Some early results for Finding Grace

In a previous article, I outlined how we have currently identified 13 people who reportedly descend from Grace O'Malley's great great grandfather Dermot (born about 1400 AD). Several of these people did a preliminary Y-DNA-37 test and several others (already within the project) upgraded to the Big Y test. Some early results are beginning to trickle in and already these shed some new light on the various genetic groups within the O'Malley DNA project and where Grace O'Malley's male forbears might sit.

There are 3 main lines that reportedly descend from Grace's great great grandfather (hereinafter referred to as Dermot 1400). These are ...

• Line 1 - descendants of Melaghlin (born c.1545), a reported brother of Grace, and therefore great great grandson of Dermot 1400. Several families are associated with this line including the O'Malley's of Belclare (e.g. Sir Owen O'Malley), Hawthorn Lodge, Ross House, and Achill.
• Line 2 - descendants of Dermot (born c.1490), a reported uncle of Grace, and therefore great grandson of Dermot 1400. This line includes the Kilmilkin O'Malley's.
• Line 3 - descendants of Donal (born c.1430), Grace's great great uncle and son of Dermot 1400. Families associated with this line include the O'Malley baronets (e.g. Sir Samuel O'Malley) and the O'Malley's of Ballyburke, and Eden Park.

Below is a summary of the family tree for Lines 1, 2 and 3 and the new DNA signatures identified for the descendants tested so far. Line 1 is probably associated with the overarching SNP for Group 3a (BY35730) whilst Line 2 is characterised by the SNP FTC36168, at least up as far as Sean na Firinne 1740. This is explained further below.

Grace's Y-DNA "family tree" showing early Big Y results - click to enlarge.
Test-takers are highlighted in light green at the bottom of each line.
Bold colour fills highlight the branch test-takers likely belong to ... 
green (likely BY35730); blue (definite FTC36168)
A high quality pdf is available for download here.

Each of these genealogies needs to be verified and evidence is being gathered to attempt to tackle this task. Thankfully this is a well trodden path and there are many avid O'Malley researchers who have left us with the fruits of their labour. However, at least one line appears to have died out or "daughtered out" (i.e. no living male descendants on the direct male line), namely Line 4 - that of Charles O'Malley of Cloonane, reportedly a descendant of Grace's supposed brother Teige (see previous article here). In addition, it is quite possible that there were other descendant lines for which there is no surviving documentary evidence (e.g. Line 5 - the descendants of Grace's brother, Donal na Pioba). Descendants of these lines may show up in the Big Y results.

Now to the new DNA results ... 

Participant 976196

This descendant of Line 1 (the Melaghlin line) sits on row 39 of the Results Page. His Y-DNA-37 results place him firmly in the middle of Group 3a, close to the group's modal haplotype (i.e. "average" genetic signature). This is the largest group in the project and is presumed to represent descendants of the originator of the O'Malley surname about 1000 years ago, based on ...

1. the weight of numbers (currently 39 people)
2. TMRCA estimates suggest that this group's DNA signature has been associated with the O'Malley name for approximately 1000 years (which roughly corresponds with when surnames were introduced in Ireland)
3. the fact that this group sits below the M222 branch on the Tree of Mankind. M222 is associated with Niall of the Nine Hostages, who is recorded as a brother of Brian / Brion, the ancestor of the O'Malley's (see previous article here).

Participant 977436 

This project member (on row 57 - see diagram below) is one of the Kilmilkin O'Malley's (from Line 2 - the Dermot 1490 line) and his Y37 results place him as a close Y37 match to the other Kilmilkin O'Malley's within the project. He also shares the Unique STR Pattern (pink & purple columns) in the last 6 rows of Group 3a on the Results Page - this has been discussed previously here.

Y-STR results extracted from the project's Results Page
(click to enlarge)

Now we come to the new Big Y tests. And these produced some interesting data that changes the groupings, alters the configuration of the O'Malley genetic tree, and raises some interesting possibilities about the Y-DNA signature of Grace O'Malley's male forbears.

Participant 438148

Firstly, member 438148 (row 62 above) tests positive for the SNP marker BY205502 and this places him in the same subgroup as the participant immediately below him (723727, row 63), who belongs to Group 3a1. Therefore I have moved 438148 into Group 3a1. I have also moved member 577761 (row 61 above) into Group 3a1 as he is a Genetic Distance of 0/37 to 438148, indicating a very close relationship. 

This is a somewhat surprising result, given that these latter two participants share almost all the elements of the Unique STR Pattern of the members in rows 57 to 60. Another point to note is that, even though member 438148 & 723727 both share the same terminal SNP, they have a Genetic Distance of 6/37 which means they are not closely related, so much so that they don't even appear on each others' match list. This reminds us how difficult it is to accurately assign group membership for all the Group 3 subgroups based solely on STR data and how important Big Y data is for accurate grouping of participants.

Participants IN102000, 778791, 961903

Secondly, 3 of the six test-takers in the Kilmilkin O'Malley group test positive for the SNP marker FTC36168, and two of them share this SNP and an additional SNP further downstream (FTC27440). This has resulted in the formation of a new group, namely Group 3g, and it is likely that the other Kilmilkin O'Malley's currently undergoing testing will also fall into this group. Consequently, all of them have moved into the new Group 3g. Interestingly, the Unique STR Pattern did not predict a subgroup of 3a but rather an entirely new group altogether. 

However, these new results allow us to say with confidence that the MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) for these test-takers, namely Sean na Firinne 1740, carried the SNP marker FTC36168, and subsequently passed it down to all 3 of his descendants whose Big Y results recently came back from the lab. Similarly, we can surmise that the MRCA for participants 778791 & 961903, namely Tomás 1808, carried the SNP marker FTC27440. These "triangulation points"are indicated by the green triangles numbered 8 and 9 respectively in the first diagram above.

Next Steps

To summarise:

Line 1 - a single participant matches others within Group 3a, who are the largest group among the Mayo O'Malley's and are presumed to represent the descendants of the progenitor of the O'Malley surname. Results from an additional 4 test-takers on this line (barring any surprise results) will hopefully define the Y-DNA signature of ancestors at triangulation points 10, 13, 12 and (most importantly) 2 in the first diagram above. The latter would allow us to characterise the signature of Teige O'Malley 1665.

Line 2 (the Kilmilkin O'Malley's) have a very different DNA signature to Group 3a and form their own group, the new Group 3g. Their results delineate the Y-DNA signature of Sean na Firinne O'Malley 1740.

Line 3 - results are not available as yet but Y37 results from one participant should be available in 4 weeks. And what will they tell us? Well, there are some interesting possibilities:

1. if they match Line 1  then this suggests that Grace's male ancestors carried the same DNA signature as the main group, Group 3a.
2. if they match those in Line 2  then this suggests that Grace O'Malley's male forbears carried a different DNA signature to the main group, namely that of Group 3g.
3. if they match neither line, then that really throws a spanner in the works (a monkey wrench for those of you in the US). In this situation, a triangulation on Grace's male forbears will not be possible and we won't be able to figure out their DNA signature.

