Early grammarians, we are informed, called the letter S bainrion na gconsain, the queen of the consonants, being the sixteenth letter in the Irish alphabet and the fourth in the Ogham alphabet, its Irish being name sail (willow). Each letter of the Ogham alphabet had "tree" names - A ailm (pine) B beith (birch) C coll (hazel) etc.
Sailean, the diminutive of sail, means "willow-bed, osier-bed", and is found in the place-name Cluain Sailean. Anglicised Cloonsellan, this names a townland in the Co Longford parish of Killashee (Cill na Si). In 1876 all its 243 acres were the property of Joseph M'Gaver as listed in Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards, while the single acre of Very Rev Edward M'Gavar, was, presumably, the ground whereon the parochial house stood. The largest M'Gaver holding was the 566 acres of Nicholas M'Gaver, Cloontha. This latter derives from Cluainte, "meadows", and is also in the same parish of Killashee.
MacGaver would sound exactly the same were it written MacAver or MacCaver, a matter that had to be kept in mind when trawling different sources, seeking its original Irish. MacLysaght's The Surnames of Ireland does not list this surname or anything resembling it: De Bhulbh's 1997 Sloinnte na hEireann/ Irish Surnames lists the fairly rare MacAvera, Down etc., which derives from Mac Aimhreidh (aimhreidh, disordered, untidy). And then there was MacGaver, Mac Eibhir, from the old first name Eibhear now anglicised Ivor. Ivor however, is a common "English" form for Imar: Imhear, a borrowing of the Old Norse Ivarr. "There was an Imar who was king of Northumbria and of Dublin and the name was borne by a number of Viking leaders in Ireland. The name was soon adopted by the Irish" (Irish Per- sonal Names O Corrain & Maguire). In the same book we find: "Eber: Eibhear".
In the early documents this name is borne by legendary and pseudo-historical personages such as Eber, son of Mil, leader of the Goidelic conquest of Ireland. It occurs among the later medieval O'Neills and MacMahons and, in the form Eibhir, it survived in Derry and Oriel down to the end of the nineteenth century in the families of Magennis and O'Lafferty. It has been anglicised Heber, Harry and Ivor.
It is indeed likely that at least some whose name was originally Mac Eibhir might now be known as MacIvor, or indeed MacKeevery, both of which are based on that Norse forename Ivaar. M'Awfir and M'Avir listed in a Fiant of 1602 appear to be anglicised forms of this latter.
The above Rev Edward MacGaver was defended by Daniel O'Connell in 1827 in a case over a disputed will, and whether MacGaver was impressed by the man (he won his case) or by his policies, he was to become an important local O'Connellite priest.
When the Longford liberal Club was set up two years later, McGaver was to second a resolution in praise of the 40-shilling freeholders "for the manly and uncompromising patriotism by which they wielded that mighty engine, the Electoral Francise".
Indeed Fr MacGaver, parish priest of Granard, was to become the most prominent cleric to engage himself in the political affairs of the county since the 1820s.
In an article entitled The Emergence of the Political Community in Longford, 1824-29 (LONG- FORD; Essays in County History. Lilliput Press 1991), Fergus O'Ferrall remarks that a Maynooth education was not a prerequisite for political activity: less than half of the activist priests attended Maynooth. "Out of the six priests who were active in the first phase of the collection in 1824 and 1825 only one can be found in the Maynooth lists."
Fr MacGaver had not attended Maynooth. He is listed among the subscribers to Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1876), being then PP of Carrickedmond, Colehill, Co Longford.
The Census of 1901 shows MacGavers at Cloontamore, and Cloonsellan in the parish of Killashee; at Bridge Street, Longford Town, and Sr Rose at Rev Mother Hampson's of Aghafin.
Telephone directories of the island list but three MacGavers, two in Dublin, and one in Co Clare. However some of the 186 (36 south of the Border) MacIvors, or the 380 (176 south) MacKeevers may have originally been Mac Eibhir.