THE HISTORY
OF DALY - O’DALY – O DALAIGH
IN CO CORK
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This is our
best estimate for the greater family history behind the Kate Daly who we
believe married Timothy Hurley, and became the mother of the Catherine Hurley
who married John Hickey in London before emigrating to South Aust.
For the full
rationale behind the selection of this Kate Daly as being the most likely
mother of Catherine Hurley, see...
“Once We
Had Land And Castles And Everything”
...in the Stories section, but the
following is a thumbnail sketch.
Catherine
Hurley’s baptism?
From the scant facts
from their daughter Catherine Hurley’s marriage certificate and the 1871 UK
Census, 12 posibilities were extracted from the “Church Records” section of the
website Irishgenealogy.ie, based only on...
[1] her name being Catherine (Cath, Cathn, Cate, Kate, in records that
still exist, as there are surely some missing, especially during the ‘45-‘52
Famine), and she was baptised to a Timothy Hurl(e)y in Co Cork,
[2] taken from the date range of 1842 to 1848 (with a 4 year buffer each
end for good measure).
The
one we have selected as clearly the most likely (and for the workup notes to
the other 11 contenders see the separate file “Hurley Contenders”), is...
3/6/46 – A Catherine Hurley was
baptised to a Timothy Hurley & a Kate Daly, in “Cahcup” townland in
Caharagh parish, Co Cork
Caheragh is
a big parish in West Cork, SW of Drimoleague, between Bantry and Skibbereen,
and – cross-checking the original church records - the transcribed “Cahcup” is
actually “Caheragh”, the townland.
Caheragh –
parish and townland - is pronounced “Ca-hair-ugh” or “Ca-heer-ugh”,
believably close to the “Hairech”(*) that the Census-taker heard when he asked
Catherine Hurley where she was born. (He wrote down “Kilmene” for John,
implying his actual birth parish of Kilmeen, so why wouldn’t his wife
say her birth parish also).
(*)The
“Where Born” in the 1871 UK Census, shows Catherine as “Hairech, Co Cork”, a
place written down as heard phonetically by the English census-taker, as
neither Catherine nor John could read or write.
A Cork City
Librarian (local history section), and a Kerry schoolteacher (who has Irish as
his first language), both suggested that a two-syllable place like “Gearagh”,
or “Derragh” could sound like “Hairech” when spoken by an uneducated Irish
country girl and heard by an Englishman.
Also, when
listening to the word “Caheragh” spoken by the Irish-to-English online
translator (albeit some modern and educated voice) it’s believable that it
could have been heard as “Hair-ech”. AND, if you type the word “Caheragh” on
your MS Word (recent versions) and hit the Speak icon it also sounds very convincing.
Marriage?
From all of
the scraps, the best bet for this Kate’s marriage would be...
7/2/1826
(it was a Tuesday) - a Timothy Hurley of Dunmanway married a Kate Daly
(servant) in Drimoleague par, witnesses John Daly and Tim Daly.
So, if this
Timothy was from Dunmanway (in Fanlobbus par) and Kate was working/living in
Drimoleague, and a search of the Irish Church Records (nominating NO place)
between 1826 and 1850, for ANY children ANY-where of a Timothy Hurley and Kate
Daly, gives only six hits, being Daniel in 1827 in Fanlobbus, then 1830-1839 Mary,
Tim, John, Mick in Drimoleague, then Kate 1846 in Caheragh, it’s a fair call
that this is all one family, moving about during hard times. (And did she name
two of her kids – Tim and John - after the two witnesses at her wedding?)
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All of the
above is only to establish that the Kate Daly who we believe is the ancestor of
“our” Hickeys of South Australia, undoubtably came from an ancestral Daly pool
in West Cork.
Also, as is
the case with so many Catholic Irish family histories, it’s very hard (just
about impossible!) to connect them back to any of their pre-1800 family pools
with any certainty, due to the lack of, and so much subsequent loss of,
Catholic records, plus the impact of the 1845-1849 Great Famine, and then the
destruction of the 1841 to 1891 Census Returns during 1920s.
So, mostly
we can only explore the greater family history of the “clan”, even if we can’t
connect “our” Kate Daly back to a specific ancestor within that clan.
