Mary McCabe

   Cause of her death was Carbonic Acid Gas Poisoning.

  General Notes:

Motto: "Aut Vincere Aut Mori"
Translation: "Either Conquer Or Die"
Arms: Vert a fess wavy between three salmon naiant argent.
Crest: A demi-griffin segreant.
Source: Edward MacLysaght, Irish Families, Dublin, p. 212.

The Gaelic surname which was anglicized McCabe is MacCaba. Caba is the Irish world for cap, hood, helmet. The name thus means "the son of the helmeted one." The MacCabes came from the western isles of Scotland about the year 1350 as gallowglasses to the O'Reillys and the O'Rourkes, the principal septs of Breffny. They became themselves a recognized Breffny sept, their chief being "Constable of the two Breffnys". Modern statistics show that they are still much more numerous in the Breffny area than anywhere else.

Ancient annalists trace the descent of the family to Colla da Croich, the famous founder of the Kingdom of Oriel from whom many Ulster families take their origin. Oriel territory took in modern Counties Monaghan, Armagh and part of Louth, and it is in Monaghan and Cavan that today we find the McCabe family numerically strongest.

As one might gather from the family motto, "either conquer or die" the military profession was the field where the McCabes made their greatest mark. Historically they were gallowglasses (from gall = foreigner and oglach = soldier: a mercenary or retainer of an Irish chief or an armed Irish foot soldier) in the armies of the O'Reillys, the O'Rourkes and the MacMahons. This accounts for the fact that we find so many of the name in Cavan as well as in their original home in Monaghan.

  Noted events in her life were:

• Occupation: Mill Worker, 1883. From Marriage Cert

• Residence, 1883, Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Scotland. From Marriage Cert

• Residence, 22 Apr 1886, Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Scotland. From Catherine's Birth

Mary married James Clark, son of James Clark and Catherine Roy, on 1 Jan 1883 in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Scotland.² (James Clark was born on 20 Jun 1858 in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Scotland ⁵ and died on 4 Sep 1928 in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Scotland ⁴.) The cause of his death was Carcinoma.