I am just beginning the IGOE One Name Study.   The ancestors I am familiar with began their US lives in Goodhue County, Minnesota after immigrating from Ireland.  My initial focus will be a general search for distribution data about the name in the US and in Ireland and the UK. 

November 17, 2020:  I've added some Ireland 1901 census data below.

I'm working on IGOE, IGO, JAGO, and JAGOE with the 1901 and 1911 Ireland Censuses.  From some initial research it appears that IGOE/IGO families are mainly from mid and western Ireland and are Roman Catholic.  The JAGO/JAGOE families seem to center around Cork and more southern Ireland and Cornwall in England, and are Protestant.  

Right now I am focusing on the IGO/IGOE families found in the 1901 and 1911 Irish census and putting family groups into Legacy.  This task is taking longer than expected (no surprise to anyone who has been working on a one name study I'm sure).  I want to add the birth, marriage, and death records available in Ireland after which I'll try to make some decisions about the IGOE and IGO surnames.  I'll try to incorporate any Griffith's Valuation information if I can track any families back that far.

Then I'll tackle the possible 62 other variants or deviants such as EAGO, EIGO, IAGO, etc. so it appears that I'll be sorting through these sometime in the future.

I'd love to hear from anyone about the names I'm studying.

I have discovered various suggested origins for Igoe - Irish, Welsh, Spanish, French - so I'll be sorting that out as well.  Many relate to the name James in various forms (mostly JAGO and JAGOE).  I did run across a mention of a location in Ireland (Yagoestown, near Naas in County Kildare) that I'll be researching as well.  Another interesting geographic find was Igoe's Narrows in Pennsylvania, USA in the late 1700's.  A trip to Pennsylvania is probably in order.

I'll be adding interesting items here as I run across them.  

I began this study after I became interested in my husband's Aunt Helen who owned an exclusive women's clothing store in Seattle, Washington, USA.

I've now run across a Eugene Igoe who figured in the tumultuous days in Ireland in the 1920s - more about him as I discover it.

Watch this space for more information soon.

Watch this space for more information soon.

NEW - November 17, 2020
IRELAND 1901 CENSUS – IGO/IGOE AND JAGO/JAGOE SURNAMES

SUMMARY:  Details from 1901 Census of Ireland - Locations and Religion

IGO/IGOE  Igo/Igoe families are found in 14 counties of Ireland.  Two-thirds of them are found in the counties of Mayo, Roscommon, Longford and Westmeath (central and western Ireland).  There are 100 families in these 4 counties, leaving 38 families scattered among 10 other counties.  The Igo/Igoe families are Roman Catholic except the 18 families in County Longford which identify as Church of Ireland.  120 families were recorded with the Igoe spelling and 12 with the Igo spelling.  See Tables 1 and 2 below.

JAGO/JAGOE  Jagoe families are predominately in County Cork (31 families from a total of 40) and they identify as Church of Ireland or Methodist with a sprinkling of Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Brethern families.  The remaining Jago/Jagoe families are found in small numbers in 5 counties and usually identify as Church of Ireland.  28 families were recorded with the Jagoe spelling and 12 with the Jago spelling.  See Tables 1 and 2 below.

FINDINGS  Even though Jago/Jagoe could be variants of Igoe/Igoe at this point I think they are probably two different surnames in Ireland based on the locations of the names and their professed religions. 

PLANS  I will focus on the Igo/Igoe families in Ireland for the 1911 census and vital records.  I will then move to England and/or the United States to continue my preliminary census research.

The following tables support my summary.

TABLE 1:  Number of Families in each County

1. Igo/Igoe families outnumber Jago/Jagoe families 138 to 40
2. Igo/Igoe and Jago/Jagoe families are found in only 17 of the 32 counties of Ireland
3. Igo families are found in 4 counties, Igoe families in 14 counties, with most families in western and central Ireland
4. Igo/Igoe families are found exclusively in 11 counties, Jago/Jagoe families are found exclusively in 3 counties
5. Jago/Jagoe families (31) are predominately in County Cork, with 9 families scattered in 5 other counties

1. Igo/Igoe families in 11 counties identified only as Roman Catholic: Galway, King's Co., Leitrim, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Westmeath. 
2. Igo/Igoe and Jago/Jagoe families in 4 counties identified as Church of Ireland only: Antrim, Limerick, Longford (Igoe), Wexford
3. Cork is only county to have both Roman Catholic (5) and Protestant families (17 Church of Ireland, 9 Methodist, and 2 Bretheren)

Watch this space for more information soon.

Watch this space for more information soon.