Edward McGuire's Ancestry pt 1

By The original uploader was
Peter Geymayer at German Wikipedia -
Meyers Konversationslexikon, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12112298

John Sigismund Maguire was a Knight of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Theresa. It was awarded to the General (of Kerry) for his capture of Dresden in 1758. (A Military History of Ireland)

There is much confusion as to the ancestry of Edward Maguire, especially if you read the many online family trees.  I believe it should be possible to sort this out, but at this point it has not been done.

One clue we have is the family tradition that Edward was on his way to Austria to join the army thanks to his Uncle John Sigismund Maguire.  The following sketch of General Macguire would tend to corroborate the connection, giving Co. Kerry as his home as does the Military History of Ireland.

History of the Irish Brigades in the Service of France

John Cornelius O'Callaghan - Dublin 1854

The Kerry connection puts the lie to some of the online trees that have Edward's father and even Edward born in Fermanagh.   With the prevalence of the names Constantine (Cuconnaught) and John in the Maguire family I think that researcher's have grabbed at possible records and put them together as gospel. What does seem likely is that the incorrect connections are probably relatives.

Conjecture names Edward's father, the brother of John above, as Constantine Maguire, born abt 1661. He married Julia McElligot (1663-   ) abt 1706.  Many of the online trees state that Constantine died in Virginia in 1750.  I have not seen any documentation proving that fact and in truth it seems very unlikely.  Constantine married Julia McElligot (1663-   ) abt 1706. The online trees attribute four sons to them, no actual facts have been shown to prove facts about Constantine and his family.

• Thomas
• James
• John 1715  - 1750 Virginia m.  Catherine Mary McGuire (1722 - ) - again all the Ancestry trees are copied from each other, show and many show his son as his father.  
• Edward 1717  

Constantine and John Sigismund Maguire were most likely the sons of James McGuire was born abt 1620  in Fermanagh, Ireland.  James married Cecelia (McNamara) Reagh (1623-1665). Supposedly, James settled near Tralee, McElligott, Kerry after political/religious disturbances in 1641. Again, this is all conjecture at this point, I have found no proof  of any of it.

The story as told here is related in William G Stannard's, The McGuire Family in Virginia: With notices of its Irish Ancestry and some connected Virtinia Families (Richmond VA: Old Dominion Press, 1926).  The problem is that many genealogies of the 1920 era were somewhat created, so without further corroboration, we can only be sure of the descendancy from Edward himself.  That is well documented.

The Maguires of Fermanagh by John O'Donovan
Ball of the Wild Geese - St Patricks Day in Hapsburg Austria 1766
Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography Vol IV pg 343-352