O'Gorman (No.1) family genealogy

Chiefs of Ibrickan, County Clare

Arms: Az. a lion pass. betw. three swords erect ar. Crest: An arm embowed in armour, grasping in the hand a sword blade wavy, all ppr.

DAIRE, a younger brother of Ros Failgeach,[1] who is No. 90 on the No. 1 "O'Connor" (Faley) pedigree, was the ancestor of MacGormain; anglicised MacGorman,[2] Gorman, and O' Gorman.

90. Daire: second son of Cathair [Cahir] Mór, King of Leinster and the 109th Monarch of Ireland.

91. Feigh: his son; had a brother Breacan (breacan: Irish, "a party-coloured or striped stuff, anciently used by different people as their trowse [3] and cloaks" [4]), who was the ancestor of Mulvy; and a quo O'Breacain, anglicised Bracken.

92. Berchan: son of Feig; had a brother Owen (Eoghan), who was the ancestor of Mooney, of Fermanagh.

93. Earc: son of Berchan; had a brother St. Fiagh (12th October).

94. Æneas: son of Earc; had a brother Dallan.

95. Eocha: son of Æneas.

96. Dermod: his son.

97. Cormac: his son.

98. Gorman: [5] his son; had a brother Cormac.

99. Donal: son of Gorman.

100. Suibhneach: his son.

101. Maoilmuire: his son.

102. Gobhgan: his son.

103. Eocha: his son.

104. Gorman ("gorm:" Irish, illustrious): his son; a quo MacGormain. A member of this family built Caislean MacGormain, in the co. Meath;[6] from which "Gormanstown" takes its name.

105. Dunagan: his son.

106. Gasan: his son.

107. Duach Dubh: his son.

108. Treasach: his son.

109. Aodh (or Hugh): his son.

110. Donoch: his son.

111. Murtach: his son; the first of the family that settled in Munster.

112. Gorman (3): his son.

113. Scannall: his son.

114. Eachtighearuach: his son; had a brother Maccraith.

115. Moroch (a corruption of the Irish muirchu, which signifies "a sea hound or warrior"): his son. This name has also been written "Murcha," and "Morogh."

116. Cumeid ("mead," gen. "meid:" Irish, bulk or bigness): his son; a quo O'Meid, anglicised Mead and Meade.

117. Concobhar: his son.

118. Donal (2): his son.

119. Cumeid (2): his son.

120. Conbhach: his son.

121. David: his son.

122. Dathi: his son.

123. John: his son.

124. Dermod: his son; had a brother Conbhach.

125. Donal: son of Dermod; had a brother Melaghlin.

126. Conbhach (2): son of Donal.

127. Donal (3): his son.

128. Maolseaghlainn (or Melagh-lin): his son.

129. Dermod (3): his son.

130. Donal (4): his son; had a brother named Cu-na-mBochd, who settled in the county Westmeath.

131. Melaghlin: his son.

132. Dermod (4): his son.

133. Nicholas O'Gorman:[7] his son; living in 1691.

Notes

[1] Failgeach: This word is the root of the terms Faley (as in the name "O'Connor Faley,") Phaley and Offaly; and Ros Failgeach (Rosa: Irish, "a rose;" Lat. rosa; failge; Irish, "an ouche," "a ring," "a jewel," "a wreath,") means "Ros of the Rings," etc.

[2] MacGorman: The MacGormans were originally located in Leinster. After their expulsion from Leinster, shortly after the English invasion, they were granted by O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, a territory in the barony of Ibrickan, co. Clare, where they settled.

[3] Trowse: A trouse or trowse was a tight-fitting article of dress that comprised in one piece "britches, stockings, and socks or sandals." We read that Sir John Perrot, lord deputy of Ireland, would not admit members habited in the Irish mantle (or cloak) and trowse, to attend the Parliament he had convoked, A.D. 1586; and to induce those members summoned to that assembly to appear in English attire, he bestowed both "gownes and cloakes of velvet and satten on some of them:" a full dress, whatever it might be now, not being an inappropriate gift for a gentleman, at a time when a rich robe was often a most acceptable present to the Queen.—See Ware.

[4] Cloaks: From the Irish word breac, which means "speckled or of various colours," some of the Gauls were called Galli Braccati, and their country Gallia Braccata. Diodorus Siculus (Lib. 6,) mentions that the garments of those Gauls were rough and party-coloured; and calls them Braccae. Dr. O'Brien, in his Irish Dictionary, observes at the word "breacan," that the Irish Scots preserved this kind of garment up to his time (A.D. 1768). Breac, "a trout," is so called from the various colours of its skin.

