Updated: July 2002
HAGGERTY:
A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE HAGERTYS
This name is an Anglicized form of the original Gaelic surname "O hEigcertaigh" which comes from the word "eigceartach" meaning "unjust." The O hEigceartaigh sept was originally from Ulster and they were the forebears of the Hegarty, Ohegarty, Higerty, and Hagerty/Haggerty families. This sept was a member of the Cenel Eoghan, which held lands on the borders of Counties Donegal and Derry, with their original homeland centered in the barony of Loughlinstown. The place name Hegart's Rock at Killygarven, near Lough Swilly in County Donegal, takes its name from Father James Hegarty who was treacherously murdered there in 1715. In the seventeenth century, the family was much more numerous in Tirkeenan, County Donegal, and Inishowen, County Derry. Early written references to the surname Haggerty, or to a variant, includes a Maolmuire O'Hegarty who died in the Battle of Kinsale in 1602 while fighting for O'Neill's army. Notable bearers of the name include Peter O'Hegarty who fought with the Irish Brigades in France and was rewarded with the governorship of the Isle of Bourbon, and P.S. O'Hegarty (1879-1955) who was prominent in the Easter Rebellion of 1916. It is also interesting to note that a branch of the sept migrated southwards to County Cork (where there is still a considerable distribution of Hegartys). There was also a branch of the same name in County Munster (a branch of the Eoghanact).
Blazon of Arms:
Argent an oak tree eradicated proper on a chief gules three birds of the first beaked and legged sable.Translation:
Argent (white) denotes Peace and Sincerity. Gules (red) signifies Military Fortitude and Magnanimity. Sable (black) denotes Constancy and Prudence.Crest:
An arm in armour embowed and the hand grasping a scimitar all proper.Motto:
Nec Flectitur nec mutant.Translation:
They neither bend nor change.
[Note: The foregoing was sent to me by a Hagerty researcher about a year ago. I don't have the source info; however, I've seen this information on numerous Hagerty websites.]