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Event 2007: Flight of the Earls/ Imeacht na nIarlaí.   |   Event 2006, Remembering the 90th anniversary of the death of Tarlagh Mac Sweeney (An Píobaire Mór) c. 1831- July 1916.   |   The Niall Mór Headstone   |   Event 2005 - Remembering the 400th anniversary of the execution of Eoghan Óg Mac Sweeney.   |   Donegal Person of the Year 2004   |   Genealogical Table of the Mac Sweeney Chiefs of Doe   |   Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch, Chief of the Name   |    "AT ARM'S LENGTH  - Aristocrats in the Republic of Ireland"   |    The current Mac Sweeney Doe   |   Doe Castle Graveyard.   |    Event 2004  Remembering the Battle of Knockdoe   |   Great Book of Irish Genealogies   |    Galloglas   |   Remembering  Daniel Mac Sweeney 1830-1893, Event 2003   |   Daniel Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh 1840-1901 - Event 2002   |   Remembering the March to Kinsale  - Event 2001   |   Recalling Myles Mac Sweeney's Swim to Freedom - Event 2000   |   Mac Sweeney Doe   |   Obituary.   |   Related Links   |   Contact us   |   (NEW) Like the Thirteenth Chime,

Remembering Daniel Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh 1840-1901 - Event 2002

Bringing "Descendants of Mac Sweeney Doe" Back Home

On Sept. 7, 2002 we celebrated the life of Dan Mór Sweeney of Derryveagh,  a grandson of  Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney Doe, Head of the House of Doe, 1834 - c1855. We were delighted that Dan Mór`s descendants from the U.S. and from Ireland, north and south, could join us.

In his book "Erin's Blood Royal", published 2002, Peter Berresford Ellis contends that the Chiefly Family of Mac Sweeney Doe, outlawed and dispossessed 1691 "did not surrender until Catholic Emancipation in1829 when they finally took land as tenants". In the early 1830's, two sons of Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney Doe (Eamonn Óg and Hugh) rented land in Derryveagh/ Glenveagh which prior to the Plantation of Ulster  had been the property of their ancestor Maolmhuire/ Sir Miles Mac Sweeney, Chief of Doe, 1596 - 1630. Derryveagh was the scene of brutal evictions, April 1861, when 200 police and 30 soldiers evicted 47 families (244 persons) at the bidding of the notorious Glenveagh landlord John George Adair. Among the evicted were 32  "Descendants of Doe". They included  Hannah - widow of Eamonn Rua and mother of the celebrated 19th century piper,Tarlagh Mac Sweeney, An Píobaire Mór.  Four of Hannah's sons and their families and a cousin, Edward, and his family were evicted.

"Descendants of Mac Sweeney Doe", New York and Ireland, at Doe Castle September 2002 remembering their ancestor Dan Mór Sweeney, son of Hugh, son of Eamonn Rua Mac Sweeney, Head of the House of Doe and "lineal legitimate descendant" of Maolmhuire/ Sir Myles Mac Sweeney, Chief of Doe, 1596-1630.

Peter Berresford Ellis has this to say about Dan Mór (= Big Dan):

"Dan Mór was one of five Sweeneys arrested at Adair's behest.  Dan Mór had in fact decided to leave for Australia and made arrangements to do so, in order to seek work.  He left soon after Murray's body (Glenveagh land steward) was discovered, and Adair insisted  the police take out a warrant for his arrest. He was in Liverpool awaiting an Australia-bound ship when he heard the news. Dan Mór, being of the blood of the old chiefs, insisted on returning to Derryveagh. On November 22, 1860, he surrendered in the local barracks of his own free will. He was tried but acquitted.  The acquittal made Adair furious.  On April 6, 1861,  he wrote: "I therefore decided to ... make the people of the district responsible for the crimes committed".  He evicted forty-seven families, leveled forty-two houses and cleared eleven thousand acres from human habitation.  He did to Derryveagh what the Great Hunger failed to do. ..."

The story of the renowned Dan Mór, son of Hugh, son of Eamon Rua Mac Sweeney Doe, is central to the story of the Derryveagh Evictions and is recorded in:

Liam Dolan, Land War and Eviction in Derryveagh, (Annaverna Press, Dundalk,1980);

W. E. Vaughan, Sin, Sheep and Scotsmen; John George Adair and the Derryveagh Evictions 1861. (Dublin Appletree Press and the Ulster Society for Historical Studies, 1983);

Peter Berresford Ellis, Erin's Blood Royal; The Gaelic Noble Dynasties of Ireland,  ( Palgrave, U.S., 2002);

Tragedy  and Triumph; The Story of the Derryveagh Evictions - a video filmed amid the beautiful scenery of Glenveagh, Gartan and Glendowan and premiered on Irish TV, 2002.  Copies suitable for U.S. or  European video systems are available from the producer, Charlie Doherty.  Email:  gartan2001@eircom.net

Programme - Saturday, September 7, 2002.

3.30 p.m. Visit Doe Castle near Creeslough.

Doe Castle, the ancestral home of the Chiefly Family of Mac Sweeney Doe, will be open for the occasion.

4.00 p.m. Blessing of the Graves of the Mac Sweeney Chiefs of Doe in the graveyard beside Doe Castle. Refurbishment was undertaken, 2001, by "Descendants of Doe".  Additional work is planned.

5.00 p.m.  Commemorative Mass in the Capuchin Monastery, Ards, Creeslough, con-celebrated by Fr. Frank Mac Hugh a great grandson of Dan Mór and Fr. Eustace Mac Sweeney, Guardian, Capuchin Monastery, Ards.

6.15 p.m. Descendants of Mac Sweeney Doe Commemorative Dinner, Arnold's Hotel, Dunfanaghy.  Fr. Frank Mac Hugh will speak about Dan Mór and an illustrated lecture re. Doe will be given by Tomás Mac Suibhne, Glendowan and Dublin, the current Mac Sweeney Doe.

Sweeneys/ descendants of Sweeneys are more than welcome to join us.