The Flanagan Family

John Rooney

A Genealogical History of Irish Families

1895

Flanagan family crest

(Crest No. 302. Plate 31.)

THE Flanagan family is descended from Milesius, King of Spain, through the line of his son Heber. The founder of the family was Kiann, son of Olliol Ollum, King of Munster, A. D. 177, and Sabia, daughter of Con Kead Caha, or Con of the Hundred Battles, King of Ireland, A. D. 148. The ancient name was Flannagain and signifies “Red Man.”

Flanagan family crest

(Crest No. 248. Plate 59.)

The possessions of the sept were in the present County of Waterford. The O’Flanagans were Chiefs of Uachtar Tire and of Kinel Arga. It appears that there were two chiefs of these O’Flanagans, one of Kinel Arga, a district in Ely O’Carroll, in the King’s County, and the other of Uachtar Tire, or the Upper Country, in the barony of Iffa and Offa, on the borders of Tipperary and Waterford.

Another branch of the O’Flanagans, descended through the line of Heremon, were chiefs of Clan Cathail, a territory in the barony of Roscommon, north of Elphin; and O’Dugan mentions another clan of the name as chiefs of Comar, beside “O’Braoin’s Country,” in the County of Meath. The O’Flanagans were also Lords of Tura in Fermanagh, and many of the name were settled in Monaghan and other counties.

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