We may know the answer when we get the Y37 results in 4 weeks, or we may have to wait for Big Y results in 8-12 weeks. It could very well be that the male forbears of Grace O'Malley had a different DNA signature to the main group of O'Malley descendants today (i.e. Group 3a). This would not be surprising given the many opportunities for potential Surname or DNA Switches that presented themselves during medieval times (see this previous article here).

The rearrangements to the groups have altered the row numbers that people sit on below row 32 on the Results Page.  They have also resulted in a reconfiguration of the diagram in the recently posted article that shows how all the O'Malley's are related. A revised diagram can be seen in an updated section at the end of the previous article and can be downloaded via this link here.

In subsequent blog posts, we will take a closer look at Groups 3a1 and 3g and see what else the Big Y data can tell us about them.

Maurice Gleeson

April 2022

Same Name, Different DNA - some medieval explanations

Why are there so many different genetic signatures associated with the O'Malley surname? There are a multitude of reasons for why this may be so, and I discuss many of them in an earlier article here. 

However, in this article I want to focus on those causes that date back to the time of the Irish clans, prior to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. And this takes us back in time to the Pirate Queen, Grace O'Malley herself. Grace lived just prior to the demise of the Old Gaelic social system, a system that had been guided for centuries by a comprehensive legal system known as Brehon Law. (1) It recognised divorce, (some) equal rights for women, and defined offences and punishments in meticulous detail. The end of this system was signalled by a Proclamation of James I in 1603, which brought the Irish people under the "protection" of the English Crown. Grace O'Malley died the same year.

Brehon Law operated in Ireland from Celtic times to the early 1600s, a period of over 2000 years.
Brehons were arbitrators rather than judges, and the post was open to women and men.
(from https://www.courts.ie/history-law-ireland#brehon)

The Creation of Surnames

Brehon Law was well-established in Ireland by the time surnames were introduced (roughly 1000 years ago on average for the O surnames, and 850 years ago on average for the Mac surnames). Most Irish surnames arose from an ancestor's forename (e.g. descendants of Chief Conor became O'Connor). Some forenames were very common (like Conor) and thus the same surname arose in several different places, over several hundred years, but from completely different origins. And hence the progenitors had completely different Y-DNA signatures, and were not closely related to each other. This is why six separate O'Connor clans/septs are recorded in Woulfe's surname dictionary (2) and 34 distinct genetic subgroups have been identified in the O'Connor DNA Project (so far). Thus, one explanation for different genetic groups being associated with the same surname is that many surnames had multiple origins, each of them distinct from the others, and each with their own unique Y-DNA signature.

In 1916, T J Westropp, the famous antiquarian, described the Limerick O'Malley's as one of several "petty tribes ... rather families than septs". (3) And indeed, there may have been several of these "families" within the Limerick area as we now have 6 subgroups under L226, all with recorded (or likely) Limerick origins. A similar picture may emerge for the Mayo O'Malley's, particularly with the advent of new Big Y data associated with the Finding Grace project.

The Translation of Surnames

Another explanation for different Y-DNA signatures being associated with the same surname is the anglicisation of surnames, a process aimed at forcing the Irish to conform to English culture that saw surnames being translated from the Irish language form into an approximate English language form. (4) This long-term process was a key part of the English colonisation of Ireland and picked up speed during the lifetime of Grace O'Malley (1530-1603) with the passage of new laws under Henry VIII (1537) that essentially labelled the use of the Irish language as a sign of opposition to the English Crown. (5) Serious problems arose during the process of translation. Some surnames in Irish with completely separate origins were anglicised to the same English version. Thus A and B both became anglicised to X.  And so genetically we find that there are X's with an A genetic signature and X's with a B genetic signature - two genetically distinct groups with "the same" surname (or variants thereof). 

Conversely, anglicization also helps explain why there are so many variants of the O’Malley surname. There are several examples on the public Results Page of people who have the same Y-DNA but different surname variants (Malley, O'Malley, Maley, Melia, Malia, O'Meally, etc).

The Switching of Surnames

There were several important aspects of the Old Gaelic social system that could explain why different genetic signatures became associated with the O'Malley surname.

Some people switched their surname to that of the chief as a sign of their loyalty of fealty. (6) Grace O'Malley herself may have commanded such respect even though she was never formally a clan chief. In her biography of Grace, (7) Anne Chambers describes how Grace became “a matriarch, not merely of her own followers and extended family, but of neighbouring clansmen, whose chieftains had either died in the numerous conflicts of the period, or who had abandoned their obligations to protect their dependent followers.” Some of these refugees may have adopted the O'Malley surname as a mark of respect, gratitude and loyalty to Grace.

Strangers could be given the honour of being adopted into a clan (a form of citizenship) in recognition of their contribution to the clan community. (8) Some of these may also have had the O'Malley surname bestowed upon them.

Some marriages resulted in the husband adopting the surname of the wife, especially if she was of higher social standing than he was. An apt example of this is the case of Oliver Cromwell, who should really have been called Oliver Williams. However, in 1497, his great great grandfather (Morgan Williams) had married Katherine Cromwell, sister of Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII. Morgan and Katherine’s three sons took the surname Cromwell in honour of their famous maternal uncle. Thus, Oliver Cromwell carried the Cromwell surname but Williams Y-DNA. Some family members later reverted to the surname Williams in order to distance themselves from their contentious cousin, thus executing a double-surname switch. (9) After the death of her second husband (Richard Bourke) in 1583, Grace O'Malley herself used her maiden name (Grany Ni Mailly) in her exchanges with Queen Elizabeth I who addressed her as such in her replies. (10)

Marriage, Sex ... and possibly Infidelity?

Under Brehon Law, marriage and sexual relations were approached very differently compared to today (and very very differently compared to the Victorian attitudes of 100-200 years ago). Ireland under Brehon Law was a much more sexually permissive society than one might imagine. It might be tempting to think that medieval society was like The Swinging Sixties, but better regulated and with everyone "on board", but promiscuity was frowned upon (at least female promiscuity), and was among the types of behaviour most frequently censured in women. (11) Furthermore, the introduction of inheritance by primogeniture (i.e. to the eldest son) led to a gradual change in sexual permissiveness in the 1600s, particularly for the landed classes. (12)

Most marriages were secular marriages based on the ancient customs - few people were married in church (13). Divorce was easy (for both men and women) and it was usual for the upper classes to have a string of different spouses. (13) This created an environment where the same surname could become associated with different types of Y-DNA.

Marriages usually started out as trial marriages for "a year and a day". (8) If at the end of the period, the couple were happy to continue as husband and wife, then they got legally married. But if they did not feel they could live together, they separated. Grace O'Malley famously did this with her second husband, shouting "Richard Bourke, I dismiss you" from the ramparts of his castle where she had installed herself and her followers, and locked him out. He can't have been very pleased to have lost a wife and a castle on the same day. (7)

Interestingly, if a couple separated at the end of the trial marriage, any children born to them during that time became part of the woman's kin (and thus presumably bore the name of her kin). (8) Thus if an O'Malley woman had a child during the trial period and then decided not to continue to legal marriage, the child would become an O'Malley but would carry non-O'Malley Y-DNA. Thus different Y-DNA was introduced to the wider O'Malley Clan.

