O’Dowd (No. 2.) family genealogy

Chiefs of Hy-Fiachra in Connaught

Arms: Or. a saltier sa. in chief, two swords in saltier, in base an oak leaf vert. Crest: Over a coronet a hand in armour holding a dart ppr. Supporters: Two lions ramp. Motto: Virtus ipsa suis firmissima nititur armis.

Commencing with Roger (Ruadhri, or Rory) O’Dowd, who (see p. 651, Vol. I.) is No. 114 on the “O’Dowd” (Princes of Hy-Fiachra, in Connaught) pedigree, the following is the pedigree of this branch of that ancient family:

114. Roger O’Dowd: son of Donall[1] O’Dubhda; succeeded his father A.D. 1380, and died, 1417. The Four Masters, under the latter year, record his death, as follows:

This Roger O’Dowd married the daughter of MacCostello, and had: 1. Maolruanaidh; 2. Connor; 3. Maghnus Cleireach; 4. Muircheartach; 5. Eoghan Caoch; 6. William, who died in 1438.

115. Maolruanaidh (Mulrony): eldest son[2] of Roger; d. 1447. He married the daughter of MacWattin Barrett, and had: 1. Diarmaid; 2. Donall Ballach, who was chief of the name for one year, and who was father of William, chief of his name, who died in 1496. 3. Maoileachlainn. 4. Muircheartach Caoch.

116. Diarmaid: eldest son of Maolruanaidh; had two sons: 1. Connor; 2. Brian.

117. Connor: elder son of Diarmaid; was for thirty years chief of his name; died in the Abbey of Moyne circa 1538. He mar. Margaret, daughter of Thomas Ruadh Bourke, and had: 1. Eoghan; 2. Fearadhach; 3. Ruadhri; 4. Cormac, who was a friar; 5. Cathal Dubh, who became chief of his name, and consented to pay tribute to MacWilliam Bourke Iachtar (or Lower); 6. Dathi; 7. John Glas; and 8. Brian.

118. Eoghan (or Owen): eldest son of Connor; was chief of his name for seven years. He married Sabia, daughter of Walter (son of Richard) Bourke, who was taken prisoner by O’Donnell, in 1536. He and his wife were interred in the same tomb in the Abbey of Moyne. He had four sons: 1. Tadhg Riabhach; 2. Edmond; 3. Ceallach; 4. Connor.

119. Tadhg Riabhach (or Teige Reagh): eldest son of Owen; died in 1580. He had seven sons: 1. Dathi; 2. Teige Buidhe, who was by O’Donnell in 1595 made The O’Dowd; 3. Fearadhach; 4. Donall; 5. Maolruanaidh; 6. Owen; 7. John Oge.

120. Dathi (or David), of Castleconnor and Kilglass: eldest son of Teige Reagh. Of him the Four Masters write, under A.D. 1544:

He mar. Miss Ellenor Lyons (who, after his death, was thrice married: first, to Sir Lionell Ghest, Knt.; second, to William May, Esq.; third, to Gerald, son of Maurice Fitzgerald, who was living in 1633), and by her had: 1. David; 2. William.

121. David O’Dowda, of Castleconnor: elder son of David (or Dathi); m. Joan Bourke, and had:

122. James O’Dowda, or Dowde, of Castleconnor, who in 1632, married Evelyn, dau. of Walter Bourke, of Turlough, Esq., and had:

123. Dathi Oge O’Dowda (living in 1666), who m. in 1656 Dorothy, dau. of Teige Reagh O’Dowda (son of Donall, son of Teige Reagh (No. 119 on this pedigree), by whom he got a considerable fortune, though he had lost[3] all his estate during the Civil War of 1641-52. This Dathi (or David) Oge had by his wife Dorothy: 1. David, who was more than seven feet in height, was an officer in the service of King James II., and was slain at the battle of the Boyne; 2. James,[4] who was also an officer in the army of King James II., and fought at the Boyne, which he survived, and distinguished himself at the siege of Athlone and battle of Aughrim, in which latter engagement he was slain; when his body was discovered his sword was found in his hand, which was so swollen from exertion, that the guard of his sword had to be filed off before the hand could be disengaged from it; 3. Tadhg (Thady or Teige), who was an officer in the service of the King of France (and subsequently admitted to the honour of nobility in Venice), and who died of a fever, in France, without issue; 4. Dominic.

124. Dominic O’Dowda (Will dated 1731): fourth son of Dathi (or David) Oge; m. in 1703, Ellice, dau. of Theobald Dillon, Esq., and left by her: 1. David,[5] of Bunnyconnellan, county Mayo, who m. Letitia, dau. of James Browne of Kilticolla (more lately called “Browne Hall”), in the county of Mayo, and died without issue; 2. James, who was an officer in the French service, d.s.p.; 3. Thady, a Colonel in the army of the Emperor Joseph, of Austria.

125. Thady (or Thadeus) O’Dowda, commonly called Tadhg Riabhach: third son of Dominic. Of him Sir Richard Musgrave, in his History of Irish Rebellions, states:

Thady O’Dowda had by that German lady: 1. James; and 2. another son who died young in Germany.

