He owned a Grand Estate.

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I know I've talked about the McKaughan's before. I know I've talked about it until I was blue in the face but I don't know that I've ever shared this piece of info. It's something I've read before but didn't really think much of it at the time. My tenth grandfather down the line on my father's side married well. His wife was the daughter of a glass maker in County Antrim during the 1700's. The father's wish was that fifty years following his death, lawyers would be sent to search for offspring of his Daughter. A certain number of descendants had to be found for the lawyers to then bequeath land to them. Had they been found, they would have inherited the grand estate that their grandfather had lived in. Instead, said estate was donated to Ireland and later became an orphanage. It makes me wonder how things might have changed had my ancestors been given their ancestral home. I won't begin to fathom that they might have moved back to Ireland. I do wonder, however, if they (the descendants) were never found? My source does not say but it is a possibility. The Mckaughan name was already being adapted to more phonetic spelling. From Mckaughan to McCaughan to Mccoin to it's final spelling of Mckoin. To think, it's origins are McGaughn (or something to that similarity). Either way, it is very possible that they simply weren't found because remaining descendants had no knowledge of their surnames evolution. That, combined with the fact they moved slightly around before being settled completely... Now I am off to see if I can't find the ancestral home. According to my sources, it still stands today.