Polygamy was allowed and it was common to have two or more wives. However, the term "wife" was more applicable to the first wife (the chief or principal wife). Subsequent wives had fewer rights than the first wife and might perhaps be more aptly considered as "concubines". (8,11,12,13)

The Brehon Laws refer to nine forms of sexual union. (11) The first three roughly equate with our modern concept of marriage, and the next four could be more akin to casual sex (referred to as "affinity" or "affiliation"), and the last two cover rape and insanity. The nine forms of sexual union are:

1. when a man and woman get married and bring equal property or wealth to the marriage
2. a marriage where the woman brings little or no wealth / property / goods to the marriage
3. a marriage where the man brings little or no wealth / property / goods
4. when a man visits a woman at her home, and with her kin’s consent
5. when a woman freely goes away (eloped?) with a man, but without her kin’s consent
6. when a woman allows herself to be abducted, and without her kin’s consent
7. when a woman and man secretly visit each other, without her kin’s consent
8. union by rape
9. union of two insane people

Why was it necessary to create these categories of sexual union? The reasons are probably complex and our understanding of them incomplete, but they had applicability with regard to the rights of children to inherit their father's estate, the inheritance rights of the different types of "wife", the division of property and wealth following divorce, and the legal status of the woman (i.e. under whose rule she came, how much fine was payable if she was killed or raped, and how much fine was due and payable by whom if she committed a crime). 

In cases of rape, forced abduction, or where the woman did not consent to the sexual union, heavy fines were levied on the offender, and the responsibility for raising any child of the union fell on the offender and his kin. (8,11) This applied whether the woman was married, unmarried, a servant or a slave. (11)

Sex with servants was apparently commonplace, both heterosexual and homosexual. (8,14) The children of any such union may have become the father's responsibility, and may have adopted his surname, but this is unclear and would have depended on the circumstances and whether the mother had any rights.

In certain circumstances, the woman alone was responsible for rearing a child (presumably with the help of her own kin). These included if she was a prostitute, or if the father was a stranger / alien (cú glas), a slave, a satirist, a man expelled by his kin; a dependent son, who impregnated her without his father's permission; or a priest who later repented. What surname the child took in these circumstances is not clear, but no doubt in many instances a son would have retained the mother's surname, and in this way, the particular surname could have become associated with different Y-DNA.

Legal documents often consisted of large text (representing the original law) with explanatory text and interpretations in small print. The above is a detail from RIA MS 23 Q 6, p33.
From https://www.ria.ie/news/library-library-blog/brehon-law-manuscripts-reunited-galway-2020-european-capital-culture 

Divorce & Separation

Brehon Law allowed for women to divorce their husbands under specific circumstances, (8,11,13,14,15) including:

• if he tricked her into marriage through sorcery
• if he failed to support her
• if he hit her and left a (permanent?) mark
• if he insulted her in public
• if he spread a false story or satire about her
• if he discussed their sex life with others
• if he became too fat to have sex
• if he was impotent
• if he preferred to lie with boys
• if he rejected her for another woman
• if he entered the priesthood
• if he took a second "wife" without her knowledge (was this akin to our current concept of "infidelity"? Also, if he took a second wife/concubine with the knowledge of his first wife, would this then not be considered infidelity? In other words, you could do what you wanted as long as you told your spouse in advance??)
  

Men also had grounds for divorcing a wife including: 

• "infidelity" (not further defined)
• persistent thieving (... but occasional thieving was okay?)
• bringing shame on her husband's honour
• inducing an abortion
• smothering a child
• not being able to produce breast milk because of sickness

Furthermore women who left their husbands without just cause were stripped of their rights, denied shelter, and treated as outcasts. (8,11,14) There is no mention of this same treatment being inflicted on men, so the gender equality scales were not exactly balanced.

Another interesting example of grounds for divorce was if the couple were related by "affinity" i.e. if either party had had sex at any time in the past with a relation of their spouse, out to the level of third cousins. (13) Under Canon Law, the medieval church forbade marriage if the couple were 3rd cousins or closer, or if either had been married or had had sex (even once) with any of their prospective partner's relatives, out to the level of 3rd cousin. (How did they figure this out? Did they sit down and go through each other's family trees? Sounds like if you wanted to get married properly, you had to be a genealogist.)  If either party was previously married to a relative of the other (within the proscribed range), a papal dispensation would be necessary for the new marriage to be allowed and to be considered valid. Given society's relaxed attitude to sex, and the tendency to marry one's own kinfolk, it is likely that many marriages would not have been considered "valid"  in the eyes of the Church, but the couple managed to sail under the ecclesiastical radar ... or alternatively, could divorce each other at the drop of a hat. (12,13)

There were specific circumstances in which a couple could separate without being fined or penalised. Eleven such scenarios are listed in one book of Brehon Laws (Heptad 53) and these include death, entering the priesthood, and a variety of situations associated with temporary separation, such as going on a pilgrimage, searching for a far-off friend, going on a sea voyage, being in a revenge attack party, or being sick and requiring care away from home. But the most relevant situation with regard to Y-DNA is where the husband is infertile, the wife does not wish to divorce him, and instead goes away "to seek a child" by another man. The resultant child was treated as that of her husband - and in such a situation, the child would carry the husband's name but another man's Y-DNA. (11, p75)

Illegitimacy

Under Brehon Law, there was no concept of "illegitimacy" as we know it today  - every child was cared for by kin, no matter what their origins, be it a legal marriage, a casual fling, or an illicit tryst. In addition, there was apparently no social stigma, no concept of "the fallen woman" who had become pregnant "out of wedlock". Their attitude to such things was very different to that of (for example) 20th century Ireland. (8,11,13,14)

And these children, born outside of legal marriage, had equal rights to inherit their biological father's estate. (11,13) Today in 2022, legislation is currently going through the Irish parliament that will restore this prior right that these children would have enjoyed under Brehon Law. The only thing that "out-of-wedlock" children were barred from doing was being a priest, apparently because "the child carried the sin of the mother".

In medieval Ireland, sometimes entertaining the guests went a lot further than just having them over for dinner. This is evidenced by the custom of "Naming" of children. In this case, a married woman, usually on her deathbed, would reveal that one of her sons had in fact been fathered by a man other than her husband, and usually quite a famous man with status, wealth and property. This newly illegitimized son thus became entitled to inherit the estate of his new father, but could also fall under his protection (thus securing his safety when his mother was no longer around to protect him). There are numerous contemporary examples of these "named children" and some of them (or their own children) became clan chiefs (e.g. in the latter half of the 1500s, James Meagh became chief of the O'More's, and Feardorcha O'Neill's son Hugh O'Neill became Earl of Tyrone). (13) Undoubtedly some of these "naming" events were pure lies, but this is another example of how different Y-DNA could become associated with a particular surname.

Adoption & Fosterage

Fosterage was very common in medieval Ireland. Parents would give a child for fosterage to another family if they wanted to forge strong links with that family, or if they wanted their child to learn a profession. The period of fosterage was usually up to to seventeen years old for boys, and up to 14 years old for girls (after which they became nuns or wives). (11)

If a child was adopted (by a childless couple, for example), it is likely that they would have carried the surname (but not the Y-DNA) of the adoptive father. But if a child was fostered, then they probably retained the surname (and Y-DNA) of their biological father. The only circumstance where the fostered child might adopt the name of the foster father, might have been if the natural father died while the child was being fostered.

