McCaul, also spelt MacCawell is an Irish surname, derived from the Gaelic Mac Cathmhaoil, meaning the "son of Cathmhaol", descendant of being implied.
[1] The Mac Cathmhaoil were the leading family of Cenél Fearadhaigh, of the Uí Néill, and were based around Clogher in modern-day County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
Mac Cathmhaoil is now rare in Ulster as it has been Anglicised under various different forms such as, Campbell, McCawl, Caulfield,[2][3][4][5] McCall, Alwell, Callwell, McCowell, Cowell, McCuill, Howell, MacHall,[6][7] and McQuade.
[1] The MacCathmhaoils took their patronymic name from Cathmhaol in the 12th century, descended from Feradhach (or Fearadhaigh), grandson of Eoghan son of "Niall of the Nine Hostages" a 5th-century Irish King .
After this expansion into mid Ulster with Cenél nEoghain, the MacCathmhaoils were fixed in the Clogher area of County Tyrone, the former capital and inauguration site of Airgíalla.
The townland name Druim Mhic Cathmhaiol (Cathmhaoil's Ridge) on the border of Armagh and Louth might attest to a regional leadership role (in the "Councils of the North")[12] organizing the defenses of Ulster against the Normans.
For the church, it became a "battleground for profit and cultural hegemony" where after the Plantation of Ulster a new Protestant ruling class took ownership and later instituted the Penal Laws.
However many emigrated before this time, and for some Nova Scotia was the first stop in the New World, where "McCaul Island", near Cape Breton, would bear testament to some family members new home.
Many new branches of the family formed abroad including the "Caul" in Canada who many have gotten the "Mc" dropped in their name perhaps due to being orphaned as a result of the famine.
Irish had diminished as a spoken tongue, partially as a result of the famine and poverty, remaining the main daily language only in isolated rural areas.