126. Captain James, of Bunnyconnellan, commonly called “Baron O’Dowda:” elder son of Thady. Sir Richard Musgrave says that this James O’Dowda was born and educated in the Hungarian service, and that he had arrived at the rank only of Lieutenant; “in which station,” he adds, “he served, when the death of his uncle, David O’Doude (who possessed the family estate, and died without issue), was announced to him. In consequence of this event, he left the army, came to Ireland (shortly before 1788), and took possession of the paternal property, which proved to be worth about £500 a year, and which he applied himself to the cultivation of with great attention.”

This Captain James O’Dowda is said to have been the godchild of the Emperor Joseph; he was implicated in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and executed at Killala, in September, 1798. In 1788 or 1789 he married Temperance, dau. of Robert Fitzgerald, Esq., of Mount Tallant, near Dublin, and had: 1. Thadeus, of whom presently; 2. James Fiachra O’Dowda, of Dublin, solicitor, who mar., first, Anne, dau. of William Walker, Recorder of Dublin, and secondly, Mary, dau. of Joseph Bourke, of Carrowkeel, county of Mayo, Esq., but by either wife had no issue; he died in 1843, leaving his property to the family of his eldest brother, Thadeus; 3. Robert O’Dowda (living in 1844), an advocate in the Supreme Court of Calcutta, m. in 1828, Catherine Wilhelmina Fulaher, of the city of London, and by her had four sons and two daughters:

1. Robert-Charles.
2. James-William.
3. William-Hickey.
4. Henry-Cubitt,
1. Kate-Ellen.
2. Louisa-Kenny.

Captain James O’Dowda (No. 126 on this pedigree) had also two daughters:[6] 1. Antonia-Letitia; 2. Temperance, both spinsters, and living in 1844.

127. Thadeus: eldest son of Capt. James O’Dowda; married in 1812, Ellen, dau. of Charles White, of Dublin, merchant, and had five sons and four daus., all living in 1844:

1. Doctor James Vippler O’Dowda, a practising surgeon in Dublin.
2. Thadeus, who, in height was six feet seven inches.
3. John Taaffe O’Dowda, a Dublin solicitor, of whom presently.
4. David.
5. Robert-Francis.

The four daughters were:

1. Ellen, m. Mr. Kelly.
2. Caroline-Victoria.
3. Catherine-Wilhelmina.
4. Elizabeth.

128. John Taaffe O’Dowda,[7] solicitor, of 9 and 10 D’Olier-street, Dublin: third son of Thadeus; living in 1888.

Notes

[1] Donall: This Donall (who was called Domhnall Cleireach O’Dubhda) married the daughter of O’Malley, chief of Umhall (Burrishoole, county Mayo) and had by her ten sons:

1. Ruadhri, his successor.
2. Maghnus, who, in 1461, according to Ware, slew Connor O’Connell, Bishop of Killala.
3. Maoileachlainn.
4. Tadhg Riabhach (or Teige Reagh—not “Ruadh”) who succeeded as Chief of Tireragh, in 1417, and died in 1432. it was in the time of this Teige Reagh that the Abbey of Ardnaree, near Ballina, was founded for monks of the order of St. Augustin, A.D. 1427 (see De Burgo’s Hibernia Dominicana, and Archdall’s Monasticon); the ruins of which are still in tolerable preservation. And it was in his time also that the Book of Lecan was compiled by Giolla Iosa Mór MacFirbis; though it would appear from a memorandum at the bottom of folio 40 of that Book, that the work had been commenced in the time of Teige’s brother Ruadhri. This Teige Reagh was the ancestor of several chiefs of Tireragh, and of the family of the Dowds of Dublin.
5. John; VI. Domhuall Oge; VII. Donchadh (or Donogh); VIII. Diarmid, who died in 1439; IX. Aodh (or Hugh); and X. Eoghan, who was living in 1420.

[2] Son: According to Duald MacFirbis, this Mulrony was in 1432 elected chief of his name.

[3] Lost: In August, 1656. the Commissioners appointed for the setting out of lands to the Irish, in Connaught and the county Clare, restored this Dathi (or David) Oge to a small estate in the parish of Kilgarvan, barony of Gallen, and co. of Mayo— the ancient patrimony of the Clann Donogh O’Dubhda.

[4] James: See the last sentence, at foot of p. 651, Vol. I.

[5] David: This is the David mentioned by the venerable Charles O’Connor, in his Dissertations on the History of Ireland, in 1753, as the head of the O’Dowds. On the 6th of August, 1776, this David and his wife Letitia obtained a decree in Chancery against George Fitzgerald, of Turlough, county of Mayo, Esq. This Letitia survived her husband; her Will is dated 10th February, 1798.

[6] Daughters: In Exshaw’s Magazine, January, 1790, is the following entry under Births: “At Mount Tallant, near Dublin, the Lady of Baron O’Dowda, of a daughter.”

[7] O’Dowda: As mentioned in p. 650, Vol. I., O’Dowda is one of the anglicised forms of the Irish family name O’Duhhda. Other anglicised forms of the name are: O’Dowde, O’Dowdie, Doody, Duddie, Duddy; but the Duddies and Duddys of the county Derry are of a different race from the O’Duhhda family, Princes and Chiefs of Hy-Fiachrach, in Connaught.