Re: Dungan onomastic research 2
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In reply to:
Re: Mississippi Dungans-pre-1900
3/28/99
Anice,
This info from
(O) DONEGAN, Dungan
Ó Donnagán is the surname of at least four distinct septs of mediaeval Ireland. Nineteenth century birth statistics record an average of 50 registrations for Donegan and its variants, 18 of which were in Leinster, 13 in Munster, 15 in Ulster and 4 in Connacht. The best available sources of comparison in this respect for previous periods are the "census" of 1659 and the Fiants of 1540 to 1601. These show that in the seventeenth century the name was numerous in the barony of Rathconrath, Co. Westmeath and in the barony of Athlone. There were a good number in Co. Sligo also; whereas two or three generations earlier O'Donegans were found not only in west Leinster but also to an equal extent in Co. Cork and adjacent parts of Munster. The latter, no doubt, were of the once powerful sept of Muscraidhe Tri Maighe, alias O'Donegan's country, which lies in the baronies of Orrery and Duhallow in the north-western part of the county. In the thirteenth century their territory passed for the most part into the possession of the Norman Barrys. In south-west Cork the small sept of Ó Donnagáin became tributary to O'Sullivan Beare; while that of Ara, in north Tipperary, was dispersed by the O'Briens whose chief there became Mac I Brien Ara. The Annals of Loch Cé record the death in 1029 of Donnchadh Ó Donnagáin King of Fernmhagh (Farney, Co. Monaghan) and in 1113 of Ó Donnagáin "royal heir" thereof. Ulstermen of note of the name were John Dongan, Bishop of Down from 1394 to 1412 and Dr. Edmund Dunnegan, Bishop of Down & Connor, who died in prison in 1629. The Westmeath O'Donegans, who held the manor of Kildrought, Co. Kildare, from the Earls of Kildare, were also established in Leix and Offaly, where their territory was formerly known as Críoch Dungan (i.e. Dungan's or O'Donegan's country). Of this family was Thomas Donegan or Dongan Earl of Limerick, framer of the celebrated New York Dongan Charter of 1686; his elder brother the first Earl was attainted as a Jacobite in 1691: their father was Sir John Dongan, Bart., of Castletown, Co. Kildare. Another distinguished member of the Castletown family was Thomas Dongan (c. 1595-1663), a lawyer who, after being reduced to dire poverty by the aftermath of the Rising of 1641, became a Baron of the Exchequer at the Restoration. Dunegan Castle in Co. Westmeath is a few miles northeast of Athlone.
Mike Hillman