[5] Gorman: This Gorman (No. 98) was, by Geoffry, of Monmouth, called "King Gurmandus," who invaded and devastated a large part of Britain, circa A.D. 593.

[6] Meath: The migration of members of this family to Meath took place in the ninth century, where their descendants remained until the 15th century, when Gormanstown passed into the possession of the English family of Preston. It is very probable that the celebrated martyrologist, Marian or Maelmuiré O'Gorman, Abbot of Knock (Cnoc-na-napstol), near Louth, was of this branch of the family. In 1171 this Marian O'Gorman composed a calendar generally known as the Calendar of Marianus. Though their property was lost to them, the Meath O'Gormans did not forsake their ancient district; at the present time they are numerous in Monknewtown and Slane, but some of them in reduced circumstances. Slane had been their burial-place, and in that church-yard numerous tombstones belonging to them still exist. At the period of the Revolution the family had a respectable standing; for, we find a member of it, a James O'Gorman, holding the position of a lieutenant in Lord Slane's Infantry regiment, in the service of King James II. From that James O'Gorman the descent to the present day is as follows:

1. James O'Gorman, Lieut. in Lord Slane's regiment. After the war he entered into trade as a timber-merchant, in Oxmantown—now Queen-st., Dublin.

2. Patrick Gorman, of Queen-street: his son; dropped the prefix O', and m. Cecily Christie. Will dated 3rd Nov., 1744; directs his body to be buried in Slane, county Meath.

3. Thomas Gorman, of Queen-street: his son; m. Mary , and d. intestate in January, 1785; was buried in Slane. He had an only son:

4. Thomas Gorman, of Queen-street, who m. Alice, daughter of —— Carberry, of Ballyleas, co. Dublin (descended from an "Innocent Papist" of the days of Charles II.); died July, 1836, and was buried in the new cemetery at Golden Bridge, near Dublin. His eldest son was:

5. Thomas Gorman, who m. Catherine Aungier, niece of the celebrated John

Keogh, of Mount Jerome, co. Dublin—the "Magog" of Wolfe Tone's Memoirs. (See Note in the Keogh pedigree, p. 504 ante.) This Thomas Gorman's eldest son was:

6. Thomas O'Gorman, who resumed his Celtic prefix O', and m. Annabella, eldest daughter of Edmond Hanley, of Lakeview, co. Roscommon, (who, there is reason to believe was the head of the grand old family of Kinel Doffa, the patron saint of which was Saint Bearagh, whose Pastoral Staff known for ages in the co. Roscommon as the Bachal Gear (or short staff) was in said Hanley's possession until 1862 or 1863, when it passed into the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, where it is now preserved.) This Thomas O'Gorman, of RathGorman, Sandymount, Dublin, has two sons and one daughter surviving in 1887, namely. 1. Victor, 2. Chamberlayne, and 1, Josephine.

[7] Nicholas O'Gorman: There was a Nicholas Purcell O'Gorman, who, in 1829, was Secretary of "The Catholic Association," of Ireland, who died in 1857, and whose genealogy down from "Mallacklin (or Melaghlin) McGorman," living in 1544, is as follows:

1. Mallacklin McGorman, who on the 31st day of December, 1544, obtained from King Henry VIII., a grant of the "Countrie of Hy-Brecane," now known as "Ibrickane."

2. Donal: his son; obtained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of the advowsons of Kilmichil and Kilmurry, in the county Clare, bearing date the 25th day of Aug., 1570; was Sheriff of Thomond in 1572.

3. Donn: his son; was Sheriff of Thomond in 1614; d. 1626.

4. Mahon: his son; d. 1665.

5. Melaghlin: his son; Sheriff of the co. Clare, in 1689; d. 1707.

6. Thomas: his son; d. 1717.

7. Mahon (2): his son; d. 1741.

8. James: his son; d. 1787.

9. Nicholas Purcell O'Gorman: his son; d. 1857.

10. Nicholas Smith O'Gorman, of Bellevue, Kilrush, county Clare, J.P.: his son; was sheriff in 1878. This Nicholas had a younger brother, Major Purcell O'Gorman; and a sister, Susan, married to Major Edmund Moore Mulcahy, No. 124 on the "Mulcahy" pedigree: all living in 1881.

11. Nicholas: son of Nicholas: a Capt. in the 10th Regiment, living in 1881.