The Dowling Family

John Rooney

A Genealogical History of Irish Families

1895

Dowling family crest

(Crest No. 268. Plate 31.)

THE Dowling family is descended from Milesius, King of Spain, through the line of his son Heremon. The founders of the family were Fiacha Baiceada, son of Cathire More, King of Ireland, A. D. 144, and Feidlim, son of Eana Kinsealach, King of Leinster, A. D. 350, also of the line of Cathire More. The ancient name was Dubhlein, signifying “Defiance.”

The possessions of the sept were located in the present County of Cavan. The Dowlings were also chiefs of Siol Elaigh and the Lagan; this territory of Siol Elaigh is now the barony of Shilelagh, in the south of the County of Wicklow. The O’Dowlings were also chiefs in Queens County, with the title of Lords of Laeighis, or Leise. Some of this family have Anglicized the name to Laing.

Bartholomew Dowling, the author of the popular and spirited ballad on “The Brigade at Fontenoy” and other poems, was a native of Limerick. He came to the United States in 1851 and went to California, where he made and lost a fortune two or three times in succession.

Right Rev. T. F. Dowling, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Hamilton, Ont., one of the most eloquent and learned of the Canadian hierarchy, and Mr. Victor J. Dowling, one of the prominent young lawyers of New York City, are descendants of this family.

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles