GENES AND SEPTS REUNITED:
HISTORY AND GENETICS SYNTHESIZED IN THE FAMILIES OF
McMANUS AND O’CONOR OF CONNAUGHT, IRELAND
Dr. Michael McManus
School of Applied Social Sciences
Durham University, UK
INTRODUCTION
For centuries the
historical record has held it to be a well-founded proposition that the family
names O’Conor and McManus of Connaught, Ireland, are
mutually inclusive – they are one family, not two given by the impression of
two different names. The clear reasoning for this has come down primarily from
the evidence available in the old annals and genealogies written by clerics,
often many years after the event had taken place. Accordingly, the authenticity
and historical truth of the annals and the political independence of their writers
has been widely challenged. And rightly so. The challenge is summed up briefly
by the notion that:
...…genealogy is at once
ideology and history (Krader, 1963:157).
Indeed, it is with great
difficulty that any one of us comes to reporting an event from an entirely
independent position – we all bring something of ourselves, our politics and
ideology to the record. How then can the historical truth be identified? As any
police detective will testify; bringing ‘scientific’ (forensic) evidence to the
enquiry will enhance the truth and ensure a strong conviction - so too in any
form of historical study.
Forensic evidence was not
always available to the family historian, however, history research has been
transformed in recent years by the introduction of DNA testing. No longer need
we depend entirely on documentary records to find our ancestors because in the
relatively new science of DNA we have a great research tool that can complement
the documentation. This scientific advance has the potential to penetrate the
notion that genealogy contains untruths of both an historical and ideological
nature. I seek here to provide increased reliability for the proposition that
McManus and O’Conor of Connaught are effectively the
same family. I have done this through the combined use of historical and
genealogical records and the genetic data from a group of relevant individuals.
HISTORY
The
historical record for my proposition of ‘one family’ draws heavily on the old
annals. The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, or The Annals of the Four Masters
(hereafter AFM) as they are also known, were compiled between 1632 and 1636
under the direction of Michael O'Clery, a Franciscan
priest in County Donegal and later translated by O’Donovan (1856). They are a
yearly chronicle of events relating mainly to the more celebrated members of
society in Ireland until the year 1616. Likewise, the Annals of Lough Ce (hereafter, ALC) describe events between 1014-1590 and
were copied mainly by the O’Duignan family of Kilronan on behalf of the MacDermot
family and translated by Hennesy (1871).
It is necessary from the
start to distinguish the O’Conor McManuses
from the Maguire McManuses, for it is the former
family that I am focusing on here. There is clear historical record that the
name McManus designates genealogically from two separate individuals called Maghnus, namely, Maghnus Maguire
of County Fermanagh, Ulster and Maghnus O’Conor of North County Roscommon, Connaught. There is not
room here to illustrate these distinctions in detail, suffice to know that the
evidence available in the old records has been studied in detail by Edward MacLysaght, formerly Chief Herald of Ireland and Chairman
of the Irish Manuscripts Commission. He concurs in his seminal work that there
are two distinct and mutually exclusive families (MacLysaght,
1978:222).
We leave the Maguire McManuses at this point and turn fully to the McManuses of North Roscommon. The records are clear that
these McManuses are descended from Conor, King of Connaught. The O’Conor
(Irish = Ua Conchobair)
family, of the Province of Connaught, Ireland, were for centuries, the leading
family of the province and their name is written deep in the history of the
area and of Ireland generally. They were Kings of Connaught, continuously, from
the eighth century and Kings of Ireland for many more centuries. In his accredited work, Byrne (1973:301) sets out the O’Conor Kings of Connaught from the year 925 until the last
High King, Roderick or Rory (Ruaidri=Red) who was
deposed of the High Kingship by the Treaty of Windsor, 1175. Under this
Treaty Rory was to hold Connaught as his vassal and exercise lordship over all
the native kings and chiefs of Ireland after agreeing that he pay an annual
tribute to the English King.
By the 14th
century, the primary stronghold of the O’Conors’,
until the army of Oliver Cromwell took it in 1652, was Ballintober Castle, County Roscommon. The
castle was later restored but after the Battle of the Boyne, in 1690, it was
taken by William of Orange and left to ruin.
By the end of the fourteenth century the head of the O’Conor
family was being termed as ‘O’Conor Don’, which,
according to O’Donovan and O’Conor (1891:152) means ‘O’Conor King or Lord of Connaught’. The present O’Conor Don is Desmond Roderic O’Conor, who lives in Sussex, England. Unlike many other
contemporary Chieftains who have claimed succession, his genealogy and claim is
absolutely undisputed. His pedigree
was extracted by Sir John-Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms and Principal
Herald of all Ireland, from the records preserved in Ulster’s Office, Dublin
Castle. According to the Irish Times of 22nd. July 2000:
..…it is generally
acknowledged that the holder of the title would be the foremost claimant to the
Irish throne, if one were proposed.......
Turning
to the ancient annals; they tell us that the McManuses
of North Roscommon are descended from the family of O’Conor
Don and his ancestor Conor, King of Connaught, who
reigned seven years and died A.D. 973:
From him descended Tirlagh Mor O'Conor, the 48th
King of Connaught and the 181st elected Monarch of all Ireland in
1136. After fifty years reign, twenty as High King of Ireland, he died in 1156.
Tirlagh Mor O'Conor had several wives and eighteen sons (AFM).
We
learn that the ninth son was Magnus O'Conor of Tir Thuathail (Kilronan), whose
sons, in the year 1225, took the surname MacManus. (The Book of Lecan (Folio 72, Column 4). O’Donovan and O’Conor (1891:44) qualify the record:
.....Turlough had.....by which of his wives it is not
stated........Manus, ancestor of the Clanmanus......
