Hi there. I’m also a McGovern/Magauran, and I have some information that may help you, with the caveat that, as many others have said, the similarity and commonality of the names is such an issue.
My 2xGGF was Philip McGovern, born in County Cavan in 1819. He and his wife Susan, born in 1823, had seven children in Cavan between 1845 and 1861. They emigrated to the U.S., probably around 1863-ish, and they all ended up in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, all buried in Calvary cemetery there. I’ve known that for awhile, but recently I’ve done a deep dive to try to find their marriage and baptism records, and learn exactly where they came from. I should tell you that I live in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Researching Irish records is hard for me. Fun, but hard.
I’m pretty sure I found their marriage: Philip McGovern from Glangevlin married Susan Magauran of Kinally in February 1845. That means they are up in that northwest portion of Cavan, with Susan’s family right on the border with Fermanagh. Despite that, I haven’t found any baptisms for any children. Frustrating! Some possibilities, but no conclusions. The boundary issues that others have mentioned are probably at play here. Need more research, including the adjacent counties. However, there are plenty of other references to Philip McGovern across Cavan in the different resources available. While I’m pretty sure my people were in that northwest corner (as far as Tents), I’m not sure about the other McGovern families as you head east. I don’t know the materials well enough yet to draw any conclusions. But the names that predominate in my family can be found in other places across Cavan: Philip, Patrick, Hugh, and the ubiquitous Owen, or Oney. Susan repeats in my family but is not common, and so it is kind of a weak marker for my people.
I can also say this. I am certain there were multiple families from the northwestern part of County Cavan, including but not limited to McGoverns (Fagan is another) who emigrated to Pennsylvania (Philadelphia at first) over a 10-15 year period beginning either during the hunger or shortly after. Many, many McGoverns in eastern PA by 1860, including some of mine. And some of those went on to Nashville. Then Philip came about 1863. But there were many others from this northwest part of Cavan. And it’s clear what the driving factor was: the United States railroad industry was powering their success. They were plenty of hard labor jobs, but I see that many of these McGoverns got good jobs: switchmen, engineers, bridge builders, for long careers.
Well, I tried to be brief, but not so much. Anyway, if you’d like to discuss sometime, email me at
kwalshkern@comcast.net. We can swap phone numbers. You should check out the Ireland XO site. I’m going to post Philip McGoverns bio there soon. BTW, I know I saw several McManus names while searching for my baptisms. If we can pinpoint yours in that northwest part of Cavan, then, hello cousin! (There is also a Cavan DNA website. I have DNA raw data, but I find it really difficult and time consuming.)