| Some Historical Tidbits - Page 2 |
| "In the autumn of 1824 the Ordnance Survey staff arrived at Phoenix Park in Dublin to begin mapping the whole of Ireland on a scale of six inches to one statute mile...A detailed memoir was ordered for every parish but alarm at the costs involved caused the bandonment of this part of the project. These unpublished memoirs survive for much of Ulster and paint a vivid picture of rural life in the middle 1830s. In particular, they provide striking evidence of the increasing mistery of those living at the bottom of the social pyramid. In 1835 Lieutenant P. Taylor described the level to which the people had been reduced in his memoir for the parish of Currin in south-west Monaghan: The wretched hovels, scantily covered with straw, surrounded and almost entombed with mire, which everywhere present themselves throughout the parish, sufficiently testify that the total absence of all activity in industry is one source of the writechedness and misery which almost overwhelms the land. In no kingdom of the universe does so general an appearance of poverty and destitution prevail as in the persons and domiciles of this intelligent, lively but thoughtless community. Subidivision, he believed, was the main cause of this poverty, the ne plus ultra of experience, through a series of generations, a system not arising from the hydraheaded monster absenteeism nor the high rent of land, but emanating from a practice of subdividing farms into small tenures, subletting the same to insolvent tenantry...Not 1 in 20 possess the means of paying up their rent, and their cabans, almost universally built in a combination of mud and straw, present a most wrteched appearance (Bardon, 274)." "Potatoes and thin buttermilk constitute their chief and almost only source of subsistence'; this memoir for Currin Co. Monaghan could be applied to cottiers and labourers over most of the province (Bardon, 277)." |
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| Here is what historian Jonathan Bardon (A History of Ulster, Blackstaff Press, Limited, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1992) says about the famine and County Monaghan: |
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| Old Irish Naming Patterns (from the Co. Cork Genweb Site) Sons 1st son was named after the father's father 2nd son was named after the mother's father 3rd son was named after the father 4th son was named after the father's eldest brother 5th son was named after the mother's eldest brother Daughters 1st daughter was named after the mother's mother 2nd daughter was named after the father's mother 3rd daughter was named after the mother 4th daughter was named after the mother's eldest sister 5th daughter was named after the father's eldest sister |
| O'Brien-History of Name From the tenth century, when the sept rose to the High Kingship of Ireland in the person of Brian Boru, down to the present day, the O'Briens have always been prominent in the history of the country. Before Brian Boru's time, the Dalcassian clan, known as the Ui Toirdealbhaigh, to which they belonged, was not of outstanding importance in Thomond: the greatness of Brian gave them pre-eminence there and in due course the sept, which took the surname O'Brien from him, divided into several branches and possessed a great part of Munster, of which they were frequently kings. The O'Briens of Ara (north Tipperary), a territory they acquired from the O'Donegans about the year 1300, had as chief Mac Ui Bhriain Ara; those of Co. Limerick gave their name to the barony of Pubblebrien; another branch was located around Aberlow by the Galtees; and another south of the Comeragh Mountains on the rich lands near Dungarvan. In all those areas, and especially in Co. Clare, they are numerous today: the name, in fact, is so common that it comes sixth in the statistical list relating to Irish surnames, with an estimated population of more than thirty thousand persons. In this connexion it may be observed that, though fifty years ago one third of the people of the name were registered as plain Brien, nowadays it is rarely to be found without the prefix O. The outstanding figure is, of course, Brian Boru (925-1014), whose remarkable career as High King of Ireland ended with his death on the field of the battle of Contarf when the Norsemen were finally subdued. Brian, in fact, used no surname; it was, however, in regular use forty years after his death. From1055 up to 1616, the last year recorded by the Four Masters, O'Briens figure in the annals of every generation, over 300 individuals of the name finding a place in that great work. In this respect they are outnumbered only by the O'Connors, the O'Neills and the O'Donnells. In the "Annals of Innisfallen," which deal principally with the southern half of Ireland, the O'Briens appear more often than any other sept, though in this the MacCarthys run them close. Coming to modern times, the difficulty is to select a few names from the many O'Briens who have been prominent in the political and cultural history of the country. The descendants of Brian Boru, in the main line, have been peers of the realm under three titles. Earls and Marquises of Thomond, Barons and Earls of Inchiquin and Viscounts Clare. The two former have more often than not been on the side of England, notably Murrough O'Brien, sixth Earl of Thomond (d. 1551), who was one of the first Gaelic chiefs to acknowledge Henry VIII, and the other notorious Murrough O'Brien, sixth Earl of Inchiquin (1614-1674), whose exploits during the war of 1641-1650 earned him the sobriquet "Murrough of the Burnings". The Viscounts Clare, on the other hand, present a different picture; the first of these, Daniel O'Brien (1577-1663), was a member of the Supreme Council of the Catholic Confederates; it wa the third Viscount, also Daniel O'Brien (d. 1690), who raised the famous Irish Brigade regiment known as Clare's Dragoons, which was later commanded in many famous battles on the continent by the fifth Viscount, Charles O'Brien, whose distinguished military career ended when he was killed at the battle of Ramillies in 1706, while his son, Charles O'Brien, sixth Viscount (1699-1771), upheld the family tradition at Dittingen and Fontenoy, and became a Marshall of France. Younger branches of these noble families produced William Smith O'Brien (1803-1864), who broke away from the "landlord" tradition of his relatives and became one of the best known of the Young Irelanders. His daughter, Charlotte Grace O'Brien (1845-1909), was a philanthropist, author and zealous Gaelic Leaguer, and his brother, Edward O'Brien (1808-1840), devoted his short life to similar causes. Other O'Briens whose names are honoured for their part in the struggle for the restoration of Irish independence are Most. Rev. Terence Albert O'Brien (1600-1651), Dominican Bishop of Emly, who was hanged by Ireton after the Siege of Limerick; James Francis Xavier O'Brien (1825-1905), the Fenian, and William O'Brien (1852-1928), who devised the "Plan of Campaign" and founded the United Irish League. Another William O'Brien (b. 1881), nationalist, albour leader and friend of James Connolly, is still active in Irish affairs. Add to all these Fitzjames O'Brien (1828-1862), the Irish author who was killed fighting in the America Civil War; Jeremiah O'Brien (1740-1818), with his borthers John and William, heroes of naval exploits against the British in the American War of Independence; Most Rev. John O'Brien (d. 1767) and Rev. Paul O'Brien (1763-1820< two noted Gaelic scholars; and there are still many names which may justly be considered worthy of a place in this brief account of a great and famous Irish sept. AUTHOR UNKNOWN |