Genelach Dáil Cuinn Project™ Forum

Since getting my BigY results 4 years ago, something just didn't sit right with me at taking "McLain" for face-value and deep down I knew it had to be another name, but it had many possibilities due to my ancestors' location (Westmeath/Offaly border) where there were MacCeallachain/MacCaolain, MacLaighin, MacLeannain, as well as the scattered Mac Giolla Eains. The other branch of my SNP (Mac Gothraidh, TMRCA 987ad) has a papertrail that emerges 2 miles from my MDKA between Clara & Tullamore, Co. Offaly, which just didn't seem to fit the "Breifne" connection. Ultimately it seems that FT130287 (987ad) was probably settled somewhere in the vicinity of the Sli Mor ("the great way") which traversed east and west from Galway to Dublin. David mentions in some of his work with the Ui Maine that the Ui Briuin were being pushed towards Delbhna Nuadat (Athlone b. Co. Roscommon) which seems to fit this kin-group. In Delbhna Nuadat there is a concentration of Gorry/Gurry/Gurhy very close where my research ended up. Likely, these people all migrated easterly into the midlands at different times and our MDKA locations are pure coincidence. My ancestors began trickling into Dublin city c.1705 but consistently return to wherever they were from (after practicing in their craft of glazing and eventually inheriting land or obtaining a lease "back home".)

Since I had exhausted all possible records for the progress of my paternal line, I started to examine the entire surname cluster geographically which stretched from Ballinasloe through Tullamore. I compiled everything that existed in a spreadsheet and picked a timeframe where all of these parishes had existing records for the most part. It would seem that my McLains' origins lie in the agricultural hinterland of Athlone. I also analyzed this with the most numerous given name in my family (James), which seems to back up what my earlier findings were. I began to concentrate around Athlone barony, however McLeans were extremely scattered. As I had ruled out many other surname possibilities I began looking into galloglass in the barony. In Cam parish, Athlone barony is one of the most dense MacDonnell populations in the country. Macleans were vassals of Clann Domhnaill until the late 15th c., so in the period of galloglass entering Ireland, there were very likely Maclean contingents with Clann Domhnaill, who served Mac William Burke, O'Connor Ruadh, O'Kelly & FitzGerald in great numbers. It was looking like I was probably heading towards a Mac Giolla Eain conclusion.

As most of Athlone barony was surveyed in the 1749 Census of Elphin (where there is only one McLane but many McDonnell & McDowell), I began to plot the points on a map. This population cluster began to develop around Taghboy, Tisrara, and Cam parishes. Unbeknownst to me at this time, these were O'Kelly's lucht-tighe lands ("people of the house" aka service kindreds) which he gave to his galloglass, kerns, harpers, bards, physicians, lawyers, etc. All of these people were in the same social class. I began to look at the census in another light... occupation. Since my ancestors were glaziers (a type of smith), I started looking at smiths in Athlone barony and the lucht-tighe lands became apparent again. It was very interesting to see the crosscurrents of gaelic society resulting in galloglass families (MacDonnell), bardic families (Mac an Bhaird) and medical families (Mac MhaoilTuille) becoming craftsmen. It became clear how these people flowed down into Athlone and further eastwards working their trades and it certainly seemed possible that Mac Giolla Eains somewhere around O'Kelly's lucht-tighe lands became smiths and headed towards big towns and cities. However little to no records of Macleans around the lucht-tighe lands exist, event in the Fiants. Besides the small number directly across the River Suck in Ballygar in the 1830s, the Taghboy/Tisrara/Cam area was devoid of Macleans. It raised the possibility of O'Laighin (Baile Ui Laighean was in Cam parish) but that lead nowhere.
I started to look very closely at townlands where smiths existed in 1749 but earlier in the 1641 Books of Survey and Distribution and finally had a breakthrough but it wasn't what I initially thought.
Taghboy p., Co. Roscommon
Laghlyn mc: Lane ffearane, 1/8 of 1/2 cartron of Fearramore in Culletober
Laghlyn mc: Lane, 1 and 3/4 cartrons in Culletober
Laghlyn mc: Lane, 1/18 qtr cartron in Bellafearin
Laghlyn mc: Leagh, 1/2 qtr of Cloony
I took "Mc Leagh" to be the anomaly since the surname was recorded three times as McLane. These were all adjoining lands along the River Suck (Ballyforan, Coolatober & Cloonagh; "Fearramore" was an obsolete field name in Coolatober but was also on the 1670 DS). And Lochlainn's holding was about 150 acres in total. As Ballyforan is Beal Atha Feorainne ("Mouth of the ford at the grassy place"), Fearamore is very likely Feorainne Mor ('Big grassy place"). Laghlyn mcLane had "fferane" next to his name and his largest holding was in Coolatober. It's likely his residence was Feorainne Mor.
I thought I had found galloglass land but the Fiants tell a different story...

