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More on the Meaghers/Mahers

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Janet Maher in Book Excerpt, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, History, Mahers, Meaghers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants

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Tags

American Mahers, Early Irish History, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Joseph Casimir O'Meagher, Meagher, Milesian Genealogy, New Haven County Mahers

O'Meagher Coat of Arms from original 1890 text of Joseph Casmir O'Meagher's Some Historical Notices of the O'Meaghers of Ikerrin, digitized and colorized, ©2006 Janet Maher

O’Meagher Coat of Arms from original 1890 text of Joseph Casmir O’Meagher’s Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, digitized and colorized, ©2006 Janet Maher

Although my initial research was primarily about the Meaghers/Mahers, when it came time to edit information to include in my book (From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut) I chose to keep the content more generally broad. Maher details are sprinkled throughout the history of Ireland and early Connecticut chapters, however, leading to a focus on the nineteenth century in America.

I find myself repeatedly refering to Joseph Casimir O’Meagher’s 1890 text, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, which I consider essential for beginning research about the Mahers. It provided most of the earliest Maher details in my book, and I included several instances of historic Mahers from his book in a previous post here (August 20, 2012), Some Notable Meaghers/Mahers and other spellings, cited SHN.

Excerpts from O’Meagher’s text occur verbatum in many different places, and are, unfortunately, usually not attributed to him. I have been singing his praises online since at least 2006 and am happy to see that a Google search on him now brings up many hits, including his full text. Although not perfectly scanned, an inexpensive reprint of Some Historical Notices is also available from Amazon.

A member of the Royal Irish Academy and Fellow of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, O’Meagher was able to cite his lineage directly from John O’Meagher, who with his mother, Anne, had been among those ordered to transplant to Connaught after the conquest of Oliver Cromwell. John O’Hart’s pedigree of O’Meagher drew Joseph Casimir’s Heber line out from Fionnachta, second son of Conla, “No. 88 on the O’Carroll (Ely) pedigree.” As noted in my previous post, (Our Mileasian Origins) Conla was son of Cian, who was a son of King Olliol Olum. O’Hart considered the O’Meagher pedigree in his book as the ancestral line of O’Meachair, chiefs of Ikerrin. From Fionnachta (No. 88) O’Hart listed Joseph Casimir O’Meagher, born 1831, living in Dublin in 1887, as the son of John T. O’Meagher (No. 127). The line then extended to Joseph’s children: Joseph Dermod (1864), John Kevin (1866), Donn Casimir (1872), Malachy Marie (1873), Fergal Thaddeus (1876) and Mary Nuala (no date given). Joseph Casimir O’Meagher himself, however, cited additional pedigrees that extended Meaghers from other points in the Cian branch, including Teige or Thaddeus (No. 38) and John (No. 39).

O’Meagher provided immense background that led to my further research about such pivotal events in Ireland as: the development of ancient Irish Catholicism and communities of ecclesiastical families, the arrival of the Vikings and Normans, the interest of the English monarchy in Irish lands and sequences of sanctions and acts of “land grabbing” over the centuries, the change in the official religion of England from Catholic to Protestant with Henry VIII, the Penal Laws, continual rebellion on the part of the native Irish and those aligned with Catholic subjects of England who became equally disenfranchised due to adherence to their religion, the Statutes of Kilkenny, the Flight of the Earls, Civil War, arrival of Oliver Cromwell, the Act of Settlement, Oath of Allegiance, Act of Union, Wild Geese, Catholic Relief Acts, Rebellion of 1798, various uprising groups and key figures among them, the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, Tithe Defaulters, Catholic middleman landlords, and mass emigrations before, during and after the Great Famine. Here, long before the Irish War of Independence and the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, my story in From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley shifts to the arrival of the first Irish Catholic settlers in particular sections of New Haven County, Connecticut.

O’Meagher explained that Ikerrin (Ui Cairin) “was anciently one of the eight tuathas in Ely, which got its name from Eile, one of its kings in the fifth century.” Ger Dunphy and Christy O’Shea, in their work, Ballinakill, A Journey Through Time, explained the formation of King and Queen’s Counties, carved from Ely O’Carroll, which was primarily the area known then as Offaly. Quoting from my own book: “Throughout the centuries clan jurisdictions changed many times as the ownership of the land was continually disputed and compromised. In 1556 Queen Mary I renamed Offaly as King’s County, and named Leix (Laoighois/Laois), which had been part of Offaly, as Queen’s County. These were the first of the Irish counties to be intentionally planted with Protestant English residents. In this region the plantation was an attempt to make it difficult for the major Irish clan of the area, the O’Moores, to easily connect with their nearby allies.”

