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Genealogical Table of the Mac Sweeney Chiefs of Doe
Suibne (Fl. 1200) Castle Sween, Kintyre.
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Maolmhuire an Sparáin m Ben Mide, g/dau of Rory O'Conor, H/ king of Ireland
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Murchad (died 1267 in the prison of the Earl of Ulster)
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Maolmhuire
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Murchadh Mear, 1st Chief of Fanad ( arr. from Castle Sween, Kintire, 1315).
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Murchadh Óg, 2nd Chief of Fanad
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Donnchadh Mór, 1st Chief of Doe, 1360
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Eoghan Connachtach, 2nd Chief of Doe
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Toirrdhealbhach Óg, 3rd Chief of Doe
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Niall, 4th Chief of Doe
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Domhnall, 5th Chief of Doe
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Eoghan Mór, 6th Chief of Doe, slain 1545
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Eoghan Óg I, 7th Chief of Doe, slain 1554
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Murchadh Mall, 8th Chief of Doe, slain 1570. Eoghan Óg II, 9th Chief of Doe, d. 1596
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Sir Maol Mhuire/ Myles Mac Sweeney 10th Chief of Doe, 1596-1630
(Commanded O'Donnell's rearguard during the retreat from Kinsale 1601)
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Donnchadh Mór, 11th and last inaugurated Chief of Doe, died c. 1640
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Maol Mhuire/ Myles
Maol Mhuire/ Myles was Col of the Tyrconnell Regt in the army of Eoghan Roe O Neill and delegate to Kilkenny 1642. A number of Donegal-based accounts, e,g., publications by the Donegal Historical Society and by Dr L W Lucas, Historian, Queen's University Belfast, list Maol Mhuire/ Myles as 12th Chief of Doe and his son, Donough Oge, as 13th Chief of Doe.
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Murrough
The eminent historian, Dr John O Donovan recorded on page 2341 of his translation of AFM/ Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland and in his Sept 1835 Donegal Survey Letters and in letters to others, that Murrough was (12th) Chief of Doe and that his son Donough Oge, was (13th) Chief of Doe.
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Edmund
Edmund is 1st on the 1691 Co Donegal Williamite Outlawry List and his nephew and Chief, Donough Oge, is 3rd. After the capitulation at Limerick 1691 they went to France with Sarsfield's forces and died there. The pedigree of Tarlagh Mac Suibhne An Píobaire Mór, (youngest son of Eamonn Rua, 16th Chief of Doe) was published in the Irish Weekly Times, 24 April 1909. The pedigree lists Edmund's son, Donnachadh Fhergal, as the father of Torlogh/ Toirrdhealbhach, 14th Chief of Doe.
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Donough Oge, 13th Chief. Fought at Derry, the Boyne, Limerick.Outlawed 1691, died in France.
(3rd on Williamite Outlawry List, 1691
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Torlagh/Toirrdhealbhach, 14th Chief.
(Dispossessed as a child 1691)
Eamonn Mór, 15th Chief, b.1738 d.1834
(the generation missing in O Donovan's 1835 genealogy)
he married Kate MacSwine of Glenveagh.
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Eamonn Rua 16th Chief, b.1774 d.1851/55
he married Hannah Hueston, Derryleconnel
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The renowned historian, Dr John O Donovan, who met Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney in Donegal in Sept 1835 recorded: (a) in his 1835 Donegal Survey Letters; (b) in a footnote to page 2341 of his translation of AFM/ Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland; (c) in a letter to Eugene O Cleary, scholar, scribe and Professsor of Archaeology at the Catholic University; (d) in a letter to Owen Connellan, Irish historiographer to King George IV and King William IV that Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney was 'the lineal legitimate descendant' of Sir Maol Mhuire/ Myles Mac Sweeney, (10th) Chief of Doe, 1596-1630, and was 'Mac Swayne na Doe and heir to Doe Castle and the sinsear of the Clann tSuibhne'.
