have translated it into English as Boar. (Ancestry.com)

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McCullough is an anglicized form MacCulloch, M’Culloch, McCulloch, Mac Cu Ulagh, Mac Con Ulagh and others. My direct ancestor of Scotland present day to approximately 1450 is spelled McCulloch, MacCulloch and M’Culloch. After the beheading of Sir Godfrey McCulloch Baronet of Nova Scotia of Cardoness Castle at Sterling Castle in 1679, Sir James tanist of Cardoness was given 1000 acres in Ireland. Sir James fled to Ireland with Sir Godfreys wife and other family members. The civil war was heating up and religious persecution was wide. Sir James is stated he changed the family name to McCullough to help avoid this persecution. Also that the name of McCullough was already in use in Ireland by other family members. My research so far Leeds me to 1180-1400 the name has variances of Angus MacCoul 1202 who donated the money to St. Andrews for a new rectory to be built. Niall Culunach O’NEILL Clan (MacCulloch) King of Ireland. Son Sir Thomse Mac Con Uladh O’NEILL 1240 ( Thomas MacCulloch) Del Counte of Wyggton and had his own seal of Scotland. Son Sir Patrick Mac Con Uladh O’NEILL 1260. Son of Patrick- Sir Patrick Mac Con Uladh O’NEILL 1280. William Mac Con Uladh brother of Thomas 1260. Angus Mac Con Uladh 1280 O’NEILL. Andrew MacUlagh O’Neill 1290. Thomas, William, Patrick and son Patrick were all signers of the Ragmon Rolls Fealty to King Edward of England and all counts of Wyggton Scotland. All of Norman fathers and Gaelic Mothers. So to answer your question of Ireland or Scotland. The answer is probably both. As this lineage had a hold on the lands of Galloway Scotland and Ireland from the 6th century. Lines of the same blood branched out and took the lands they could. Our Motto is - By Strength and Courage. It is written that the McCulloch clans could put over 600 men on the western coast of Galloway at anytime. I don’t see the family with political ambitions. Yet they were always standing next to the King after the war was over. This tells us that Clan MacCulloch was a Clan to have on your side, not against.

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https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/14209/

The Rushing Family Document has information on this topic also.

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Fellow McCulloch here from the Chicago suburbs. I too trace part of my ancestry back to Sir Thomas of Wigtownshire all the way through Cpt. John McCulloch of Ardwell (1644-1733) who I believe was a brother to the James McCulloch you talk about and from their move to Ireland then briefly to Virginia through New Jersey before my branch ends up in Tennessee for awhile through the Civil War and then my Grandparents ended up north in Illinois before eventually going back to Tennessee but my Dad, brother and I have stayed. It's been fascinating to stumble upon and hope to visit the UK and the castles someday sooner than later.

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We are forming a McCulloch re-assertion and history group. You would be welcome to join.

Answer 2

Thanks so much for this information. I was totally stumped in Scotland. Our surname is McCulligh which changed from McCulloch in the journey from the Virginia colony to Bruce County, Ontario Canada.

Answer 3

Hello Donald. I would be very interested in hearing from you. I have quite a lot of McCulloch info and we should be working together. It has become very apparent to me that our history was, and is being, systematically erased. Please feel free to call me on 01981550472 and leave a message with contact details.

Comments

Be glad to share what I know is correct, and that I’m still working on. I’m focusing on the 10th-15th century’s of the UK and France.

Send me a message when you have time.