The Irish surname Magill, also found in Scotland, is the anglicized form of the Gaelic name Mac an Ghoill meaning “son of the lowlander or stranger.” In Petty's 1659 "census" of all Ireland, the names MacGill and Magill are particularly widespread in the County Antrim barony of Glenarm. These families were descended from Scottish gallowglasses or professional soldiers who came to Ireland during the Plantation of Ulster. On April 14th 1724, Henry Magill and Sibilla Blakely were married at Clones, County Monaghan, and on June 25th 1847, John Magill, a famine emigrant to New York, embarked from Newry on the ship "La-Grange" bound for that port. The surname first appears on record in Scotland in the early 13th Century.