“According to Irish authors Ger Dunphy and Christy O’Shea, the extensive area of Ballenekyll in Queen’s County was awarded in 1570 to the English couple Alexander Cosby and Dorcas Sydney and was incorporated by King James I in 1613…the royal charter tightened the Irish recusancy laws that fined anyone who did not attend mass at the Anglican church, the official Church of England and Ireland.”

In O’Meagher’s explanation, eventually Ely O’Carroll was comprised of the baronies Ballybritt and Clonlisk, which became King’s County. Ikerrin and Eliogarty were part of Tipperary.  He wrote, “for many centuries Ely O’Carroll is confined to that portion of it now in the Kings County, and at the time Ely O’Carroll was reduced to shire ground, the barony of Ikerrin was not considered part of it.”

For those of us who know that our families were among the many who had already dispersed from the ancient homeland before they emigrated it is interesting to note that even O’Meagher’s group, with several of his sons attending university in Dublin, were no longer based in the Roscrea (Ikerrin) area of Tipperary by the late 1800s. In 1659 Sir William Petty’s census had already showed Meaghers in several neighboring areas of Ireland (Our Mileasian Origins).

We do well to read the very helpful 1993 article by William J. Hayes, O Meagher, Meagher and Maher – and their dispersal in Tipperary, which can be purchased from the Tipperary Historical Society. He explained the tendency for many of the Meaghers to have aligned with the powerful Normans, particularly the Butlers who remained Catholic, and thus retain much of their property over centuries of struggle, at least into the seventeenth century. After Cromwell, however, all bets were off. Excerpts from this article are archived on RootsWeb. O’Meagher also chronicled the dispersion from northeast Tipperary through his accumulation of data, including details of many eighteenth and nineteenth century Meaghers/Mahers who left to join foreign military units or settle in America.

If we find that our relatives had traveled over the Slieve Bloom Mountains into Laois or Offaly, scattered throughout the rest of Tipperary or crossed the borders into Kilkenny and Carlow, we wonder what led them there and how many generations had roots in those places. Did they choose to leave as so many of us change locations throughout our own lives? Was survival through farming too difficult to maintain in their family? Did the inheritance laws make it impossible for most of the children to remain within their original neighborhoods? Did they marry someone from another county? Anciently, were at least some of them among those who had once taken to the hills to hide out and to fight? O’Meagher accounted multiple occurrances of Meagher/Maher rebel action and the need for pardons of one kind or another. He noted the caveat in King Henry VIII’s issuing of pardons, “Provided that if any of those persons be of the Nation or Sept of the O’Meaghers, who were proclaimed traitors and rebels, the pardons to be of no effect in favour of such.”

So many Irish came to America as outlaws, slaves, or indentured servants and worked in obscurity, likely experiencing life in conditions worse than those which they left. Before the Famine, however, some were affluent enough to choose to make the trip across the sea and begin anew on equal footing in the Protestant communities of America, long populated by those still aligned to British sentiments about the Irish, in general, and about Catholics in particular. Had these Catholic immigrants been middlemen or related to one in Ireland? Had they married into families that had somehow retained a semblance of wealth or at least maintained some financial stability? Had their families been merchants, one trade allowed to Catholics? Had those from Kilkenny worked in the Ormond factory? What must it have been like to try to blend into a new world and assimilate as quickly as possible and still manage to help bring others over and begin the forbidden first Catholic churches?

When we wish to play the record of Irish history and locate our families amid it, where we drop the needle matters. We need to consider every fact in light of what else was going on at that point in time in Ireland and in the location into which they would emigrate. Much of that, sadly, revolves around religion, in ways similar to the major struggles between countries that exist today. Then, as today, there were open minds seeking peace on both sides of each conflict, and the fundamentalists on either side began quickly to resemble each other. We must study what we find, however, in its own context. With the Meaghers, history seems to center around land and religion.

