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The
O'CONNELL Family of C19th Co. Cork, Ireland
Mid C19th
Ballydehob, SW County Cork.
Modern descendants include
LOWNEY
(of Clonakilty, Cork), and MacCAFFREY
families of C20th Dublin, Australia and New Zealand.
All that is known are two
sisters of a Daniel O'CONNELL
of Ballydehob (RD of Skull, Co. Cork) details otherwise scarce:
Edna Elizabeth O'CONNELL
(1904-81) married Edward (Ted)
LOWNEY.
Phyllis Margeurite O'CONNELL
(Q3 1915, Skull) = Dillon
MacCAFFREY.
Of Phyllis & Dillon's
family, daughter Yvonne
MacCAFFREY married (married
name unknown) and stayed in Dublin having 3 daughters. Sons
Dillon Ronald (Ronnie)
MacCAFFREY and Kenneth
Peter (Peter) MacCAFFREY are
both in New Zealand.
Edna O'CONNELL
is my wife's grandmother and seeking more related family info.
(Please note: This limited
research is inherited from my late father-in-law only.)
Extracted
Historical Notes:
"Though in
early mediaeval times there were undoubtedly several distinct and
unrelated septs of O'Connell, those of Ulster and Connacht are
seldom heard of even as late as the fourteenth century. O'Dugan
(d.1372) in the "Topographic Poems" mentions O Conaill
as a family of Oirghiall and another, again, as of Ui Maine. The
name does not appear in the Four Masters after 1117 when the
death of Cathasach O Conaill, "Nobel Bishop of Connacht",
is recorded. Another of the name, Bishop of Thomond (Killaloe) is
mentioned in the "Annals of Innisfallen" under date 927
A.D.; but if this be a true surname it is one of the earliest
examples. The "Annals of Connacht" have no reference to
the name. These septs can, in fact, be regarded as extinct. The
one sept of O'Connell which has not only become numerous but has
also, during the past two centuries, produced many outstanding
Irishmen.
As regards
numerical strength O'Connell and Connell, taken together, are
listed by Matheson as among the 25 commonest surnames in Ireland:
sixty years ago Connells outnumbered O'Connells by two to one;
since then the resumption of the prefix has been so wide spread
in this case that Connell without the O today accounts for less
than 20 per cent of the total. The great majority of the
O'Connells came from south west Munster. This is as might be
expected for the O'Connells are by origin a Kerry Sept.
Traditionally the
genealogy is traced back to the Eremonian Aengus Tuirmeach who
was said to have been the High King of Ireland about 180 B.C.
Coming to historical times we find an O'Connell chief of Magunihy
in East Kerry. The name is spelt O Conghail in O'Heerin's
continuation of the "Topographical Poem".
In the eleventh
century pressure by the powerful O'Donoghues pushed them towards
the Atlantic coast, and they became hereditary castellans of
Ballycarbery under the MacCarthy Mor chiefs. Nearby is the
romantically situated Derrynane, home of Daniel O'Connell, now
preserved for the Irish nation by private subscription, though
not officially a national monument.
The disasters of
the seventeenth century submerged them for a time - it was under
the Cromwellian settlement that the head of the sept was
transplanted to Co. Clare, where a branch has remained since as a
Catholic landed family. The barony of Magunihy, in which
Killarney is situated, is still the homeland of the leading
family of O'Connell today, the present representative of which is
Sir Morgan O'Connell, Bart. Unless we cite the Capuchin Father
Robert O'Connell (c. 1621-1678), the first O'Connell to become a
figure of Irish national importance was Daniel Count O'Connell
(1743-1833), " the last colonel of the Irish Brigade",
as his biographer, Mrs. M.J. O'Connell, calls him. His kinsman
and contemporary, Baron Moritz (or Murty) O'Connell (1738-1830),
was another Kerry exile who, as well as being chamberlain to
three emperors, served with military distinction on the
continent. The famous Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) "the
Liberator", needs no description to those familiar with
Irish history. His uncle, Maurice O'Connell (1727-1825), squire,
patriarch, autocrat and smuggler, was a celebrated character
known as "Hunting Cap", but Daniel's three sons, though
also public men, were not of the same calibre as their father. An
earlier member of this family, who should not be forgotten, was
the Friar John O'Connell who about the year 1700 composed the
historical poem "Tuireadh na hEireann".
One O'Connell
from Co. Clare merits a place in the national roll of honour,
Peter O'Connell (1775-1826) - described by Prof. T. F. O'Rahilly
as "the best Irish scholar in the Ireland of a century ago".
The remarkably thorough genealogical researches of Mr. Basil
O'Connell, much of which has been printed, will be found of great
value to anyone desiring detailed information about the
O'Connells of Kerry and allied families during the past three
centuries. It should be observed that Castle O'Connell, the town
near Limerick, is a misnomer since it takes its name not from the
O'Connells but from the Dalcassian family of O Connaing (now
anglicized Gunning)."
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The
outline above is indicative only and not necessarily fully
correct or complete.
The CreativeGraces family tree can be
found here on
Ancestry:
http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/pt/pedigree.aspx?tid=9072976
This
is where you can find the most up-to-date information.
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