The Election Process

The way clan chiefs were elected changed considerably over time. The Irish clans operated under Brehon Law and the system of Tanistry, whereby a successor for the chieftainship would be chosen from relatives of the previous chief, out as far as "the fifth degree of relationship" (roughly second cousins). (13) As a result, it is quite possible that the DNA of the Clan Chief may have varied from time to time, and thus the various genetic groups we see in the O'Malley DNA project today, may have been represented (at one time or another) by a chief that carried their DNA signature. 

This Irish system of Tanistry was eventually replaced when the English system of primogeniture was foisted upon the clans (including the O'Malley's) following the Composition of Connaught in 1585. (16,17) Thereafter, the role of chief should have been passed from father to eldest son (the law was not always obeyed), thus probably reducing the opportunity for different DNA signatures to be associated with the role of clan chief.

Summary

So, to recap, the causes for different genetic signatures being associated with the same surname may include the following ...

1. multiple origins for the same surname
2. anglicisation of Irish surnames to English approximations
3. switching surname as an act of fealty / loyalty
4. having your surname switched as an honour / distinction bestowed by a clan
5. changing your surname to that of your higher status wife
6. being the child of failed trial marriage (and taking the mother's surname)
7. the child being raised by the mother on her own (and taking the mother's surname)
8. the wife being impregnated by another man if her husband was infertile
9. a child in fosterage adopting the name of the foster father following the death of his biological father
10. being a "named child"(i.e. the result of a union with a man of high status)

This article serves to emphasise that it is the O'Malley surname, and not the DNA associated with it, that unites everyone in the O'Malley Clan. It is highly likely that many of the genetic groups within the project have carried the O'Malley surname for hundreds of years, and that their Y-DNA signature became associated with the O'Malley name during the medieval period. 

Further Y-DNA data will help clarify how long each of the groups have been carrying the O'Malley surname and its associated Y-DNA signatures.

Maurice Gleeson

April 2022

Sources & Links

1) History of the Law in Ireland. Available at the website of The Courts Service of Ireland.

2) Woulfe, Patrick. Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, collected and edited with explanatory and historical notes (1923). Available at https://www.libraryireland.com/names/contents.php

3) Westropp, T.J. (1916) The antiquities of Limerick and its neighbourhood. Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co. Available from the Archive.org website here. Note that pages 81 and 140 are missing from this version but can be found in this alternative version on the AskAboutIreland website here.

4) Murphy, P. The Anglicization of Ireland: A Model for the Linguistic Imperialist? Available online here.

5) Crowley, AE (2016) Language, Politics and Identity in Ireland: a Historical Overview. In: Hickey, R, (ed.) Sociolinguistics in Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan , London , pp. 198-217. ISBN 978-1-137-45347-1

6) Clan FAQs at https://www.scotclans.com/pages/clan-faqs

7) Chambers, A (2009, 7th edition). Grace O'Malley: The Biography of Ireland's Pirate Queen 1530–1603. Gill Books. Available from http://www.graceomalley.com/

8) Kerrigan, J (2020) Brehon Laws: The Ancient Wisdom of Ireland. Free Kindle edition available here.

9) Castlelow, E. Oliver Cromwell. Biographical article at Historic UK website available here.

10) Trowbridge, B (2016) Meeting Grace O’Malley, Ireland’s pirate queen. This article includes digital images of Grace's petition to Queen Elizabeth I (Catalogue reference: SP 63/170 f. 204) as well as the 18 "interrogatories" and her responses (SP 63/170 f. 201-202). Available at The National Archives blog.

11) Kelly, F (1988, reprinted 2016) A Guide to Early Irish Law. School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. Available from DIAS here.
Prof Fergus Kelly is a Senior Professor in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).

12) Simms, K (1975) The Legal Position of Irishwomen in the Later Middle Ages. Irish Jurist, vol.10, pp96-111. Available to read or download here.
Katharine Simms is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History in the School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin.

13) Nicholls, K. (2003, 2012 digital reprint) Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages. The Lilliput Press. Kindle Edition available from Amazon here. 
Kenneth Nicholls is a former Professor of History at University College Cork.

14) Duggan, C (2013) The Lost Laws of Ireland. Glasnevin Publishing. Kindle Edition. Paperback edition available here.

15) Ginnell, L (1898, reprinted 2011) The Brehon Laws: a Legal Handbook. Read Books Ltd.. Kindle Edition available from Amazon here. Also, freely available from the LibraryIreland website here.
Laurence Ginnell (1852-1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP).

16) Cunningham, B (1984) The Composition of Connacht in the Lordships of Clanricard and Thomond, 1577-1641. Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 24, No. 93 (May 1984), pp. 1-14. Available online here.

17) McInerney, L (2011) The Composition of Connacht: an ancillary document from Lambeth Palace. North Munster Antiquarian Journal vol. 51. Available online here.

How all the O'Malley's are related

The diagram below shows how all the O'Malley's in the DNA Project are related to each other. It summarises the placement of all the various O'Malley groups on a single family tree. To the right is a summary of the major historical events in Ireland that our ancestors lived through and that shaped the genetic signatures of the O'Malley's today.

Click to enlarge (it takes a while to load). 
A high quality pdf version (1.1 MB) is available to download here
Update: a newer version (May 2022) is available here

There are 5 main genetic groups within the project so far. 

• Group 1 goes back to Galway in 1795. See previous post here.
• Group 2 represents the Limerick O'Malley's and consists of 6 subgroups. See here.
• Group 3 represents the Mayo O'Malley's and consists of 7 subgroups currently, many with roots in Mayo. See here and here.
• Group 4 participants probably share a common ancestor in the 1700s, possibly from Kilkenny. See here.
• Group 5 is another Galway group (with Kilmilkin origins). This group was previously associated with the surname Joyce. See this article here.

The Group 2 O'Malley's all sit beneath the branch characterised by L226, which is the marker for the Dalcassian group of surnames. They would therefore be related to Brian Boru, first High King of Ireland (941-1014). These subgroups would all share a common ancestor about 1500 years ago. These O'Malley's can be traced back to the 1100's in Limerick and arose completely independently from the Mayo O'Malley's. See previous articles here and here. 

Note that the horizontal green line indicates the time when surnames were introduced into Ireland, and that all subgroups are connected to common ancestors above this line (i.e. pre-surnames). The single exception is Group 2a and 2b, which may in fact be related by a common ancestor (DC362) who lived after surnames were introduced. As we get more data, it should be possible to refine the age estimate for the common ancestor of these two subgroups.

The Group 3 subgroups all sit beneath the branch characterised by the SNP marker M222 and therefore are related to Niall of the Nine Hostages (NOTNH). This is not surprising given that the Mayo O'Malley's are recorded as being descendants of Niall's brother Brian. (1) These subgroups would all share a common ancestor about 2100 years ago.