Catastrophic events make significant changes from one century to the next, but the seemingly small details in the decades surrounding someone’s departure from Ireland may help to shed the most light. Having thoroughly scoured the “ground zero” of the place to which my ancestors relocated and their presence within it, I hope to still learn more about the events surrounding the time and area that they left in the Old Sod.

©2013 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

References:

Dunphy, Ger and Christy O’Shea, Ballinakill, A Journey Through Time, Freshford, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland: Barnaville Print and Graphics, 2002.

Hayes, William J., “O Meagher, Meagher and Maher – and their dispersal in Tipperary,” Tipperary Historical Journal, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland: Leinster Leader, Ltd., 1993. Excerpts online.

Maher, Janet, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut, Baltimore, MD: Apprentice House, 2012 [This book is 400 pages and includes 336 images. It may be obtained at: Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT; Naugatuck Historical Society, Naugatuck, CT; and Quinnipiac University Bookstore, Mount Carmel Branch, Hamden, CT. In Baltimore it may be purchased from Loyola University Bookstore and The Ivy Bookshop. Online it may be purchased from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, and from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).]

O’Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees: or, The Origin and Stem of The Irish Nation, Fifth Edition in Two Volumes, Dublin, Ireland: James Duffy and Co., Ltd., 1892. Online.

O’Meagher, Joseph Casimir, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin,   Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., American Edition: NY, 1890. Online.

Our Milesian Origins

07 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by Janet Maher in Carlow Mahers, Mahers, Meaghers, Ordering From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

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Tags

Ancient Ireland, Cormac Mac Art, Early Irish History, Gaelic Ireland, Ikerrin, Irish Meaghers, Maher, Milesian Genealogy

Rock of Cashel

©2011 Janet Maher, Rock of Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland

(With some additions/edits, July 9, and Sept. 22, 2013, please also see the “Comments” section.)

While it is impossible for anyone to trace their lineage genealogically with proof back to ancient Ireland, understanding the long reach of some clans’ ties to their homeland may help to put in context the rebellious feelings that many had toward the waves of newcomers who eventually displaced them, became their landlords, or had forced their ancestors to relocate to barren parts of the island or permanently flee to other countries. Those willing to do DNA testing and participate in a surname group are potentially able to find information where no paper documents survive to neatly sequence their ancestry. One friend, a Maher who pronounces his name with two syllables, has discovered that his DNA result led him directly to Spain! What initially seemed perplexing is actually more exciting than having been pointed to a particular place in Ireland. His markers point instead to a pure connection to the most ancient origins of the native Irish, including the surname which evolved to Meagher/Maher.

The arrival of Ireland’s first population is steeped in mysticism and lore, as much a part of the poetic tradition as the sacred spirit of the place. Any ancient stories that have survived to this day may have some germs of fact involved, and the story of the Milesians is one that continues to be considered. In the early seventeenth century Brother Michael O Cléirigh/O’Clery, a Franciscan monk from Donegal, with the help of other scribes who were laymen, sought to create a comprehensive history of Ireland from as many ancient manuscripts as could be gathered. The men were all from upper class families and were trained historians. Their great work, The Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters, includes a genealogy of King Mhileadth/Milesius of Spain, through whose sons, Heber, Heremon and Ir, all the major clans of Ireland evolved from at least 1700 B.C. or earlier. Heber and Heremon were the first two of 183 monarchs who ruled Ireland from 1699 B.C. until the submission of the Irish kings to King Henry II in 1171 A.D.  While the time frames may not completely align with what is now known, and surnames as we know them did not exist until more modern times, the details in the Annals of the Four Masters form the basis of accepted ancient Irish history.

The Meachairs/Meaghers/Mahers were one of the original Irish clans, descended from petty kings of Leinster and Munster, later among the ruling lords of County Tipperary, chiefs of Ikerrin, and among the noble chieftain families of County Carlow. Among the many sources I have consulted over my years of research I have seen several Irish surname maps. The one I have found most useful, with its inclusion of references to the Annals and other texts and explanations of incoming waves of surnames beyond the original Irish ones, is Kanes’ Ancestral Map of Ireland.  It’s designers noted that among one of the primary Irish genealogy scholars, “Professor Eoin MacNeill, of the National University of Ireland concluded in his work, Celtic Ireland, that the Irish genealogical traditions are credible in detail at approximately 300 A.D. but not earlier.”