26 May 1597. Loughlen M'Enlay, chirurgeon, of Curraghboy (Cam p.) & Edmund M'Enlay, yeoman, of Ballyfeo[ ] (F6106)
(almost certainly Ballyforan; there was also a "Doughdaly O Fallon of Balleforin" in this fiant. And in 1641 in Coolatober an Edmund mc Dooghdaly Ffallon holds 1/8 cartron; there may be a blurry line of where Ballyforan ends and Coolatober begins).

I now believe the 1641 Distribution books caught this name in mid-mutation from Mac an Leagha to Mac Lean, which I'd never seen evidence of before.
Going back to the 1749 census, i wanted to see if I missed something. Sure enough in Coolatober was:

"Lau. Menlane, papist, tenant"

I take this to be a mis-transcription of M'Enlane ("Mac an Lane"). Unknown if it's Laurence or Laughlin, however in this time period, the given name Laurence pops up in my family (Laurence McCleane, glazier, of the Coombe bapt. children in St. Luke's C of I 1726-1739). My Laurence's given name could have been an english-equivalent of Lochlainn.

Going into the 1659 census in Taghboy...
Fearramore, William Lea, gent., 10 Irish inhabitants
This certianly confirms to me a residence at Fearramore, Coolatober and the surname Mac an Leagha. It appears I've found the townlands apportioned to one of O'Kelly's medical families.

In an odd coincidence, there is not only just one glazier in Athlone barony in 1749 by the name of Laughlin Tully, but Laughlin Tullys were glaziers in Athlone as early as 1703 and consistenly through 1846 Slater's directory. The Tullys were the other medical family of O'Kelly, whose lands were in Garbally outside Ballinasloe. Could Mac an Leagha be a branch of Mac MhaoilTuile?

Chris,

Just Wow! Amazing research.

It is no surprise the O’Fallons were in the Cam and Dysart area:

The later medieval O’Kelly lordship of Uí Maine was subject to much change and reorganisation, particularly in the twelfth and into the thirteenth century. A decades-long power struggle erupted in the twelfth century between the O’Conor kings of Connacht and the O’Kellys owing to a concerted effort on the part of the O’Conors to curb the power of their southern neighbours, with significant conflicts in both 1135 and 1180. The O’Conors adopted a policy of positioning branches of their own wider kin group as a means of securing power in eastern Connacht. A dynastic family of the Síl Muiredaig, the Clann Uadach, and their chiefs, the O’Fallons, were transplanted from their homeland in Tír Briúin na Sinna (between Elphin and Jamestown, Co. Roscommon) into the O’Kelly ancestral trícha cét of Tír Maine at some point in the early twelfth century, a tactic designed to limit O’Kelly power in the area.

This manoeuvre was successful, resulting in the relocation of the senior O’Kelly line from Tír Maine into Uí Maine. By the mid-thirteenth century, however, the O’Kellys, who had established their cenn áiteanna at Aughrim and Kilconnell, Co. Galway, were deprived of their authority in the latter region, which was wrested from their control through Anglo-Norman grants from around 1253. From this point through to the middle of the fourteenth century a much-changed Tír Maine was returned to by the senior O’Kelly line, precariously positioned between the O’Conor dynasts to their north in their ancestral homelands of Machaire Connacht and within Tír Maine itself, as well as Anglo-Norman interests both to their west and through the trícha cét. William Buide O’Kelly entered this political environment in 1340.

William Buide O’Kelly and the late medieval renaissance of the Uí Maine lordship by Daniel Curley (FYI, we have been in contact with him.)

UNBELIEVABLE work Chris! I do admire your depth of detail and ability to sort it all out. Thank you!