The Groups 2, 3 and 4 would share a common ancestor (who carried the marker DF13) about 4100 years ago. Group 5 would share a common ancestor (M785) with Groups 2, 3 and 4 about 23,000 years ago. And the common ancestor they all share with Group 1 (PF3495) would have lived about 47,000 years ago.

Not included in this diagram are the 11 O'Malley men who currently remain in the Ungrouped section of the project. These are people who currently do not have a match within the project, but as more people join, many of these will form new groups, causing the project to continually expand.

In the next article we will look at why there are so many different genetic signatures within the O'Malley DNA Project ... and you may find some of the possible reasons rather surprising ...

Maurice Gleeson

April 2022

Sources & Links

1) O Hart, J (1892) Irish Pedigrees: or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. Available online here.

Update 26th April 2022

Following the availability of new Y-DNA results, the chart has now been updated to include the following:

• a new SNP marker for Group 3a1
• a completely new Group 3g for the Kilmilkin O'Malley's
• revised possible origins for Groups 4 and 5
• some minor refinements following feedback from project members

The revised chart is below and available for download here.

(click to enlarge)

Charles O'Malley of Cloonane, 1779-1871 ... a detective story

An update to this original post can be seen here.

According to several ancient pedigrees (1) prepared at various times by the Chief Herald of Ireland (specifically, Sir William Betham 1832, and Edward MacLysaght 1946), Grace O'Malley (1530-1603) had 3 brothers - Melaghlin, Donal na Pioba, and Teige. The line of descent from Teige ends with a "Charles of Cloonane". So the key questions I will address in this article are: 

1. can DNA confirm that Charles of Cloonane was a descendant of Teige? 
2. can DNA confirm that Teige was really a brother of Grace O'Malley?

These are the kind of questions that the Finding Grace 2022 Y-DNA project hopes to address. But before we can even attempt an answer, we need to first find and then test a direct male line descendant of Charles O'Malley of Cloonane (or indeed, one of his 6 ancestors back to Grace's supposed brother, Teige). And one way to do that is to publish our research findings below in the hope that we can identify a descendant of Charles (or Teige) among the readers of this article. And if that is you, please leave a message in the Comments section below (or contact me directly via the O'Malley DNA Project) so that we can look into getting you a DNA test.

Melaghlin, Donal & Teige - the 3 supposed brothers of Grace O'Malley (from Betham 1832)
(click to enlarge)

So what do we know about "our Charles" of Cloonane?

The line of descent from Teige to Charles is given as follows: 

• Teige > Murrough > Dermot > Loughlin > Dermot > James > Charles of Cloonane

As there are 6 generations between Teige and "our Charles", and allowing an average of 30 years per generation, and assuming that Teige was born about 1540 (10 years after Grace), Charles would have been born about 6 x 30 = 180 years after Teige, in other words, 1720 AD. There are no birth dates in the various pedigrees (1) so for now we have to make an estimated guess.

We saw somewhere that he married an Alice Bourke but now we cannot find the source (one of those "now where did I see that?" moments). However, the Burke surname will crop up from time to time in the narrative below. The Bourke's / Burke's were probably the most well-known Hiberno-Norman family among the landed gentry of Mayo.

Cloonan (or Cloonane) is a townland half-way between Westport and Castlebar, in the Civil Parish of Islandeady in the Barony of Burrishoole (further useful details & maps on logainm.ie and townlands.ie).

Cloonan and neighbouring townlands (from logainm.ie)
(click to enlarge)

I entered what information we had into the Clan Tree on Ancestry but this did not generate any relevant hints, either among the billions of records or the millions of family trees. A simple Google search is always worth doing but did not throw up any useful leads. So I turned to the newspapers online (2) and that is where I found a wealth of information.

The earliest newspaper article that I came across was from 1833, where a "Charles O'Malley, Cloonan" was one of some 90 signatories expressing a public vote of thanks to Richard Sharp Esq. (3) However, if this was "our Charles" he would have been about 113 years old, if my 1720 estimate for his year of birth was correct. So initially I thought this could be a grandson or great grandson of "our Charles" and possibly the family land had passed down to him through the generations.

The following year (1834), a list of the Cess Payers in each barony included "Charles O'Malley, of Cloonane" for Burrishoole. (4) As a Cess Payer, he would have owned a lot of land and would probably have been considered "local gentry". He also appeared in the list of Cess Payers for 1836. (5)

List of Cess Payers - Mayo Constitution 29 Apr 1836 (5)

Also in 1836, Charles was among 140 local gentry who attended a "public dinner" in honour of the Earl of Altamont. Sir Samuel O'Malley (Baronet) was also in attendance as well as several other Malley "esquires" but without the "O" - John, Edward, William & Charles. (6)

In 1837, this Charles was elected to be Treasurer of the new Islandeady Dispensary (i.e. a pharmacy) to help cater for the needs of the 16,000 people in the area around Ballintubber, many of whom were "destitute of all medical aid" including "the suffering poor of the district (many of whom are at present afflicted with fever)". (7)

The establishment of the Islandeady Dispensary (7)

Several newspaper reports announced this Charles' death. He died at home in Cloonane on 13th June 1871 at the age of 92. (8,9) This is confirmed by his death record. This gives us a crude birth year of 1779 (almost 60 years later than my very crude estimate of 1720). So this again suggested that he might be a grandson of "our Charles". However, one of the death notices identified two of his children - Thomas & J.B. The first was a priest (so more than likely he would not have had any descendants), and the second was associated with the National Bank in Castlebar. This raised the question: might this latter son have living male descendants today that we could DNA-test?

Death notice for Charles O'Malley 1871 (9)

Charles was buried in "the family burial ground at Church Island", which turned out to be in the Old Section of Islandeady graveyard in the townland of Islandeady, just east of Cloonan. More on this to follow.

Islandeady graveyard on "Church Island"

Subsequent death notices were found for this Charles' children. His eldest daughter, Maria Alicia O'Malley, died at Cloonane in March 1875. (10) His son, Joseph B O'Malley (presumably the J.B. referred to at Charles' funeral) died at Cloonane in 1887. (11) Another daughter, Miss Margaret O'Malley died at Cloonane in 1896, (12) and another son, the Reverend Thomas O'Malley (Parish Priest of Islandeady) died at Cloonane in 1897. (13,14) The last member of these siblings was Anne O'Malley, who died in 1918 (aged 97 years old) in the neighbouring townland of Rinnaseer. (15)

Several important pieces of information emerge from the records associated with these deaths that allow us to make some interesting conclusions. 