What follows is my accumulated understanding of the ancient tracks to today’s Mahers. The Nemedians, Formorians and Fir Bolgs have been explained as the earliest known nomadic peoples who lived in Ireland, each with their own characteristics as a race. From the eastern Mediterranean area, the Tuatha de Danann were a druidic tribe who worshipped the goddess Danu. They were considered to be Celtic gods, worshipped by the earliest Irish. As settlers in America would do centuries later through the formation of Native American reservations to contain those who already inhabited the land, the de Danann conquered the Fir Bolgs, allowing them to live, but constricting their habitation to the Connaught area while they settled throughout the rest of Ireland. [With the English conquest of Ireland in the seventeenth century, relocation to Connaught again became a form of banishment within the country.]

King Mhileadth/Milesius of Spain lived contemporaneously with King Solomon. When his sons invaded Ireland, they conquered and merged with the de Dannans. Lore alternatively has it that the de Dannans chose to live in the underworld, leaving Ireland to the conquerors. John O’Hart includes in his Irish Pedigrees the entire Annals of the Four Masters genealogies, beginning with Adam! According to this, Milesius was the son of Bilé and had a brother named Ithe. Bilé was the son of Breoghan (Brigus), king of Galicia, Andalusia, Murcia, Castile and Portgual, over which Milesius ruled by succession. Consult O’Hart for the complete story of the races and populating of Ireland.

The Cinel (descendents) Meachair trace our earliest lineage from Fionnchada/Finnachta, son of Connla/Conla, son of Cian, who was killed in the Battle of Samhair in A.D. 241. Cian was one of three sons of King Oillioll Olum, King of the Provence of Munster in the third century and Munster’s first absolute King. Cian’s brothers were Eoghan More and Cormac Cos.

Oillioll Olum died in A.D. 234. His father was Eoghan Taighlech, also called Owen the Splendid and Magh Nuadhat. Taighlech was descended from Milesius’ son, Heber. Joseph Casimir O’Meagher (Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin) noted that Eoghan Mor was called Mogh-Nuadadh and was killed by Conn of the 100 Battles. This was the same line as the O’Carrolls, overlords (princes) of what had once been a large stretch of area in northern Munster (Ely/Eile) that included the barony of Ikerrin, the original home of the O’Meaghers. 

According to Kane’s Ancestral Map of Ireland, some ancient Mahers were also descendents of Cormac Mac Art and Conaire Mor, both descendents of Heremon. Cormac Mac Art was the son of King Art Eanfhear, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 227 to A.D. 266. [The chapel of Cormac Mac Art at the Rock of Cashel is presently being restored.] Eanfhear was the son of King Conn of the Hundred Battles, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 166 to A.D. 195 (or, from another source, A.D. 123 to A.D. 157).  According to this map the Maher lineage of Conaire Mor appears to have died out. He had been “sixteenth in descent from Heremon” and his line included King Conaire the 2nd, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 157 – A.D. 166.

The common ancestor among the various pedigrees in Joseph Casimir O’Meagher’s compilation is Oilioll Oluim. These pedigrees had been created by different scribes for important occasions, and one was copied from the Psalter of Cashel. Saint Benignus (Beonna), the bishop of Armagh after Saint Patrick, was a descendent of Oilioll Oluim, as was Saint Cronan, Abbot of Roscrea, Tipperary, the largest town in the barony of Ikerrin.

In 1659 Sir William Petty’s census showed Meaghers in several neighboring areas of Ireland. In Kilkenny: Galmoy (23); Fassagh Deinin [Fassadinnen] (12); Kells (17); Cranagh (18); Callan (17). In Tipperary: Clanwilliam (14); Ikerrin and Eliogarty (190); Iff and Offa (21); Lower Ormond (12); Slievardagh (40). Five Meaghers each were in Idrone and St. Mollins counties in Carlow, near Kilkenny and in Middlethird. In Decies, Waterford, there were six. Of the 26,684 residents of Tipperary then, 24, 700 were Irish, with the remaining English. In 1841 fifteen per cent of the people living in Tipperary lived in Ikerrin. In that year six thousand lived in the excellent farmland of Roscrea. The townland of Tullow Mac James in Tipperary, near Templetouhy, was noted as “one of the oldest residences of Clan-Meagher, and furnished many distinguished representatives at home and abroad.”