Thanks guys! David that definitely makes sense to me, as Mac an Leagha were noted as physicians to O'Flaherty (does this connect the dots to Maigh Seola?), MacDonough of Moylurg, and I found a reference to the O'Connor but didn't write it down so I dont have the source. It makes sense if they were part of this encroachment into Tir Maine, as MacGothraidh seems to have a homeland somewhere around Kiltoom p.. Gorry has a Gurry match who just upgraded I believe it will show them very close. I also was able to allocate a credit to the Armstrong kit and upgrade him to BigY, however they have no MDKA in Ireland, I'm guessing possibly the very numerous family in West Offaly, where Lusmagh parish was once under the sway of the Ui Maine. Fraher could either be an NPE as this surname (O'Fearchair) reached the Athlone area by the 18th c. (the "Fraher" variant specifically was in Ballinasloe), or it could be an Ui Briuin offshoot into the Conmaicne Cuile Toladh (Kilmaine b., Co Mayo) which the Ui Briuin conquered in the 6th or 7th c. at the Battle of Shrule. The Conmaicne people became vassals of Ui Briuin until Sil Muredach became extremely powerful c12th c and pushed the Ui Briuin back into Maigh Seola.

I recently read Daniel Curley's work on Reconstructing the Lough Croan cenn ait https://storyarchaeology.com/reconstruc ... -ui-maine/ its pretty fascinating.

Chris,

Actually it raises an interesting question.

O’Canavan, medical ollamh of O’Flaherty, in Tuath na d-Toibrineadh, but others say that O’Laighidh [O’Lee].

O’Lee, For an eccentric physician of this name, see p. 78, supra. In Duald Mac Firbis’s copy of this tract the reading is, Hua Ceandubhain & hua Laighidh leagha Muintere Murchada & Ua Ailella, & do Tuaith na dtoibrineadh iad; adeir leabhar ele Ui Flaithbheartaigh, i.e., “O’Canavan and O’Lee are the physicians of Muinter Murchada and of Hy-Ailella, and they are of the tribe of Tuath-na-d-Toibrineadh. Another book says of O’Flaherty” — [i.e., another book calls O’Canavan and O’Lee the physicians of O’Flaherty, instead of calling them physicians of Muinter-Murchada, &c.]
https://genelach.org/transcript-muinter ... ract.xhtml

Were O’Laighidh and Mac An Leagha aliases of each other?

And I just saw:

Mac An Leagha—VII—M'Enlawe, M'Enlay, M'Enley, M'Enlea, M'Kinlea, M'Elea, M'Ellay, M'Lea, MacKinlay, MacKinley, MacAlea, MacAlee, MacClay, MacLee, Lee, Leigh, and sometimes incorrectly MacLean, MacClean; 'son of the physician' (Irish 'liaigh').

So great work!

BTW, if you are curious, the surname was probably originally Mac Inda Lego (son of the physician) or Mac Inda Lega (son of the physicians). So you are a descendant of Legos. https://dil.ie/30125

Wow! now this begins to paint a real legitimate picture. Mac an Leagha also explains why I was finding all the odd variants of "mac-LEE-ahn" (McClene, McLeon, McLeean, McLeen) that I thought were from Cilleain/Cillin a few years ago. Quite a few Lees who are tenants of Flahertys in Griffiths.

Mac an Leagha? MacGothraidh? (We have a Curry match who told me he's uninterested in participating in anything the 1901 census shows the most dense Curry cluster in Donaghpatrick; in Mayo, "Godfrey" was the dominant variant.) O'Fearchair Armstrong (Mac Threinfir? O'Labhradha Trein?)

Chris,

I think, if memory serves, that Tuath-na-d-Toibrineadh is one of those place names that became obsolete.

The O’Canavans were the chiefs of Tobrined, a name now obsolete that represents the even older name of Tuath na dToibrineadh. The O’Canavans were also physicians of Muintir Murchada as well as of Ui Ailella.
https://notesfromtheninthcircle.blogspo ... ms-of.html

Thanks David, a paper about Archaeological Watermarks in Connacht does some investigating here...

One further territory named within
the Hy-Briuin Ratha in MS 1319 could not be equated to any modern townland. This is the Tuath
na d-Toibrineadh, the lands of O’Canavan, medical ollamh of O’Flaherty. This territory is
named directly after Kilcahill, the most northern of the townlands named and identified by
Naessens in the Hy-Briuin Ratha. This placename translates to country/territory of the
dimples/wells and most likely refers to the lands south of Kilcahill in the vicinity of
Turloughmore, perhaps making reference to the many estevelles and swallow holes in the area
(Fig 8.?). If correct, these lands broadly equate to lands south of the proposed caput at Corofin
There is a Ballylee (Baile Uí Laoigh) in Annaghdown p. that corresponds with the farming cluster of the surname.
In "Clans and Families of Ireland" by Thomas Cairney, he writes:
Another branch of the Ui Briuin Seola, of which the O'Lees (O Laoidigh) were chiefs, also settled in western Connacht. The O'Lees were erenaghs, or hereditary abbots, of Annaghdown, and produced a number of distinguished ecclesiastics. They are better known as a medical family, and were for many centuries hereditary physicians to the O‘Flahertys, and sometimes to the Royal O'Conners as well. As early as the fifteenth century the family had produced a complete course in medicine, written in Latin and Gaelic. They were widely disbursed towards the end of the sixteenth century, and in north Connacht used the form MacLee.