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THE HISTORY
OF DALY - O’DALY – O DALAIGH
IN CO CORK
While it’s
hard to get a lot of clear data on the early evolution of the Daly clan, one
thing that all the experts say about them is that in ancient times, they were
said to be from the same stock as the O’Neills and O’Donnells of Ulster, and were
considered to be great, if not the greatest, poets (or ollamh, being poet or
man of learning), and had the patronage of many of the biggest movers and
shakers of the day.
Also, back
in that sketchiness of history, it’s also said that by the time of the O’Brien
v MacCarthy inter-clan power struggles (c 1000 AD), they were established in
the centre of Ireland in Co Westmeath.
But first,
to better understand how the Dalys fit into the larger history of West Cork, it
would be best to re-read a brief summary of the MacCarthys in...
“The Rise
And Fall Of An Irish Dynasty”
...over in the Stories section.
The Origin of the Co Cork O’Dalys
There is
some speculation among modern Irish historians as to whether the Munster
O’Dalys were actually descendants of the Westmeath clan at all. One writes...
“Although
the Westmeath origin of the surname is best known, from a very early date
families of the name were prominent in Co. Cork, and especially in the area
around the peninsula of Muintervarra or Sheep's Head in west Cork. The
likeliest explanation is that the name had a separate origin in the south. Even
so, these O'Dalys had an equally strong association with poetry and learning...”
But another
says...
“...there
is no clear indication that the Munster branch of the Ó Dálaigh were considered
to have had separate origins from the others.”
But all we
know is that as early as 1161 one Raghnall Ua Dalaigh was ollamh “of Desmond”,
implying they were already the hereditary ollamhs of the all powerful MacCarthys
down in West Cork. Surely it’s not just coincidence that this clan were also
great writers and poets like their Westmeath counterparts.
One
argument would have to be that – just like the O’Hurleys - a branch of the
Westmeath O’Dalaigh clan came south attached to the MacCarthys after losing the
O’Brien power struggles. In fact, one writer says...
“There were
also other important Eóganachta septs in the records who migrated to Munster
and Desmond at one time or another, including O'Donovans, O'Driscolls,
O'Mahonys, O'Callaghans, O'Dalys, O'Crowleys, O'Learys, and O'Collins.”
Another
says...
“The Ó
Dálaigh continued to achieve prominence in the societies of their new
homelands, becoming poets to various royal courts across Ireland and ruling as minor
chiefs over lands outside of Westmeath.”
The Power Of The Poets
In these
times, poets were powerful! One source writes...
“The noble
bards of Ireland were accorded great prestige and were accounted filid
or "men of skill"; in social rank, they were placed below kings but
above all others [and] the Ó Dálaigh were the foremost practitioners of the
exacting and difficult poetry form known as Dán Díreach throughout the
Late Medieval period (1250-1500).
“Part of
the prestige that attached to the Irish bardic ollamh was derived from
fear; a leader satirised in a glam dicenn (satire-poem), by a very able
poet, could find his social position badly undermined.”
Being of
such standing in the eyes (and ears!) of the chiefs, at a very early age the O’Dalaighs
were given land...
“The
Muintir Bhaire peninsula (Sheep’s Head) in West Cork is particularly associated
with the O’Dalys of Desmond from an early period. But they acquired the
peninsula not from the MacCarthys but one of the Carews, probably Robert, whose
mother was a MacCarthy. The family seat was apparently in Kilcrohane.”
This is
borne out by the fact that a plea roll of 1299 records that one Maurice Carew
sued the O’Dalys of Muinntear Bhaire (along with some other Irish
families) in respect of land they held from (that is, overlorded by) Carew.
The Middle Years
There’s not
a lot of specific information on the O’Dalys in the “middle” centuries before
the final great upheavals of the 1601 and 1642 Rebellions, when just about all
Irish Catholic clans lost everything. But even by the late 1500s it would seem
that times were getting tougher for poets, and they couldn’t be too picky about
a contract!
Apparently
one Angus O’Daly (Aonghus Ruadh na nAor Ó Dálaigh, 1550–1617) “...of the
Muintir Bhaire sept, and lived at Balliorrone, County Cork...” was commissioned
by local (English) bigwig Sir George Carew “...to lampoon the Irish chieftains
and instigate enmity between them.”
It was
never going to end well, as another historian puts it, he “...maliciously hired
a poet named Angus O’Daly to go around among the few remaining chieftains and
satirise them on their fallen estates.” (I can only think this nust have been
immediately after the confiscations that followed the 1601 Rebellion. A classic
case of putting in the boot!).
