Mac Cana
The Mac Cana clan were an ancient Gaelic tribe, who were Lords of Clanbrasil and held lands in both Clancann and Clanbrasil.
According to Irish tradition they are a Milesian people descended from Breasail, a grandson of Colla-da-Chrioch, the first king of Airgialla. Mag Annaidh; 'son of Annadh'; is the fullest and most correct form of the surname which is usually written Mac Anna or Mac Canna.. Some sources claim the name translates to "son of Cana". Cana being a personal name meaning 'wolf cub', and one of the tribes earliest descendants.
A vassal sept of the Ui Neilll, the tribe originally inhabited the lands of Clancann, and also became Lords of Clanbrasil after they dispossessed the O'Garvey's of their land around the time of Richard de Clare's Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Their territory lay to the south of Lough Neagh in modern-day County Armagh and County Tyrone, flanked by the River Bann and River Blackwater. They were a branch of the Cenel Eoghain, the large group of Northern Uí Néill septs claiming descent from King Eógan mac Néill, the son of the High King Niall of the Nine Hostages.
The first written record of the family name is shown to be that of Amhlaoibh Mac Cana, Lord of Clanbrasil and is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters during the reign of Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair. He was praised for his chivalry, his vigour, and his strong drink he made from apples in his orchard. The clan are also stated as having had a castle at Portadown in County Armagh.
The last recorded Chief of the name, Donall MaCanna, was still known as Lord of Clanbrasil as late as 1598, from when the Mac Cana, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and an alliance of other clans fought the Nine Years' War against the Tudor Conquest of Ireland. O'Neill succeeded for 9 years, but he was finally defeated at the Battle of Kinsale in 1602 and fled to Spain during the Flight of the Earls in 1607.
The following year when James I of England began the Plantation of Ulster, most of O'Neill's supporters were dispossessed of their homelands. This would seem to include the Mac Cana clan and in 1610 as part of the plans of the plantation, the lands of Portadown were granted to William Powell.
The Mac Cana were active in the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and fought alongside their chieftain Felim O'Neill of Kinard and the Irish Confederates through the Irish Confederate Wars during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They first captured the fort of Charlemont, which led to massacres of many Scottish and English Protestant settlers by the Gaelic Catholic soldiers, many who had been displaced during the Plantation of Ulster. In November 1641 in particular, an army led by Toole McCann, a notorious rebel, captured the settlement of Portadown, the ancestral lands of the Mac Cana clan which led to the Portadown Massacre, the biggest individual massacre of Protestants throughout the whole of the uprising. Following success in Ulster, the Irish Confederates then marched on Dublin, gaining a victory in the Battle of Julianstown but taking a loss at the Siege of Drogheda. After the Siege of Drogheda, Cromwell ordered most of the Irish military prisoners who surrendered to be shipped to Barbados and other British colonies to work as indentured servants.
During the following decade the Irish Catholic Federation was formed. The Ulster Army spent the next six years fighting the Scottish Covenanter Army that had landed in Ulster and fought in the army's victory at the Battle of Benburb in 1646. Following defeat at the Battle of Scarrifholis by the New Model Army, Felim O'Neill was eventually captured and executed in 1653 by British Parliamentary forces during the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland, and his remaining supporters were imposed with penalties including death, transportation, indentured servitude and land confiscation under the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652.
After Cromwell’s order to send the Irish “To hell or to Connaught”, the remaining leaders of the Irish Confederate army lost two-thirds of their estates. The Commissioners in Ireland had power to grant them other poorer lands in Connaught or Clare in proportion of value and were authorised "to transplant such persons from the respective places of their usual habitation or residence, into other such places within that nation, as shall be judge most consistent with public safety." This would seem to be the McGann sept of the name, which is known to be an anglicised Connaught variant of 'Mac Cana' and a name commonly found in Roscommon. It is also known many McGanns later returned to Ulster.
Due to anglicization and Ulster migration the original name now holds various forms such as McCann, McGann, MacCana, MacCann, MacCan, Maccan, and became Canny and Canney upon Ulster migration to the south. The title of Lord of Clanbrasil is still held by the family of McCann in the area of County Louth.
The Mac Cana line features in John O'Hart's 19th century pseudo-historical book, Irish pedigrees. In this book, the Mac Cana line along with other surname lines are taken right back to Adam and Eve.
The House of Maccan
From Ireland, a branch of the family moved to France in the 11th century with the surname Maccan, around the same time as the Norman invasion of Ireland.In the reign of Philip IV of France, of the Capet dynasty. The Maccan Family, who for some time had held important positions within the court such as Vicars, General leaders, Generals of the Royal army and Administrators of Justice in the name of The King; were assigned the Marquis title. Then in the first half of the 14th century, we’re granted the title of Counts and Dukes of Guelders by the Wassenbergs, through marriage and testamentary bequest.
Over the years, a branch of the family migrated from France to Italy. In this period, the family was also known as Maccani. They also changed the original family coat of arms, becoming a talking coat of arms, the new crest had a symbol of a dog, which then became two dogs facing each other, infact ‘Can’ and ‘Cani’ translates to ‘dog’ and ‘dogs’ in Italian.
In the first half of the 17th century, from Nobles of Trento they became Counts of Tres by concession of Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria and subsequently Marquis. There is evidence of the existence of some members of the Maccan family; Armigers, Vicars, General administrators of local noble goods, judges, lawyers and notaries; in the 14th century.
Although was assumed that they carried out these duties before, the first document attesting the presence of a Maccan as Vicar General is dated in the 1600s, with Luca Maccan von Clers, while as a notary is from 1652 with Giovanni Maccan von Tres.
A branch of the Maccan family also moved to Russia becoming Maccan Romanoff, through marriage with a Romanov family.