The author's point of view seems to confirm that the mac-prefix Lees had a relation to the O-prefix Lees.
There's another reference that refers to the Ui Laoigh "relocating" to the west coast of L Corrib (Annaghdown) during the 13th c. expulsions, so perhaps Tuath na d-Toibrineadh was their original settlement.

The surviving manuscripts mentioned by Cairney are at the Royal Irish Academy and written by Connla Mac an Leagha, ollamh to the Mac Donnchadha of Moylurg. Other fiants of Mac an Leagha certainly put them in North North Connacht-Breifne Ui Ruairc-Annaly area as well as Tir Maine. This surname certainly had a presence in Breifne O'Raghallaigh, but supposedly the Annaly Mac an Leagha were a branch of the Mac Duinnsleibhe.

MacLysaght writes that the O'Canavan were physicians to the O'Flahertys in Connemara (this would be post-norman invasion I believe). So perhaps there is some blurry lines between two medical families at different points in time.

I've been digging up quite a lot about these people the past few weeks and was really surprised how much is out there. I've found a few avenues of connection that would infer there was probably an earlier Sil Muireadach association. Aside from the given names of Iollan, Maeleachlainn, and Nicholas repeating, some locational info regarding the fiants as well as a genealogy in one of their manuscripts would indicate that the Mac an Leagha in Tir Maine had come from the Ballymote/Maigh Luirg area.

The first individual of this family was Iollan (or "Uilliem") Mac an Leagha, a scribe, illuminator, and author-translator, whose texts survive at the Kings Inns. The Dictionary of Irish biography has great information about him https://www.dib.ie/biography/mac-lega-u ... lann-a4990 and name his sons Connla, Maeleachlainn, and Eoghain. Connla was ollamh to the Mac Diarmada and Maeleachlainn was ollamh to the Mac Donnchadha of Ballymote.

The Annals of Loch Ce record the death of Iollan's grandson in 1531
"Illan Buidhe mac Maelechlainn mac Iollan Mac an Leagha Ruadh, an eminent man in his own art, died this year"

Interesting note on the added "Ruadh", i.e. "Iollan, son of the red-haired physician", as this seems to be the only reference to that, could Iollan be the first to bear the occupational surname? An author/historian who is an expert on the Beaton (MacBheath) medical family of the western isles contends that "Sliocht an Leagha Ruadh" were MacBheath based on their own genealogies to an "Aibne an Leagha Ruaidh", and there was an Iollan Macbheatha in O'Connor Faly's medical school in 1596. However I think this is a real stretch, there were probably many red-haired physicians in the span of a few centuries, and these families all seem to have contact with eachother and possibly intermarried which may explain some shared given-names.

It turns out the "Laghlyn mc:Leagh"/"Laghlyn mc:Lane" I found in the 1641 Books of Survey and Distribution was actually a Maeleachlainn.
A list of records of interest in detail

6 JUL 1585 F4730 Dermot Og M'Ella & Ullen boy M'Ella, surgeons, of the Carrig, Co. Roscommon

3 NOV 1590 F5478 Nicholas M'Elea of Cowleofynne (looks to be Maigh Luirg)

10 NOV 1590 F5486 Dermot M'Ela of Carrickbeg, surgeon (Co. Roscommon?)

26 MAY 1597 F6106 Laughlin M'Enlay, chirurgeon of Curraghboy & Edm. M'Enlay, yeoman of Ballyforan(?)

6 MAR 1617 James I Patents: "Grant to Melaghlin McELEA of Fearamore, gent." (lands in Ballyforan, Fearamore & Coolatober, Ballina & Cloonagh)

8 MAY 1629 Chancery Books: Melaghlin McEnlea vs Kedagh, Edmund, & Tibot O'Kelly

2 OCT 1629 Chancery Book: "Melaghlen McElea vs Edmund O'Fallon (Edmund mc Redmond O'Fallon of Coolatober?)

1641 Survey Books Laghlyn mcLeagh/Laghlyn mcLane; holdings in Ballyforan, Cloonagh, Coolatober/Fearamore

19 APR 1643 Deposition: "The septes of natives that did rob & despoil this estate are the Kellys, ffallons, Naughtens, Keoughs, mc Eleas, and diuerse others." -Michael Pennock of Turrock (Taghboy p., Roscommon)
1641 Disposition