He goes on,
how “...few of these men were now able to maintain a poet in their household
and O’Daly was glad of a job from anyone. With his pointed wit, he jibed at the
MacGillicuddys for their gloom, the O’Reillys for their helplessness, the
O’Sullivans for the bad wine they gave their guests. But when a servant of the
O’Meaghers heard this kind of performance, he could not endure the insult to
his masters. He plunged a knife in the mocker and thus ended the poet’s career."
Like I said
– never going to end well, especially when you turn on your own! No matter how
bad their wine may have been!
The Decline
The end of
the prominence of all of the Gaelic-speaking nobility of Ireland in the early 1600s
also meant the end of the bardic families, such as the Ó Dálaigh, that depended
on their patronage. With the added loss of all their land in the wake of these rebellions,
most branches of the Ó Dálaigh hit hard times.
One writer
says “...an example of this is the fate of the Dalys of Mhuintir Bháire
(Sheep's Head Pen), all those relatives and descendants of Aonghus Ruadh Ó
Dálaigh (recently departed!) lost the last of their land in the aftermath of
the fall of James II, and were reduced to the state of struggling tenant farmers.”
The Daly
name (with many variations) scattered, but the Co Cork concentration remained
the greatest, and in a survey in 1659 of Co Cork, O’Dalys were most numerous in
West carbery, with some 44 families.
In the
1820s (Tithes) Caheragh had 7 Daly households, Fanlobbus 4, and “Dromdaleague”
(as “Dealy”) had 7.
By the
1850s (Griffiths) there were some 3,800 Daly households in all of Ireland, but
the most by far was in Co Cork (860), then next biggest is Westmeath (232), then
Kerry (227), and Offaly (190), and then they drop off quickly to much smaller
numbers, but well scattered.
Within a
fairly wide spread of Daly households across Co Cork in the 1850s, the larger
ones (other than Cork City, which had some 70-odd) are Kilmeen (in Duhallow) 29,
and Clonfert 27. Fanlobbus had 16, Drimoleague 12, and Caheragh 6.
< >
A more
intensive search and cross-referencing of available BMD records with the Tithes
and Griffiths Valuations may narrow down the possibilities for this Kate
Daly’s parents, and there’s some data on likely (maybe) contenders for her
siblings in “Once We Had Land And Castles And Everything”, but at least it’s a
fair bet that the one above is “our” Kate Daly.
One more
point...
The Duhallow Daly’s
It should
also be noted that we believe the HICKEY’s of Kilmeen parish in Co Cork (the
Duhallow Kilmeen that is, as there are TWO Kilmeens in Co Cork just to keep it
interesting, the “Hickey” one up in the Boherbue area, and the “Hurley” one down
in the Clonakilty area), also had Daly’s in their life – see “The Irish Couple
Who Barely Existed”.
There’s a
whole parish in Duhallow called Nohavaldaly (plus a townland called Ballydaly).
Being curious about the origin of the “Nohaval” bit – “Daly” had to be the
family - lots of digging, and trial and error with the online Irish-English
interpreter, gave me the answer.
The
original Irish spelling (“Nohaval” is how the English ear heard it) was “Nuachongbhail”.
The only place I found this was in a copy of “The Book Of Fenagh”, and ancient
manuscript of prose and poetry from the 1500s, but there’s a full copy online
of the 1875 first published edition. It’s worth a look just out of academic
curiosity.
Anyway, a
small footnote explained that the word is actually from three parts – “nua”
(new), “con” (together), and “gabail” (taking) – so presumably implies that an
area of land in Duhallow was newly acquired by the clan, and so was always
referred to locally as Nuachongbhail-O’Dalaigh, which in time became the parish
of Nohavaldaly.
< >
I can’t
quickly find when a branch of the Dalys migrated up into Duhallow, but I did
find...
“In 1541 a
Fitzmaurice and a poet called “Odale The Rymor” held 480 acres between them at Tullylease
in the far north of Co Cork, by the Kerry border.”
“The O’Daly
lands, in what is now the parish of Nohavaldaly on the border of Cork and
Kerry, were given to them by Mac Carthy Mor.”
“The
O’Keeffes of Duhallow were big sponsors of the O’Daly poets, and some Munster
genealogists argue that in fact the O’Dalys derive from the same stock as the
O’Keeffes.”
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And in
closing, for some truly serious research into the O’Dalaighs of Ireland, follow
the tag below into the Internet Archive.
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