McClure Family History & Genealogy

Summary

The heritage of the surname McClure is one filled with war, tragedy, history, nobility and humor. I will attempt to continue the legacy and heritage of the McClure name with this, amateur at best, family history page. I will, to the best of my ability and resources, try to tell a little about the McClures' and where the family originated, as well as how the McClure name came into being,when and why the family immigrated to "the new world". I will attempt to place my branch of "lost" relatives in the proper lineage line and increase general knowledge to anyone interested about the McClure family, especially the more recent lineage directly from my branch and others associated to us.
I truly hope that all enjoy this attempt at educating and sharing my family with the world.
May God bless each and every person that reads this page.

History

The McClure lineage begins with the name, itself. There are several variants in the spelling of the name. The research I have been able to find explains that the different spellings are usually due to family infighting, trying to differentiate from other relatives that have placed shame on the name, hide identity, clerical errors and possibly illegable writing and illiteracy. The most ancient spelling of the name is from Scottish Gaelic origins: MacGilleUidhir and the Irish variant, Mac Giolla Uidhir. Another Gaelic variant: Mac giolla Dheoadha. Each spelling has a different meanning, as well and all are explained elsewhere on this site. There is one more unique Gaelic spelling of the name: MacLeabhair, pronounced Mack Lawer, aslo spelled MacLeabhair with the meaning of this rendition "son of the teachers" as they were the teachers in the Clan McLeod.


The McClures are a sept, or family, of the Clan McCloud, also several spelling variants. This essentially means that McClures are part of the McClouds and, in fact, all McClures are actually McClouds. How did this happen, you ask? It is actually rather simple to explain and will be explained in further reading. The most ancient records of the McClure surname is of "Manx" origin from the Isle of Man, a small island between Ireland and England located on the western coast of Scotland also known as theThe Hebrides Islands. It was originally inhabited by Gaelic, Norse and last, English.  When speaking of being in Manx lineage, that is the origin of Mac or Mc used in the surname.  It is unclear exactly when the "Mac" prefix was added, however, it is thought it was added with Norse for an addedum to show "son of" to differentiate. By the end of the 16th century, the "Mac" prefix was the dominant surname on the island. Research of the first "King" on the island, according to legend was King Manannan McLir, aslo pronounced McClure. The name, itself, comes from Norse legend as "The god of the ocean".

The heritage of the surname McClure is one filled with war, tragedy, history, nobility and humor. I will attempt to continue the legacy and heritage of the McClure name with this, amateur at best, family history page. I will, to the best of my ability and resources, try to tell a little about the McClures' and where the family originated, as well as how the McClure name came into being,when and why the family immigrated to "the new world". I will attempt to place my branch of "lost" relatives in the proper lineage line and increase general knowledge to anyone interested about the McClure family, especially the more recent lineage directly from my branch and others associated to us.
I truly hope that all enjoy this attempt at educating and sharing my family with the world.
May God bless each and every person that reads this page.

Name Origin

All of the bloodline in the McClure family are considered to be McClouds, as they were all part of the same clan with the name McClure only being changed due to Irish speech dialect mispronounciation upon immigration to Ireland. The currnet way that it is pronounced comes from Ireland, as the Irish could not pronouce the OUD in McCloud, as well as the McCloud name being one that the English were searching out due to revolt against them in that time period. For this reason, they didn't have issue with using the name McClure. 


The McClure surname has several meaning, as well as spellings. Some of the spellling are MacLur, Maclure,McLewer, McLuir, McLuer and McClewer as these spellings are most common. As, the spellings and speech dialects in other areas are different, thus, so are the meanings. The Prefix Mac or Mc is "son of" aslo, can be "great one".


The first known is from Gaelic MacGlolla-odhar {uidhar is pronounced "ure"} and means " son of the pale one". Another is " son of the book" as they were in tudorship of the McClouds { several spellings of that name as well}.


Next, another of the Irish meanings is "son of the servant of the pilgrim".


Another common meaning is "the great bruiser". This comes from a story that was told about an ancient king of Scotland that was attaked on a roadway. One of the kinds attendants was so impressed with the kings prowess, He called him "great blow" as in a very hard hitter. and in this case "clure" blow {or, a hard hitter}. The meaning of Lure come from the sport of falconry, as the object used to call the bird back is called a lure, The bird flys in and hits the lure very hard. Even to this day, a blow by hitting with yuor fist is still called having been clured (now, does being "clobbered" sound familiar?


Last, the only other meaning on record is "son of the leper", meaning someone who is avoided. As far as why they would want to be avoided could come from the fear of being "clured" in the nose!


It is common practice to change the spelling to hide identity, change the names meaning or differentiate your particular lineage to do others with the same name that have given the other spelling a bad reputation or due to family infighting

Spellings & Pronunciations

There are several variatons on spelling of the, most common variation being "McClure". This list may not be complete.The "Mac" and "Mc" prefixes are used eihter way with differential spellings. There are several definitions for each variant, however spelled, the prefix is always defined as "son of"



MacLure
MacLur
McLuer
Maclewer
MacLir
McClewer
MacLure
MacLuir
MacLuir
MacLour

Nationality & Ethnicity

According to the information I have gathered from Wikipedia, these islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English-speaking peoples. This diversity is reflected in the names given to the islands, which are derived from the languages that have been spoken there in historic and perhaps prehistoric times. Full credit of this research of this area can be found at 

Famous People named McClure

Justine McClure

Early McClures

These are the earliest records we have of the McClure family.