NJ AOH DIV 1 Blog


Irish Railroad Workers

Early in the nineteenth century America was beginning to rapidly expand to the west, and the railroads were to play a major role.  Seeking labor for the construction the Irish were viewed by the Americans as a valuable kind of emigrant to the United States; cheap labor and a way […]

Irish Railroad Workers

History of the Name: Mac Suibhne – Mac Swiney – Mac Sweeny – Sweeny

The surname Sweeny is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic ‘Mac Suibhne’, and has its origins in Scot­land.  Meaning ‘pleasant or well-disposed’ the Gaelic name was also used as equivalent to the unrelat­ed Old Norse personal name ‘Sveinn’, meaning “boy”, “servant”. The original ‘Mac Suibhne’ was a Scot­tish chief based […]