The section of the genealogy between Sir Maol Mhuire/ Myles Mac Sweeney, 10th Chief of Doe, and Eamon Rua Mac Sweeney Doe, 16th Chief, proceeded (originally) from the genealogy of Tarlagh Mac Suibhne, An Píobaire Mór, published in the Weekly Irish Times, April 24, 1909. The 1909 genealogy gave the line of descent through Edmund a son of Donagh Mór, 11th Chief of Doe. The genealogy has been revised according to Dr. John O Donovan's account, 1835, and the findings (August 2003) of the consultant genealogist who validated Thomas A. Sweeney's proofs of descent from Sir Maol Mhuire/ Myles,10th Chief of Doe,1596 -1630. Variations can occur in genealogies, e.g., in transcription, see Part 14 www.sweeneyclanchief.com/id27.htm.
Note. The pedigree of O Donovan of Clan Cathail (recognised by Chief Herald Mac Lysaght 1944) and the O Donnell pedigree (recognised by Chief Herald Mac Lysaght 1945) both rely on the scholarship of Dr. John O Donovan and are regarded as 'unassailable'.
(All known `Descendants of Doe' descend from Eamon Rua Mac Sweeney, c.1774 -1851/55, 16th Chief of Doe, from his sister Nana Rua, her brothers Donnchadh Rua, Séamus Mór, Brian Mór and Murrough, and from their 1st cousin, Miles MacSweeney of Glenveigh (1792 -1852) a descendant of Sir Maol Mhuire/ Myles Mac Sweeney, 10th Chief of Doe. Myles Mac Sweeney lived in Glenveigh (now a National Park) until c. 1825, when his home and land were taken from him unjustly. He married his 2nd cousin, Catherine, a daughter of Eamon Rua Mac Sweeney. It was in their home in Ardlaghan, Glenfinn, that Catherine's youngest brother, the celebrated 19th century piper, Tarlagh Mac Sweeney, An Píobaire Mór, was born. All members of the `Descendants of Doe' group are related to Tarlagh, `An Píobaire Mór' - born Glenfinn 1831/2, died in Gweedore 1916.)
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Pedigree Declarations.
Proofs of descent in the form of registration documents, wills, etc. are normally obtainable. However, sometimes such proofs cannot be found or were lost or destroyed, eg., during the turmoil of the 17th, 18th,19th and early 20th centuries in Ireland. In such circumstances, courts rely instead on admissible substitute material, e.g., pedigree declarations. The alternative would be chaos - particularly in relation to the devolution of property. (Titles are regarded as property - ideal property.)
Scottish Pedigree Declarations
The similarity between Irish Law and Scottish Law, regarding pedigree declarations, was demonstrated recently in the case of Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch, Chief of the Name v The Lord Advocate of Scotland. Ranald Mac Donald of Keppoch successfully appealed a decision of The Lord Lyon of Scotland not to grant him recognition as Chief of the Name of the MacDonalds of Keppoch. His appeal, heard before Lord Macfayden and Lord Nimmo Smith, hinged upon the acceptance by the court of appeal of an orally transmitted pedigree/ sloinneadh.The accuracy of one name in the pedigree/ sloinneadh was also in contention. The pedigree/ sloinneadh was recorded by a Mrs. Ann MacDonell from her husband John's sister Francis, who had in turn attributed it to John's uncle Allan who, according to Mrs. MacDonell 'claimed to be Chief to the day he died'. At the time of Allan, the pedigree/ sloinneadh had been written down at the suggestion of Father Andrew McDonell, who was an expert genealogist but not specifically an expert on the MacDonalds of Keppoch.
Conclusion of the Court. "We shall accordingly (1) sustain the petitioner's first plea-in-law and grant the prayer of the petition "for aught yet seen" in the name of Ranald Alasdair MacDonald of Keppoch, Chief of the Name and Arms of MacDonald of Keppoch and of the Honourable Clanranald of Keppoch, Mac-'ic-Roanuill, and (2) remit to the Lord Lyon to proceed as accords in respect of the petitioner's claim for confirmation of arms.
