Further info on the family name
This is a quote from Something about the Dulaney (Dulany)Family and a Sketch of the Southern Cobb Family. written in the 1920's by Benjamin Lewis Dulaney, Washington DC. The book, as a reprint is available from Amazon Books.
The Ancestry of the O'Dulaney's
In the topographical map which accompanies the Four Masters - Map of Ancient Ireland - the home of the O'Dulaney's, Tuath-na-Toraidh (Toraidh is pronounced Thora, the people of the District of the towers, the early Irish being great tower builders) is placed very close to Rathbeagh, the residence of Heremon. King Heremon was buried at this place, and the tumulus which was raised above him still remains!
The Bard, O'Heerrian, who died in 1420, in his topographical poem enumerating the Munster Clans, refers to the Chief of the O'Dulaney's as follows which shows that even then, say 1400, the Normans had not ventured near Tuatha-Na-Toraidh.
"High Chief of the productive territory,
From the delightful Coil Oughterugh
Is O'Dubhlaine, the man of hospitality,
From the mountains of the most delightful bay"
Ancient Ossory comprised what is now the County of Kilkenny, Southern Tipperary, and the Barony of Upper Ossory in Queens County.
There is scarcely a doubt but that the progenitors of the sept which became the O'Dulaney's came to Ossory with Heremon, and to be able to trace descent to this source, the first of the Irish race, has ever been a matter of great pride in Ireland.
In the hunted reference at my disposal, the first of the recorded O'Dulaney's I can find is that of Felix O'Dulaney, Bishop of Upper Ossory, the cradle of that name, who was interred in Jerpoint Abbey in 1202. That Felix O'Dulaney was Bishop of Ossory in those days is sufficient evidence of the high station of the family,for, as a rule, the ancient hierarchy of Ireland was composed for the sons of the Kings and Chiefs, and to this was due the world-wide renown of the early Irish Church. They made it a church militant indeed!