Magnus'
brother, Cathal Crobhdearg,
was the fifty eighth King of Connaught.
In 1186, when the Mulveys and the Sheridans had been expelled, the McManus family had been
given the territory known as Tir-Tuathail, which
forms the north-eastern portion of the contemporary Barony of Boyle in North
Roscommon. This area can now be identified as the Parish of Kilronan.
Tir-Tuathail gets its name from Tir-Tuathail-Maoilgairbh,
i.e. 'the country of Tuathal Maelgarbh'
who was monarch of Ireland from the year 533 to 544 (O'Faherty's
Ogygia part 3 Column 93).
The
MacManus line continued in North Roscommon for many centuries but by the
eighteenth century the pedigree was lost, mainly through dispossession by
dominant English conquerors.
From the
Annals of The Four Masters there is some evidence that O’Conors
and McManuses resided in the Corann
(South County Sligo) before they resided in Tir-Tuathail.
This is now Coolavin. In the year 1212 the annals
tell us that:
Dermot, the son of Roderic O'Conor, forcibly took
the house of Hugh, the son of Manus O'Conor, at Kilcolman-Finn, in Corran.
Thirty-five men were burned in the house on this occasion.
There
are many examples which can be taken from the annals providing testament to the
status of the McManuses of Tir
Thuathail and their connection with the O’Conors. In 1181 the death of Manus O’Conor
and his brother Brian is recorded as being at The Battle of the Royal-Heirs
(AFM). By 1249 MacManus of Tir Thuathail
becomes a settled reference in the annals and it is recorded that:
Brian An Doire (an oak
wood) MacManus, son of Manus O'Conor, was killed
fighting against the English and was one of the army, ‘…..led by the Roydamnas (heirs presumptive) of Connaught, Turlough and Hugh (two sons of Hugh, the son of Cathal Crovderg) to Athenry (County Galway), on Lady Day in mid-autumn, to burn
and plunder it.’ (AFM).
There
are several references to family feuds with the McManus family and their O’Conor cousins. For example, in 1308, when Hugh, the son
of Cathal O'Conor attacked
his brother, Rory and in the process Manus MacManus O'Conor, and others, were
killed. (AFM). A disastrous moment occurred eight years later for the O’Conors and McManuses at the
Battle of Athenry in County Galway:
In 1316 ‘A
very great army was mustered by Felim O'Conor and the chiefs of the province of Connaught…….Melaghlin
Oge MacManus’ and many others were slain at the
Battle of Athenry. This was a disastrous battle for
the O’Conor men and, ‘In short, it is impossible to
enumerate or tell all the chiefs of Connaught, Munster, and Meath, who fell in
this battle. This terrible battle was fought on the festival day of St.
Lawrence, 10th of August. Felim O'Conor was twenty-three
years of age at the time. Rory na-bhFeadh, the son of
Donough, son of Owen, son of Rory O'Conor
was then inaugurated King of Connaught’. (AFM).
In 1318 family in-fighting continued when
a large group moved to attack Cathal, son of
Donnell O'Conor. Amongst the attackers were Turlough, son of Hugh, son of Owen O'Conor.
Cathal was no shrinking violet however and resisted
fiercely and with valour. Brian, the son of Turlough O'Conor, heir presumptive to the kingship of Connaught and
his cousin Brian MacManus, and many others were slain by Cathal
O’Conor. (AFM).
Family feuds continued and we see that in 1411 Fergal MacManus, Lord of Tir-Tuathail and his son Hugh were slain by Roderick
MacManus. (ALC). The annals contain many reports of intrusions by families into
other’s lands to steal cattle and in 1460 the McManuses
were forced to defend their herd when:
Mac Manus of Tir-Tuathail,
Rory, the son of Owen Roe Mac Manus, fully worthy to be Lord of that territory,
was slain by Con, the son of Niall Garv, son of Turlough-an-Fhiona O'Donnell, and Teige,
the son of Teige O'Rourke, while in pursuit of the
spoils of the territory. O'Donnell's people carried the spoils with them to Airged-glenn; but, after the killing of Mac Manus, the
chiefs of the Clann-Manus deprived them of their
preys in that valley (AFM).
That
the seat and land of the McManuses was Kilronan is beyond doubt. Accordingly we find several
references to Tir-Tuathail (Kilronan)
and reports of deaths. In 1382 Murtough Oge McManus whose father is shown as Mac Manus of Tir-Tuathail passed away and Manus, the son of Owen Roe
MacManus of Tir-Tuathail Maoilgairbh,
died in 1495 (AFM). In 1586, ‘Toirdhelbhach Buidhe MacMaghnusa of Tir-Tuathail’ was hanged on the 3rd. of March at
Cruachan by the Sheriff of Roscommon. Apparently, a
pardon which he had been granted was disregarded (ALC). Tirlaghe Boy McManus and Brian mac Fergananym
McManus, both horsemen of ‘Tyrhoyle’ were more
fortunate in 1585. As the fiants of Queen Elizabeth
show they were granted a pardon (Commissioner of the Public Records of Ireland, 1966).
The
various historical records referred to
in this section have provided ample evidence of the genealogical connection
between the O’Conor Kings of Ireland and the princely
family of McManus of Kilronan. In the next section a
scientific element is brought to bear on our genealogical project. Using
genetic genealogy and the science of YDNA, any doubts held on the authenticity
of the annals are redressed and the accuracy of the historical record as it
applies to McManus/O’Conor is established.
This is part one.