McCool Name Study - Ulster

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Ulster, Ireland
Surnames/tags: McCool McCoole

McCool Name Study -> Ulster

Historically, almost every McCool or McCoole family that resided in Ireland lived in the nine counties of the Ulster province in the north of Ireland. After the partition of Ireland in 1921 and 1922, six Ulster counties would become Northern Ireland - a part of the United Kingdom. Three Ulster counties joined 23 central and southern counties to form what is now the independent Republic of Ireland.

The six counties of Northern Ireland are:

• Antrim
• Armagh
• Down
• Fermanagh
• Londonderry (aka Derry)
• Tyrone

The three Ulster counties of the Republic of Ireland are:

• Cavan
• McCool Name Study - Co Donegal
• Monaghan

Northern Ireland is largely Protestant but has a significant Catholic minority. The Republic of Ireland is primarily Catholic.

Griffiths Valuation

As almost all Irish Census records from the 1800s have been destroyed, the Griffith’s Valuation (a national property tax survey carried out between 1848 and 1864) is one of the primary sources of genealogy available for that time. It's effectively a head-of-household census that covers more than 80% of families. It lists both tenants and landlords (immediate lessors) - and we find McCools in both categories. The property description is listed as "Description of Tenement." It includes “House, offices and yard.” The term ‘office’ was used to describe a farm building such as a stable or a cow barn. If no house is mentioned, the occupier lived somewhere else. The area, if indicated, is given in acres, roods and perches. There are 40 square perches to a rood, and four roods to an acre.

Search for surname McCool or McCoole (separately) at https://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch. Note that some individuals lease (or are landlords to) more than one property. If a result comes up for another surname (when searching for a McCool), that usually means their landlord is a McCool.

112 results come up for spelling McCool. 33 McCoole household/landlords are found. Here are the statistics for each spelling by county (including landlords and duplicates):

County	McCool	McCoole
Antrim	11	5
Armagh	1	0
Donegal	85	5
Londonderry	8	18
Tyrone	7	5

Understand that many McCool families emigrated before the mid-1800s. These are the households that remained. Note that no McCool or McCoole families were identified outside of Ulster at that time.