About us
Historical Background
In ancient times in the part of Ireland we call Limerick there were several tuatha or petty kingdoms. The largest was called the Uí Fidhgeinte (also Fidgenti) or people of the wood. In St. Patrick's writings the territory was also called Hy Fidgente.
The tuath was split into Uí Cairbre Eaodhe (also Aodhbha) and Ui Conaill Gabhrar around 900 AD. The ruling families acquired the surnames Ó Donnabháin (Donovan) and Ó Coileáin (Collins). Their ancient homeland was at Bruree (Bru Ri) or Palace of the Kings. A settlement on the River Maigue, Bruree was once a seat and alternative capital of the ancient Kings of Munster. Later it came into the possession of the Uí Fidgenti, who made it their capital until the late 12th century. Before them the settlement may have belonged to the Dáirine or Érainn. Geoffrey Keating proposed that a fortress there was built by Cú Roí mac Dáire.
An early king and semi-mythological ancestor of the Eóghanachta and Uí Fidgenti was Olioll Olum. It was around the year 1200 C.E. that the Ó Donnabháin and their kinsmen the Ó Coileáin relocated south to West Cork to the area known as Carbery to join their Eóghanacht Kinsmen the McCarthys. Various ancient Irish texts consider the descendants of Oilill Olum to be Eóghanacht kin.
The first diagram shows the descendants of Olioll Olum, who was King of Munster early in the first millennium. The more reliable historical genealogies begin around this time and are lifted out of the realm of mythology.
Various accounts give conflicting opinions in descendancy. Some, for instance, don't place Dáire Derbba as a son of Olioll Flanbeg. Some sources merge Dáire Derbba with Maine Munchaoin as one individual. The Book of Munster calls them two separate individuals, with Maine Munchaoin the ruler of the Ui Fidgeinte. Some dispute whether Dáire Derbba is even a descendant of Olioll Olum and in this group at all.
Some give differing accounts as to which surnames arise from which groups, including Uí Fidhgeinte. For example, one account might place O'Connelly under Uí Fidhgeinte while another might place them in Eóghanacht Raithlind. Current DNA work on the Eóghanacht septs places O'Connelly under Eóghanacht Raithlind.
However, there is general consistency in placing Ó Donnabháin and Ó Coileáin within Uí Fidhgeinte. The O'Flannery surname arises from multiple septs, but there might be one sept in this group.
It is important to note that while individuals may have ruled over kingdoms such as the Uí Fidhgeinte, various people of different "ethnic backgrounds" (i.e., haplogroups) very likely resided in these tuath. Moreover, they may have acquired the same surnames of their rulers. These residents may have moved around between kingdoms, and may also have followed their rulers when they migrated out of Limerick into neighboring counties. So the project will encounter the haplogroups of the residents as well as the haplogroup of a ruling line (or lines).
Despite the differing opinions on which surnames were associated with the Eóghanacht and the Uí Fidhgeinte, we have to start somewhere.
Names of interest include O'Clerkin and O'Flannery - chiefs in the territory shared by the Ó Donnabháin. O'Billry, O'Kinealy, O'Meehan, and O'Sheehan were in the Connello baronies, the Ó Coileáin territory.
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DNA Preview
Nigel McCarthy, in his work in the McCarthy Surname Study and in R-CTS4466Plus, has identified the SNP Z16259 as a potential marker of importance to the Eóghanachta and the Uí Fidhgeinte. See: Sheet 6 of Irish Type II (IT2) at the McCarthy SNP website. View Sheets 1 and 2 of IT2 for explanations.
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Project Administrators
John Donovan, Administrator Oversees the project. Handles inquiries related to DNA. O'Donovan project administrator. Susan Barretta, Co-Administrator FTDNA website design and support. Collins project administrator.