Agnew family genealogy
Arms: Or, an eagle displ with two heads gu. surmounted by a lymphad sa. in the dexter chief point a dexter hand couped gu. Crest: A raven sa. standing on a rook az.
EOIN (or John) MacDonnell, brother of Aeneas Oge, lord of the Isles, who is No. 106 on the "MacDonnell" (of Antrim) pedigree, was the ancestor of MacGniomhaighe; anglicised MacGnieve, O'Gnieve, Agnue, and Agnew.
106. Eoin MacDonnell, surnamed Gniomhach ("gniomh:" Irish, an act; Lat. "gnav-us," active): son of Aeneas Mór; a quo MacGniomhaighe.
107. Maolmuire: his son.
108. John MacGnieve, of Dunfian: his son; first assumed this sirname.
109. Patrick: his son.
110. Mulbiadh: his son.
111. Mulbiadh Oge: his son.
112. Cormac: his son.
113. John: his son.
114. Ferdorach [1]: his son; a quo O'Ferdoraigh.
115. Brian: his son.
116. Fearflatha O'Gnieve: his son; was Ollamh (or Bard) to the O'Neill of Clanaboy, about the year 1556. His "Lament" for the unhappy state of Ireland at that period, is given in O'Connor's "Dissertations on Irish History;" of which the following few stanzas are literally translated from the Irish:
LAMENT OF O'GNIEVE
How dimm'd is the glory that circled the Gael,
And fallen the people of green Innisfail!
The Sword of the Saxon is read with their gore,
And the mighty of nations is mighty no more.
Like a hark on the ocean long shatter'd and tost,
On the land of your fathers at length you are lost,
The hand of the spoiler is stretched on your plains,
And you're doomed from your cradles to bondage and chains.
O'Neill of the Hostages; Conn,[2] whose high name
On a hundred red battles has floated to fame,
Let the long grass still sigh undisturbed o'er thy sleep;
Arise not to shame us, awake not to weep!
O bondsmen of Egypt, no Moses appears
To light your dark steps thro' this desert of tears,
Degraded and lost ones, no Hector is nigh,
To lead you to freedom, or teach you to die!
————DUFFY'S Ballad Poetry of Ireland.
Notes
[1] Ferdorach: As a personal name Ferdorach ("ferdorcha:" Irish, the dark featured man) has been modernized Frederic, Frederick, and Ferdinando; as a sirname it was O'Ferdoraigh, anglicised Ferdinand. In the "O'Neill" (of Ulster) family Ferdorach, son of Conn Baccach, who is No. 121 on that pedigree, was the ancestor of another O'Ferdoraigh family, of Tirowen.
[2] Conn: Meaning Conn of the Hundred Battles, the 110th Monarch of Ireland.