Martyn

Martyn, or Martin is the surname of one of The Tribes of Galway, Ireland.

Contents

[hide]

Family history

The Martyn family were one of a group of fourteen families of mixed Irish, English, Welsh, French and Norman (Hiberno-Normans) descent who became the premier merchant and political families in the town of Galway during the late medieval and early modern eras. Many were dispossessed by the Irish Confederate Wars and the subsequent Cromwellian conquest, and long reduced to peasantry by the time of the Great Irish Famine.

The family are part of a larger kin-group descended from a Norman named Martin (fl. 1093?) via his descendant, the crusader Sir Nicholas FitzMartin of Cemais and Blagdon (c.1210-1282). Sir Nicholas had at least eight children from two marriages, the youngest being William Martin of St. David's, Wales (c.1268-after 1326), whose son or grandson, Thomas Martyn, founded the family in Galway.

The family have been based in Co. Galway, Ireland, since the mid-fourteenth century but have many cadet branches in the U.K., Canada, USA, France, Hungary, and several other countries. Most of these branches were emigrated during and in the aftermath of the Wild Geese and Great Famine eras.

Many branches of the family use the spelling Martin. As Martin is the most common spelling for bearers of the name regardless of descent, the form Martyn is used to distinguish all of this kindred from other thus surnamed but unrelated.

Martin, Martyn and its variants can be considered some of the most common names in the Western World - such as Smith, Jones, Baker, Wilson. It is not always the case that any two bearers of the name are related, even distantly.

Other descendants of the FitzMartin family are still to be found in the south-west of England (Somerset, Devon, Dorset) and Wales (Pembrokeshire).

There is a worldwide internet based society for people with the family name Martin and Martyn.[1];

Notable Martyn's of Galway

See also

External links

References