I have compiled surnames with noble ancient Irish roots from the Kane map for the counties of Tipperary, Kilkenny and Queens (Leix, Laois) Counties:

Kings: Tipperary (Kings of Cashel) – MacCarthy, O’Brien, O’Callaghan.

Princes: Tipperary – O’Carroll, O’Donnegan, O’Donohoe, O’Brien; Kilkenny – O’Carroll, O’Donaghue; Queen’s County – MacGilpatrick (Fitzpatrick).

Ruling Lords: Tipperary – MacBrien, O’Cuirc (Quirk), O’Day (O’Dea), O’Dinan, O’Dwyer, O’Fogerty, O’Kennedy, O’Meagher (O’Maher), O’Sullivan; Kilkenny – O’Brennan (Fassadineen area), O’Brodar; Queen’s County – O’Dempsey, O’Dowling, O’Dunn, O’Moore.

Noble Chieftains: Tipperary – MacCormack, MacGilfoyle, O’Brien, O’Cahill, O’Carroll, O’Connelly, O’Cullenan, O’Hogan, O’Hurley, O’Kean, O’Lenahan, O’Lonegan (O’Lonergan), O’Meara, O’Mulcahy, O’Ryan, O’Shanahan (Shannon), O’Skelly (O’Scully), O’Spellman (O’Spillane); Kilkenny – O’Callan, O’Hely (O’Healy), O’Keeley, O’Ryan, O’Shea; Queen’s County – MacEvoy, MacGorman, ODuff, O’Kelly, O’Lawler, O’Regan

Wishing all my readers and followers well as we learn more about our ancestry!

©2013 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

References:

Bhreathnach, Edel, and Cunningham, Bernadette, editors, Writing Irish History: the Four Masters and their World, Dublin, Ireland: Wordwell, Ltd., 2007.

Finnerty, William, Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters

Kane Ancestral Map of Ireland, Kane Strategic Marketing, Inc., P.O. Box 781, Harbor Springs, Michigan, 49740; Limerick, Ireland, 1993.

Maher, Janet, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut, Baltimore, MD: Apprentice House, 2012 [This book is 400 pages and includes 336 images. It may be obtained at: Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT; Naugatuck Historical Society, Naugatuck, CT; and Quinnipiac University Bookstore, Mount Carmel Branch, Hamden, CT. In Baltimore it may be purchased from Loyola University Bookstore and The Ivy Bookshop. Online it may be purchased from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, and from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).]

McCaffrey, Carmel and Eaton, Leo, In Search of Ancient Ireland, The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English, Chicago, IL: New Amsterdam Books, 2002.

O’Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees: or, The Origin and Stem of The Irish Nation, Fifth Edition in Two Volumes, Dublin, Ireland: James Duffy and Co., Ltd., 1892. Online.

O’Meagher, Joseph Casimir, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin,   Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., American Edition: NY, 1890. Online.

Shaw, Antony, compiled by, Portable Ireland, A Visual Reference to All Things Irish, Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2002.

Traynor, Pat, Milesian Genealogies from the Annals of the Four Masters

Walsh, Dennis,  Ireland’s History in Maps, History + Geography + Genealogy With a Special Focus on Ancient and Medieval Irish Tribes and Septs, ©2003.  

Walsh, Dennis, Old Irish-Gaelic Surnames, A Supplement to Ireland’s History in Maps

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics In New Haven County, Connecticut

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Origins, Pilgrimage, Thoughts, Tombstone Transcriptions

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Tags

American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Brennan, Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Irish in the Civil War, Irish Meaghers, Irish pilgrimage, Milesian Genealogy, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher, Saint Bernard Cemetery, Tombstone Transcriptions

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

First thing I did when I got the proof was to take pictures of it, then bring it into my department and show it to my colleagues, who then immediately got to hold it. Not exactly like having a baby, but pretty exciting, nonetheless.

The first mention in the press is out, on the Naugatuck Patch! The book is in the process of being offered on the Amazon website, and will also be available through Amazon.uk.

Hope to see some of you on June 21. Huge news is that Jane Lyons is flying all the way over from Ireland to be there! We’ll be going to the Irish Festival in New Haven that weekend too!