Firstly, the family claimed a direct association with the O'Malley clan and had been on the land for several hundred years. The death notice for Joseph B O'Malley describes him as "a worthy member of one of the best and most ancient of our Mayo families". (11) The Mayo Examiner (1897) states "Father Tom leaves only a sister after him out of a long family. Miss Anne O'Malley represents this ancient stem of an ancient sept, whose residence in Cloonane and Islandeady dates back for centuries". (13) And the Freeman's Journal (1897) says of Father Tom: "Deceased was connected with one of the most historic families in Ireland, and his ancestral residence, Cloonane, was their home for over three centuries". (14) 

This is further supported by a newspaper report about the state of the tenants on the land of the O'Malley's of Cloonane "which lands have been held by the O'Malleys uninterruptedly for over three hundred years". (16) Furthermore, in a 1989 booklet produced to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Islandeady parish, it states that Father Thomas claimed descent "from the de Burgos and O'Malley clan". (17) You will recall that we read somewhere that our "Charles of Cloonane" reportedly married an Alice Bourke (i.e. de Burgo). Finally, the Mayo Examiner (1897) states in regard to Father Tom: "Being the second son of the late Charles O'Malley, he was nearly connected with the Bourkes of Greenhills and Woodville, an ancient stock". (13) So these statements tie in with the ancient pedigrees that we started with, and suggest that this family may very well descend from "royal stock".

Islandeady parish booklet, 1989 (17)

The second important conclusion to glean from these records is that none of these five children of this Charles O'Malley appear to have had any children of their own, and therefore we cannot test any of their living descendants ... because there aren't any. The civil registration death records for each of the children identified above indicate that they were either bachelors or spinsters when they died (i.e. all unmarried). Note that the death record for Joseph B O'Malley reveals that his middle initial "B" stood for "Burke" - another link to the Bourke / Burke family.

(click to enlarge)

It is certainly possible that this Charles had other children and they in turn may have had children, but this does not appear to be the case, based on the funeral notices for Joseph Burke O'Malley and Father Thomas (11,13,14) In both cases, the chief mourners were cousins rather than siblings, nephews and nieces. And among these cousins there were no O'Malley's. So it looks like there was no surviving immediate close family of the siblings .. and therefore no descendants from O'Malley 1st cousins to test either. However, at both funerals, their older sister Anne is not included as a "chief mourner" and she was most definitely alive and living in the area in 1898 (18) and presumably stayed there up to her own death in 1918, because she died in the neighbouring townland, Rinnaseer. (15) So maybe the term "chief mourners" only referred to men? and then, only men of higher social standing?

At Joseph Burke O'Malley's funeral in 1887, the chief mourners were "Rev Thomas O'Malley, PP, brother of deceased; Messrs John B Sheridan (cousin), Thomas Burke Gaffney CE (cousin); Henry W Jordan, JP (cousin); Augustus Jordan (cousin)". (11) And at the funeral of Father Thomas in 1897, the chief mourners were "Messrs H W Jordan, J P, Myles J Jordan, solicitor; J B Sheridan, J C Sheridan, I H Sheridan, Dr W D’E Jordan, Dr Myles D’E Jordan, Edmund Jordan" (13) and "Mr Myles J Jordan, solicitor; Mr John B Sheridan, postmaster; Dr W de Exeter Jordan, Dr Myles de Exeter Jordan, Mr Edmond Jordan, Mr J C Sheridan, and Mr T M Sheridan". (14) No O'Malley cousin is mentioned in any of these three reports, although one report (14) does record some O'Malley's in attendance at the funeral - A M O'Malley, JP; M M O'Malley, O O'Malley. These could conceivably have been more distant cousins.

And that brings us to our third conclusion, somewhat more tentatively than the others. There were apparently no close male O'Malley relatives living at the time of either funeral and therefore it could be that this particular line of the family died out. And that would mean that there are no survivors today for Y-DNA testing.

However, it is possible that there may have been more distant cousins living who were not considered "chief mourners" but if there were, we have not found any record (as yet) to support this possibility.

Death notice of Joseph B O'Malley 1887 (11)

Funeral notice of Father Thomas O'Malley 1897 (14)

Death notice of Anne O'Malley 1918 (15)

So who were these chief mourners? and how were they related to "this Charles" O'Malley and his family? The surname "de Exeter Jordan" was easy to find via a Google search, and via trees on Ancestry, and ultimately via Burke's Landed Gentry. (19) It soon became clear that many of the chief mourners were related to each other via Dominick Burke of Cloggernagh c.1730-1803, whose daughter Bedelia married Myles de Exeter Jordan, and whose son Theobald had grandsons called Sheridan. I then found a brief reference to the Burke-Jordan marriage (without naming Bedelia) in O Hart's Irish Pedigrees (20), but with some additional important information: 

33. Dominick [Bourke] of Cloggernagh who died in 1803 m. Ismay Taaffe and had two sons: 1. Theobald of Woodville in the county of Mayo and 2. Joseph of Greenhills, with several daughters one of whom m. Myles Jordan of Rosslevan Castle in the county of Mayo and another Charles O’Malley of Cloonane.

So this is how the chief mourners are connected to "this Charles" O'Malley ... via his wife, who was another daughter of Dominick Burke c.1730-1803, and thus a sister to Bedelia & Theobald. The connections can be represented thus (mourners in bold):

• Dominick Burke c.1730-1803
• Bedelia Bourke c.1775 m. Myles de Exeter Jordan 1762-1829 of Rosslevin Castle
• Myles Jordan 1813-1881 m. Margaret J. Graham 1830-1882
• Henry W Jordan, JP 1858-1901
• Augustus Jordan 1865-1895
• Myles J Jordan, solicitor 1859-1906
• Constantine Jordan c.1800 m. Anne M O Finglass
• Dr Myles de Exeter Jordan 1834-1903
• Dr W de Exeter Jordan 1863-1899
• Theobald Burke c.1790 m. Isabel Deane
• Isabel Bourke m. John Martin Sheridan
• John B Sheridan, postmaster
• female Burke c.1780 m. Charles O'Malley of Cloonane
• Joseph Burke O'Mally 1821-1887
• Rev. Thomas O'Malley 1822-1897

So this connects the Jordan and Sheridan families to the O'Malley family, and makes "this Charles" O'Malley a brother-in-law to Bedelia, Theobald & Joseph Burke. And thus, his children would be 1st cousins once removed to most of the chief mourners described above.

But what was the name of the Burke sibling who married "this Charles" O'Malley? Could it have been Alice? (which would fit with the mystery "Alice Bourke" mentioned at the top of the article).

Charles' death notice (8,9) mentions that he was buried on "Church Island" and this turns out to be in the Old Section of Islandeady graveyard. Luckily, this burial ground has been surveyed by both Ireland Genealogy Projects (IGP) and IrishGraveyards, and Charles' grave is easy to find. (21,22) The inscription on the gravestone in plot 65 reads:

O Lord grant eternal ... | unto the souls of those | whose remains are underneath interred | CHARLES O'MALLEY | Died 15th June 1871 aged 92 years | ... O'MALLEY Alias ROURKE [i.e. Bourke?] his wife | ... Aug 1867 aged 89 yrs | Also their son | DOMINICK O'MALLEY | Died 10th Jan 1866 aged 52 | CHARLES O'MALLEY | ... Dec 1871 aged ... [49] (21)

Gravestone of "this Charles" O'Malley (from IGP-web.com)

We still cannot make out his wife's first name, but there are two new sons buried in the same plot (Dominick & Charles) bringing the total number of his children to at least seven. The death records for the four people in this grave reveal additional useful information:

• Dominick was recorded as being 50 years old when he died in 1866 (see partial transcription of record here - no image available, as yet ... but this could tell us if he was a bachelor)
• Charles junior was also 50 years old when he died in 1871, six months after his father (see digital image here). He also was a bachelor.
• and finally, Charles' wife is recorded as being 90 years old upon her death in 1867, and her first name was ... Alice (see transcription here - no image available, as yet)

Civil Registration Death Record for Charles O'Malley junior

So, given the various pieces of evidence, it seems highly likely that "this Charles" above is "our Charles". We still cannot rule out the possibility that we are looking at a son or grandson, also called Charles, who also married into the Burke family, but we may unearth further evidence in time that will answer this question.