Irish Pedigree Declarations - Irish Law Reform Commission.
1. Declarations inferred from family conduct are admissible as evidence of pedigree, e.g., a pedigree hung up in a family mansion is good evidence even if the person who made it is unknown, because of the presumption that if a family did not more or less adopt it, it would not have been suffered to remain. For similar reasons declarations on family bibles and on tombstones are admitted.
2. Where questions of relationship are raised, evidence of statements by deceased members of the family are admissible to establish particular facts which are relevant to the enquiry.
(E.g., Dr. John O Donovan's declarations (a) in his Donegal Survey Letters, Sept.1835, (b) in a footnote, under year 1603, to his translation of the Annals of the Four Masters, re Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney's descent from Sir Maol Mhuire/ Myles Mac Sweeney, Chief of Doe 1596-1603, and the recognition granted Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney by the O Donnells and Mac Sweeneys and by every old Milesian from Fanaid to Ballyshannon.)
3. Learned treatises are generally admissible.
(E.g., Essays and published articles declare that Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney born c.1774 was Chief of the Mac Sweeneys of Doe and heir to Doe Castle. Likewise, essays/ published articles and numerous radio discussions/ documentaries (particularly on R na G/ Irish language radio) declare the descent from the Chiefs of Doe of Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney's youngest son Tarlagh, An Píobaire Mór, born c.1831- d.1916.)
Summary.
"Family Repute" is acceptable in a court of law and "General Repute" is evidence of pedigree - Irish Law Reform Commission.
Vanishing Kingdoms.
In his Foreword to Vanishing Kingdoms (by former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland/ former U.S. Ambassasor to France, Walter J. P. Curley, The Lilliput Press, Dublin 2004) Charles Lysaght, described the fate of the Irish chieftain families following the collapse and 'extinction for ever' of the old Gaelic system. (Charles Lysaght, Barrister-at-Law, is Legal Adviser to the Irish Law Reform Commission, Legal Adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Past President of the Oxford Union and 1st cousin of the late Edward Mac Lysaght - the Chief Herald of Ireland who established the system of 'courtesy recognition' of Irish Chiefs, 1944.)
Charles Lysaght wrote:...... "There were those who accepted the opening to integrate themselves into the new English Protestant Ascendancy established as part of the conquest of Ireland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There were those who departed Ireland rather than accept this new order and became part of the aristocracies of the Catholic powers of continental Europe. There were those who hung on as minor Catholic gentry and are rightly celebrated. They produced from their number several leading nineteenth-century figures, notably our first great political leader, the Liberator Daniel O'Connell, who thus personified the link between the old Gaelic order and the modern Irish democracy. But it is clear that a large number of chieftain families either died out or, more probably, descended into such obscurity and illiteracy that their lineage cannot be easily traced from documentary sources.
That there must have been a large class of dispossessed Irish Catholic gentry is evidenced by an early eighteenth-century Act that criminalized 'all loose idle vagrants and such as pretend to be Irish gentlemen and will not work'. The best authenticated example of social descent of this kind is the case of The McSweeney Doe, whose early nineteenth-century ancestor, a travelling tinsmith, was identified to the antiquarian John O'Donovan and whose dynastic claim was under consideration by the Chief Herald in 2003 when the decision was taken to terminate courtesy recognition.The uncertainty engendered by the likely social descent of many of those of chieftain stock was, of course, a ripe breeding ground for bogus claims of all sorts. Equally, it was probably the case that the presence among the downtrodden Irish peasantry of the descendants of the old chieftain caste must have contributed to the sense of dispossession that was to fuel the Irish nationalist movement and to distinguish it from normal social egalitarian movements. ...... "
28 September, 2006.