Wishing you all well,

Janet

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Ancient Ireland

04 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by Janet Maher in History, Origins

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Ancient Ireland, Ancient Irish Art & Artifacts, Cormac Mac Art, Maher, Meagher, Milesian Genealogy, Oillioll Olum

Irish Flag Postcard

Irish Flag Postcard from Janet Maher Collection

All great nations with ancient histories in the world had strong oral traditions that kept the culture’s memory alive through poetry and song. In Ireland, the only country whose national symbol is a musical instrument, history is still contained in its musical traditions. Traveling storytellers, the seanachais/shanachies, carried Irish history throughout the landscape, one household hearth at a time. When written language emerged, it was an ecclesiastical skill, and the history of Ireland (and the world) was preserved in the monasteries in exquisite hand-scribed and illustrated handmade books. For many centuries the clergy were the only literate people, having studied abroad for the priesthood. When education was forbidden for Catholics, children were taught secretly in open fields, thus learning to speak, read and write Irish in tandem with learning the history of their country. The arrival of Ireland’s first populations is steeped in mysticism and lore, as much a part of the poetic tradition as the sacred spirit of the place.

Archeologists have determined that during the Middle Stone Age, the Mesolithic period sometime around 9,000-7500 B.C., individuals and small groups began to venture into Ireland, walking over the naturally formed ice bridge between Europe and the northern area that became Scotland. (Eamonn P. Kelly, writing about prehistoric antiquities  for the National Museum of Ireland in 2002 placed the date as about 7000 B.C.) When the ice melted around 6,000 B.C, Ireland became separated from the rest of Europe by the Irish Sea, which was enough of a barrier to protect the island from Roman and other nation’s conquests for many centuries. Ireland was full of forests, minerals and ore deposits, and by about 3,500 B.C. farming settlers had introduced agriculture. The early inhabitants constructed the ceremonial stone circles, monumental stone dolman portal tomb structures and the passage graves of Dowth, Knowth, and Newgrange, which date to about 3000 B.C.  The Hill of Tara, in County Meath, was anciently important to all the clans in Ireland, and its “enclosure of the kings” (Rath na Ri) has been determined to date to about 94 or 95 B.C. (McCaffrey, Carmel and Eaton, Leo, In Search of Ancient Ireland, The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English, Chicago, IL: New Amsterdam Books, 2002, pg. 62.) (See images of stone circles and other archealogical sites at Paola Arosio and Diego Meozzi’s web site.)

Dugout canoes, simple boats made of branches covered with stretched animal hides (coracles) and similarly made rowboats that could travel greater distances (currachs), were used from the first century into the twentieth century, particularly on the west coast near the Blasket Islands, which is still fairly remote and where Irish is still spoken. Legend has it that Saint Brendan sailed in A.D. 500 in a currach all the way to the continent that eventually became America.

Exquisite bronze, gold and iron works, examples of which are held in the major museums of Ireland and England, were made surprisingly early. Ornate brooches held capes in place, jewelry (arm bands, collars, earrings, clothing fasteners), decorative weapons and cauldrons, elaborately illustrated monastic texts (Book of Dimma, Book of Kells), handheld bells, missals and jewel encrusted box shrines that contained them were discovered at various times throughout the nineteenth century. An ancient book, the Fadden More Psalter, found preserved in a bog in Tipperary in 2006, is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland.

The collection of antiquities there is stunning, testifying to the extremely high level of Irish craftsmanship that existed even in Neolithic times (3600 – 2800 B.C.) Very thin sheets of gold were fashioned into ornamental round and crescent-shaped discs embossed with geometric patterns, likely worn over clothing as collars signifying rank and status during the Early Bronze Age (c. 2200-1800 B.C.). By the Middle Bronze Age goldsmiths could twist long thin bars into delicate spiral necklaces. In the first century B.C. craftsmen could already work with glass. Delicate as a pod and about the size of a half mango, a small golden boat sculpture (likely representing a currach) is among the treasures attributed to the first century B.C.  Several tiny oars extend from each side, a crossed mast points upward and eight seats span its width. The Museum holds several ornamental shrines and brooches, including the Tipperary and Roscrea Brooches, the Killamery Brooch (Kilkenny) and the magnificent Shrine of Saint Patrick’s Bell (1100 A.D.). The Clonmacnoise Crozier is there (11th century) and the Ardagh and Derrynaflan Chalices (8th and 9th centuries, respectively).