If this Charles is the "Charles of Cloonane" described in the pedigrees, then we have a bit of a problem. As mentioned before, my estimate for his date of birth was 1720 AD, based on 30 years per generation and 6 generations back to Teige, the supposed brother of Grace O'Malley. But with a birth year of 1779 for this Charles, it means the average number of years per generations is 40 (i.e. 1779-1540 = 239, divided by 6 = c.40 years per generation). This stretches the imagination a tad, and one wonders if a generation has been omitted from the ancient pedigree ... or if it is true at all. In a subsequent article, we will explore the evidence that Grace O'Malley had 3 brothers. Maybe she did ... and maybe she didn't.

But we still don't know if there are any living male O'Malley's from this particular family who have survived to the present day. We certainly have not found any ... as yet. Maybe some of the O'Malley tenants on his land were related? Maybe they descended from the younger sons of the younger sons and thus did not inherit significant amounts of land (and hence wealth). Maybe they dropped down the social ladder over the generations and the memory (and records) of their elevated ancestry became lost in the mists of time.

So maybe it would be worthwhile testing a male O'Malley whose ancestors came from Cloonane? Is this you? If so, please get in touch - we may be able to sort out a free DNA test for you.

Maurice Gleeson

April 2022

An update to this original post can be seen here.

The 13th century church in Islandeady graveyard
(from Wikimedia Commons, photo Mick Reynolds, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Notes, Sources & Links

1) Pedigree of the family of O'Malley, Lords of Borrishoole, compiled by Sir William Betham 1832. Consulted by MG at National Library of Ireland on 12th April 2022 (MS 632); and O'Malley pedigree exhibited at O'Malley Clan Rally, Claregalway 2017, compiled by Edward MacLysaght, 1946

2) Many Irish newspapers have been digitised and are available online via IrishNewsArchive.com, BritishNewspaperArchive.com, and FindMyPast

3) Mayo Constitution, 11 Apr 1833 - public vote of thanks to Richard Sharp Esq

4) Mayo Constitution 26 May 1834 - List of Cess Payers

5) Mayo Constitution 29 Apr 1836 - List of Cess Payers

6) Mayo Constitution 30 Aug 1836 - Public Dinner to the Earl of Altamont

7) Mayo Constitution, 17 Apr 1838 - Islandeady Dispensary

8) Freeman's Journal 23 Jun 1871 - "Death of Charles O'Malley"

9) Tuam Herald 17th Jun 1871 - death notice for Charles O'Malley

10) Mayo Examiner 19 Mar 1875, page 3 - death of Maria Alicia O'Malley, Cloonane

11) Ballinrobe Chronicle & Mayo Advertiser 23 Apr 1887 - death of Joseph B O'Malley, Cloonane

12) Mayo Examiner 2 May 1896 - death of Miss Margaret O'Malley, Cloonane

13) Mayo Examiner 29 May 1897 - funeral of Father Thomas O'Malley, P.P.

14) Freeman's Journal 26 May 1897 - funeral of Rev Thos O'Malley, P.P., Cloonane, Islandeady

15) Ballina Herald & Mayo & Sligo Advertiser 4 Apr 1918 - death of Anne O'Malley, Cloonane

16) Mayo Examiner 17 Feb 1873 - Tenants on the estate of Sir Roger Palmer and Mr O'Malley

17) Islandeady - 150 years of Parish Records 1839-1989. Available as a YouTube video here.

18) Western People 27 Aug 1898, page 5 - "his Grace very kindly visited at Cloonane his only surviving sister, Miss Anne O'Malley"

19) Burke's Landed Gentry 1871, Vol 1, page 715. Full reference: Burke, Sir Bernard A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, Fifth Edition with Supplement, two volumes 1871. Available online here.

20) O Hart's Irish Pedigrees (1892, Volume 2, Bourke No.4, item 33) ... https://www.libraryireland.com/Pedigrees2/jordan-de-exeter-genealogy.php

21) Gravestone inscriptions & photographs for Old Section, Islandeady Graveyard, Mayo, Ireland, from Ireland Genealogy Projects archive. Available online here.

22) Gravestone inscriptions & photographs for Old Section, Islandeady Graveyard, Mayo, Ireland, from IrisGraveyards.ie. Available online here. 

The Family Transported for Stealing Sheep

I am delighted to introduce new project member, Bradley O'Meley. In this guest blog post, Bradley talks about the fascinating research he has done on his own O'Meley line and the circumstances that saw his family transported from Ireland to the far side of the world. Enjoy his engrossing account!

Maurice Gleeson

I have been researching the family for the last 16 years, & before that on & off since circa 1984, when we had our first family reunion for the descendants of James Mealey & Mary Fox, following the publishing of our family history, in the book ‘Links to James Meally & Mary Fox’ by our relative the late Shirley Keegan. Sadly she never had the opportunity to publish her intended works on James’ siblings, the children of John Maille & Nappy Davitt. Since then, I have expanded on her research, a little & solved some riddles that she was unable to do. In any event I would like to share a bit about my family. We have appeared in various times with a variety of spellings with or without the worthy O’ as Maille, Meally, Mealley, Mailley, Meley & Malley to name a few.

Memorial plaque in honour of James O’Meley & Mary Fox & their children,
placed in Young, circa 1984.

John Maille was married to Nappy Davitt (she appears as both Penelope & the pet form Nappy in records), she is linked by other researchers to the family of Michael Davitt of the Land League fame. I can’t say whether that is true, however it certainly fits with the rest of the family background.

Family tree of the descendants of John O’Maille & Nappy Davitt,
excerpt from the book ‘Links to James Meally & Mary Fox’, Shirley M. Keegan.

John & Nappy had sons Patrick & John circa 1798. After that point John disappeared for 10 years & is believed to be the same John who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Wexford Gaol, being captured for his part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which took place in County Mayo. Upon his release from Wexford Gaol the birth of his children resumed with the usual regularity, resulting in Honor 1810, James & Peter 1814, Nappy 1816, Bridget 1820 & apparently another daughter Nancy O’Mailleagh, said to appear in the trial of her brother Patrick. Six of these siblings were sent to Australia as convicts for stealing sheep from what was, as the story goes, land that had previously belonged to themselves.

