BLEE FAMILY

Ralph,

This site suggests that the name may be a variant or synonym of the Connaught name Bligh (or O?Blighe).

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=

Blee itself is not very common in Ireland at all. In the 1901 census there were just 59 in the whole country. 23 in Tyrone, all RC. The fact that the family were RC tends to make it more likely they are of native Irish stock, as opposed to being descended from settlers. Though having said that there were RC settlers from England and Scotland who came to Ireland during the Plantation, so it?s possible that?s where they originated. There?s only 1 Blee in the whole of Scotland in the 1841 census, so I?d rule that out as a place of origin. The 1841 census for England and Wales has 4000 or so, so it is common enough there. So if they were incomers, then that seems a more likely origin.

Elwyn