(See Wallace, Patrick F. and Floinn, Raghnall O’ Floinn, editors, Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland, Irish Antiquities, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan Ltd., 2002, and The Faddan More Psalter, Archeaology Ireland, 20 July 2006, National Museum of Ireland.)

Irish artwork of early Medieval times was associated predominantly with the largest group of warrior settlers from Central Europe – the Celts. The term Celt, originates from the Greek term, Keltoi, which referred to those who lived north of Greece. The Romans, whom the Celts conquered in the 4th century, called these people Galli (Gauls). The Gaels (Gaeils, Gaills) were firmly in place in Ireland by 400 AD. The Irish language (Gaelic), which was in existence by 150 A.D., is a mixture of pre-Celtic and Celtic forms of speech. Edward T. O’Donnell explained the different dialects: Brythonic Celtic (P-Celtic) came from Britain and Gaul, which became the languages Welsh and Breton (and the extinct Pictish and Cumbrian languages); Goidelic Celtic (Q-Celtic) was the dialect of those who settled in Ireland and Iberia and became Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx Gaelic.  (O’Donnell, Edward T., 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History, New York: Gramercy Books, 2002, pg 6.)

Ireland was divided into the provinces of Munster (Southwest), Leinster (Southeast/East), Connaught (West), Ulster (North) and centralized Meath/Mide, which later became part of Leinster. The areas now contain several counties each, and particular surnames are still associated with them.

The original Irish, rural and tribal, functioned amid complex layers of leadership. Families shared and worked their lands communally using natural fluid land formations as designated perimeters of their properties, which extended great distances. Each of the major Gaelic tribes had their own King, under which were Ruling Lords who oversaw a number of Noble Chieftain families, who in turn had their own subjects. Extended family groups were called tuathas (i.e “people/community”) .

The ruling families employed historians, genealogists, musicians and poets, which comprised Bardic (literary) family groups.  Some families managed ecclesiastical properties (Erenach families); some were physicians and surgeons. Poets (fili) and Druids were among the highest classes and, with their great skills in memorization they held all the oral knowledge of history and science of the time. Brehons (lawyers) settled disputes by mediating laws that were born of Irish wisdom from commonly accepted practices, and the rights of women were considered equally with men. Women continue to be leaders overtly or behind the scenes in Ireland, and they feature among the great heroic tales, particularly of Cúchulainn, Fionn Mac Cumaill, and the Red Branch Warriors. (See Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland for a seanachai’s style telling of these – Philadelphia and London: Running Press, 2004, pp. 13-26)

Although the various kings and chieftains in the tuathas continually vied for power and property, the Brehon Laws covered non-religious conflicts within the separate petty kingdoms. Every person had an “honor price” based upon their importance in society, and punishments were decided according to the honor prices of both sides in a dispute.

Myths explain the origins of Ireland’s people, which, like any ancient stories that have survived to this day, may have germs of fact involved. The Tuatha de Danann, the Firbolgs, and the Formorians were said to have formed the first races of Ireland. The O’Meaghers descended from the original Gaels, originating with Mileadh/Milesius of Spain, from at least 1700 B.C. or earlier. His three sons, Heremon, Heber, and Ir, were credited with beginning the ancestries of the 150 or so major noble Gaelic families in Ireland. Legend tells that Mil’s sons conquered the earliest inhabitants of Ireland. (See Google Books: A short history of the Irish people from the earliest times to 1920, Mary Teresa Hayden, George Aloysius Moonan. See also Pat Traynor’s transcriptions, Milesian Genealogies from the Annals of the Four Masters.)

The Cinel (descendents) Meachair trace their earliest lineage from Fionnchada, son of Connla, son of Cian, who was killed in the Battle of Samhair in A.D. 241. (O’Meagher, Joseph Casimir, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., American Edition: NY, 1890, pg. 13.) Cian was the second son of King Oillioll Olum, King of the Provence of Munster in the 3rd Century and Munster’s first absolute King. (Shaw, Antony, compiled by, Portable Ireland, A Visual Reference to All Things Irish, Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2002) Oillioll Olum died in A.D. 234. His father was Eoghan Taighlech, also called Owen the Splendid and Magh Nuadhat. Taighlech descended from Milesian’s son, Heber. O’Meagher noted that Eoghan Mor was called Mogh-Nuadadh and was killed by Conn of the 100 Battles. (pg. 199) (For more about Oillioll Olum see Google Books: The History of Ireland, From the Earliest Account of Time To the Invasion of the English Under King Henry II, T. Comerford, Esq., Baltimore: James Scanlon and B. Edes Publishers, 1826.)