The Court House, Castlebar

Patrick O’Meally with his brother Peter were convicted at Castlebar, & sentenced to 7 years labour in NSW, aboard the barque Norfolk, which sailed from Cork on 15 October 1831. One account found online, records the following “Patrick O’Mally was a convict who was transported for life for sheep stealing. He was tried and convicted at crown court, where Nancy Malley gave evidence as his sister. Also charged was his brother Peter. The sheep were the property of William Malley [possibly Sir William O’Malley, K.B. 2nd Baronet]”. On board with Patrick & Peter, who are listed as brothers, was also Austin Malley, convicted in the same year on the same charge of sheep stealing. He is listed as a widower, with 2 children. He is not stated to have been a relative of Patrick & Peter, in the ship’s records, but is shown as such online, such as in the Monaro Pioneers Project, though I do not know on what evidence. I do believe he was likely a cousin, & believe him also to be connected to the Austin O’Malley, who married Mary Davitt, who herself was possibly a relative of Nappy Davitt. This latter Austin’s wife appears to have remarried as she appears in a record “Mary Davitt or Mealley married 1849, Westport, Ireland to...”, the name of the spouse being lost.

Norfolk, Isabella, City of Edinburgh, Details regarding the ships in which the O’Meley convicts arrived,
excerpted from the book ‘Links to James Meally & Mary Fox’, Shirley M. Keegan

Patrick with his wife Judith Downey had 10 children of which John O’Meally (Johnny O’Meally) the famous Bushranger, was the eldest. He was a member of the Gardiner/Hall gang in company with John Gilbert, who was the lover of John’s cousin Mary Ann Mailley. John & the gang pulled off the largest gold heist in Australian history, but was shortly thereafter shot to death. He was buried on a nearby riverbank, & his father Patrick, drove for several days, retrieved his body & returned to their hometown to bury him in the Catholic cemetery.

Painting by Patrick William Marony (1858-1939) of the death of John O'Meally

The Eugowra Gold Heist

Peter Mally (Patrick’s younger brother) had 13 children with his wife Mary Sears, but other than their names not much more is known of them.

John Meally, (brother of Patrick & Peter) was convicted on the same charges of sheep stealing & sent to the Colony of New South Wales, for 7 years, with his younger brother James, aboard the City of Edinburgh, which sailed from Cork on 18 March 1832, leaving behind a wife, 1 boy & 2 girls in Ireland. He received his ticket of leave in 1836, & then disappears from Australian records. He is believed to have returned to Ireland, & is, I believe, the same John O’Malley, supposed to have died in 1846, the husband of Nancy Davitt, who emigrated to USA in 1847 & there married secondly an Abraham DeMay. Nancy had 2 brothers, Charles and Hugh. Her parents were M. Davitt and Bridget Scanlius, & were perhaps relatives of Nappy Davitt also.

Honor Malley (sister of Patrick, John, James & Peter), was convicted, with her sister Bridget, on the charge of sheep stealing & sent to the Colony of New South Wales, for 7 years, aboard the Isabella, which sailed from Dublin on 15 March 1840. She married Robin Ready and had 5 children the youngest of which Robert was the lover of Mary Ann Mailley, his 1st cousin, daughter of James Meally & Mary Fox, (the same who was also lover of the bushranger John Gilbert), and their base born daughter Ellen carried the name Mailley. Likewise her elder child Catherine also illegitimate by John Gilbert also bore the name Mailley.

Johnny Gilbert bushranger

Bridget Malley, convicted with her sister Honor, of sheep stealing & sent to the Colony of New South Wales, for 7 years. She married John Fox, (brother of my ancestor Mary), son of Patrick Fox, a convict of Mayo, & Catherine O’Brien, a convict from Limerick, who was born in Cork, a widow who was sent to Australia with her young child Patrick Maddigan in tow. John & Bridget had 8 children.

Nappy Malley their sister (who remained in Ireland) is recorded as coming from Louisburgh, & in her marriage records is stated to be daughter of John Malley & Penelope. She married twice, firstly 11 Feb 1856, Aughavaul, Murrisk, Mayo, to Pat Cerigan (Born c 1786), widower, son of John Cerigan. And secondly 1 Nov 1868, Westport, Oughavaul, County Mayo, Ireland to Hugh McGill of Westport (Born c 1808), son of John McGill.

James Meally (my ancestor), was sentenced to 7 years for stealing sheep. Shortly after his arrival he married Mary Fox, daughter of Patrick Fox & Catherine O’Brien. Catherine her mother, was a convict also, & was a widow, having been married previously to a Patrick Maddigan, by whom she had one son. James & Mary had 12 children including my 2nd great grandfather James Mealey, who married Sarah Jenkins, whose father David Jenkins (alias Genkens), was a free settler apparently from Wales, a postman, who died in a tragic boiler explosion in 1864 & her mother Mary Ann Flynn, (who died in a tragic fire several months prior to her husband), a daughter of Matthew Flynn, a convict from Cork, & Elisabeth Wooller, a pick-pocket from London. James & Sarah had 11 children, among which was my great grandfather James Edward O’Meley & a daughter Bridget Meally, who previous to her marriage to William Waters, had a son of unknown paternity whose descendants are O’Meally also.

Family tree of the descendants of James Meally & Mary Fox
excerpt from the book ‘Links to James Meally & Mary Fox’ Shirley M. Keegan

James Edward O’Meley & Harriet Apps had six children, including my grandfather Charlie, who like his father before him took to the road, on foot, to find work, though specialising in plumbing, he dabbled in shoe repair, & whatever work he could get. It was during this time that he became fond of Batemans Bay, & would eventually bring his family there. He, with his brothers Jim & Reg formed a travelling band, being accomplished violinists. Charlie married Doris Pugsley, of the family from Devon, Doris’ maternal grandmother was a Kennedy from County Laois. Charlie & Doris had 6 children. My father married the daughter of Sicilian immigrants. My father’s only sister married my mother’s brother. I am one of 7 children, 5 boys, 2 girls. 

Front: Ellen O’Meley her parents Doris & Alfred Charles ‘Charlie’ O’Meley.
Ellen’s cousin Loretta Pugsley in rear.

There are a few of us here in Australia, but not so much in comparison to other families, almost all of the family are centred in West Wyalong. My family is in Batemans Bay. There are also O’Meally’s nearby, in Broulee, though they have no known connection to my family, & another Mealley, a very nice old lady, nearby in Tuross Head, whose family, coming directly from England, she & her brother had assumed themselves to be English. The O’Meleys in Moruya & Nelligen, nearby, are my cousins. 

We do have a family group on Facebook (180 members), perhaps I will see if any are interested in testing. I am also a member of the O’Meally Facebook group of Jamaica (290 members), & am very curious how they might be connected. Onomastics suggest they may have sprung from my family.

DNA might throw some light on questions that hang over my family history. How do I, my relatives, & our known ancestors fit into the O’Malley clan? I know that is a question that has nagged at many of my family & relatives. Growing up we were told that O’Meley was a corruption of O’Malley, & that the English just didn’t understand the Irish accent & misspelled the name. I know that isn’t true. I know that Melaghlin, son of Owen Dubhdara, appears as “O’Mealie, otherwise called O’Mally, 

Chief of his name” circa 1576. It is stated somewhere, though I can’t recall where, that those who bear the spellings Mailley or Mealley, & their derivatives are descendants of Melaghlin. Do we in fact have any connection to him? 

Or do we represent an older split in the family? 

Are we in fact even related at all?

Bradley O'Meley

April 2022