1656 Transplanted Irish William McEllea, gent. of Fearamore, 107 acres; Una Fallon alias Lea, co-heir of Culletober, 31 acres; Evelyn ny Lea alias Fallon of Beallafearann, 113 acres

1661 Petition to Pope from Elphin dio. signed James McLea, vicar of Taghboy, Nicholas McLea, vicar of Cam, Donagh McLagha, vicar of Killinvoy

1668 Papal visitation notes "Vicar Nicholas McLea is a doctor and a casuist"

1704 Priest Registry Fr. Nicholas Lea of Cloonagh (Taghboy p.) age 50, ordained in 1676

1704 Priest Registry Laughlin Lea of Kilnagralta (Tisrara p.) submits 50L. for sureties of recognizance for Fr Daniel Concannon of Grange (Cam p.)

The vicar James McLea piques my interest because my James McClean emerges with an ecclesiastical occupation (glazing) in the early 18th c., and I had been figuring there was some connection to the church either in the restoration period or earlier. Vicar James McLea was probably a son or nephew of the Maeleachlainn who had a McLane anglicization. Also too far to draw any connection, but in 1894 the parish priest for Cam was a Fr Michael McLean who resided at Carrick (possibly the place of Dermot Og M'Ella's pardon in 1585?). And something I think is beyond coincidence now that i know what names to look for... at the same junction of streets in St. Nicholas w/o in Dublin city (The Coombe, the Poddle, New Row) where my McCleans begin to pop up in 1725 is a Clay/Lay family with the same given names as mine (James, Henry, William) going back to 1698-1720. There is also a 1718 marriage of James M'Clay to Jane Crawford at nearby St. Catherines, and 1730s baptisms of children to "James & Jane McClean" however some time had passed and the family going back & forth/popping up here every other decade is troublesome. But I think I've probably got the smoking gun here.

I was able to get a copy of the 1935 "An Irish Medical Family" by Rev. Paul Walsh and it brought some fiants back into perspective. I was leaning on there being some connection to the "Iollan Mac an Leagha Ruaidh" due to an Iollan Buidhe being pardoned with Diarmad Og. I first thought this location to be in Maigh Luirg because there was a number of Mac Diarmaid Ruaidh, but there was also a significant number of O Ceallaigh. It turns out that there was no Carrickbeg in Maigh Luirg or the Ballymote area, but there were two in Tir Maine. In fact adjoining to the townland of Curraghboy (an O Ceallaigh fortified residence) where "Loughlen M'Enlay" was pardoned is a Carrick & Carrickbeg. However, "of the carrig" could be a reference to Carrickmacdermott on Loch Ce (Brian na Carriag MacDermot, 1585–1595, first to be styled "MacDermot of the Carrick")
In a surviving medical book started by Connla Mac an Leagha (of Moylurg) and handed down, there is an entry by his great-grandson when he had the book

"A Prayer for the person that owns this book, namely Diarmaid mac Connla mac Mathias mac Connla Mac an Leagha, and a prayer for my dear friend and beloved brother. And a blessing also on the soul of Connla who wrote this book."

The author believes that this Diarmaid was the Diarmaid Og pardoned in 1585 and this entry may have been written by his brother Iollan Buidhe.

The Royal Irish Academy holds two manuscripts written by Connla mac Iollan Mac an Leagha in 1496 where he states his residence is Cairgin na Saor. Rev. Paul Walsh believes this location was in Grainseach na gCaorach in Muintir Fichellaigh, somewhere in the limits of Maigh Luirg. So there are several possiblities of where the "Carrick" of Diarmaid Og is, and this family seemed to be extremely mobile. So whether or not there is a direct Maigh Luirg>Tir Maine or Tir Ollíol>Tir Maine connection relies mainly of the prominent given name of Maeleachlainn.

I think I've finally got the right people, but it wouldn't shock me if I'm still an NPE of some sort. Adjoining Curraghboy to the south is Eskerbaun- with a long-time Gurhy/Gurry farming population.

I just realized that the Mac Donnchadha territory was previously Ui Ailello, where the "O'Lees" were noted to be physicians. Wow maybe this is a piece to the puzzle.