According to Kane’s Ancestral Map of Ireland (Kane Strategic Marketing, Inc., P.O. Box 781, Harbor Springs, Michigan, 49740; Limerick, Ireland, 1993), some ancient Mahers were also descendents of Cormac Mac Art and Conaire Mor, both descendents of Heremon. Cormac Mac Art was the son of King Art Eanfhear, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 227 to A.D. 266. (The chapel of Cormac Mac Art at the Rock of Cashel is presently being restored.) Eanfhear was the son of King Conn of the Hundred Battles, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 166 to A.D. 195 (or, from another source, A.D. 123 to A.D. 157). The lineage of Conaire Mor appears to have died out. He had been “sixteenth in descent from Heremon” and his line included King Conaire the 2nd, Monarch of Ireland A.D. 157 – A.D. 166. (Shaw) The Meaghers/Mahers appear on the map within the barony of Ikerrin.

The common ancestor among the various pedigrees in Joseph Casimir O’Meagher’s compilation of pedigrees is Oilioll Oluim. Created by different scribes for important occasions, one pedigree was copied from the Psalter of Cashel. Saint Benignus (Beonna), the bishop of Armagh after Saint Patrick, was a descendent of Oilioll Oluim, as was Saint Cronan, Abbot of Roscrea. (O’Meagher, pp. 191-199)

Third century King Cormac Mac Art attempted to unite all of Ireland with Tara as its center, but there would be no overarching King of Ireland until Brian Boru overcame the O’Neills in 1005. Boru briefly united all the counties of Ireland by claiming the High Kingship until his death in 1014.

Among the surnames with noble ancient Gaelic roots for three categories of privilege that I have compiled from Kanes’ Ancestral Map of Ireland for the counties of Tipperary, Kilkenny and Queens (Leix/Laois) were the following: (Note that “O” or “Fitz” before a surname means “grandson of” and “Mc/Mac” before a surname means “son of.”)

Kings: Tipperary (Kings of Cashel) – MacCarthy, O’Brien, O’Callaghan. Princes: Tipperary – O’Carroll, O’Donnegan, O’Donohoe, O’Brien; Kilkenny – O’Carroll, O’Donaghue; Queen’s County – MacGilpatrick (Fitzpatrick).

Ruling Lords: Tipperary – MacBrien, O’Cuirc (Quirk), O’Day (O’Dea), O’Dinan, O’Dwyer, O’Fogerty, O’Kennedy, O’Meagher (O’Maher), O’Sullivan; Kilkenny – O’Brennan (Fassadinen area), O’Brodar; Queen’s County – O’Dempsey, O’Dowling, O’Dunn, O’Moore.

Noble Chieftains: Tipperary – MacCormack, MacGilfoyle, O’Brien, O’Cahill, O’Carroll, O’Connelly, O’Cullenan, O’Hogan, O’Hurley, O’Kean, O’Lenahan, O’Lonegan (O’Lonergan), O’Meara, O’Mulcahy, O’Ryan, O’Shanahan (Shannon), O’Skelly (O’Scully), O’Spellman (O’Spillane); Kilkenny – O’Callan, O’Hely (O’Healy), O’Keeley, O’Ryan, O’Shea; Queen’s County – MacEvoy, MacGorman, ODuff, O’Kelly, O’Lawler, O’Regan

(See also, Walsh, Dennis, Old Irish-Gaelic Surnames, A Supplement to Ireland’s History in Maps)

While it is impossible for anyone today to genealogically prove their lineage back to ancient Ireland, appreciating the long reach of some clans’ emotional ties to their homeland may help, by extension, to put in context the rebellious feelings that many had toward the waves of newcomers who displaced them, became their landlords, and/or forced their own ancestors to permanently flee to other countries or relocate to barren parts of the island.

Recommended Reading:

Chambers, Anne, Ireland’s Pirate Queen, The True Story of Grace O’Malley, New York: MJF Books, 2003.

©2011 Sinéad Ní Mheachair (Janet Maher)

All Rights Reserved

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