The Ocean

Assimilation of the Gaelic people into the modern world was made difficult by the overwhelming economic and cultural domination of the peoples of the larger island, England.  Out on the west coast of Ireland, in the next parish over from Manhattan, the O'Flaherties evolved in a curiously isolated country.  They took to the ocean.

As early as the 1100's the clan was recognized for its ties to the sea, and an O'Flaherty and an O'Malley are listed  as admirals to the fleet of King Roderick O'Connor.  In 1969 the historian G.A. Hayes-McCoy wrote,

"…. The Irish were not interested in the sea, a curious deficiency in an island people. The maritime exploits of the dwellers on the west coast, particularly the O’Malleys and the O’Flahertys, are notable only because they are unusual; they show up the lack of interest of the rest. The English, on the other hand, were amphibious.”

At this juncture let me recognize Captain Kevin O'Flaherty of the USS George H.W. Bush who maintains the tradition of the O'Flaherty ties to the sea.  When you make your own personal O'Flaherty crest, Captain, don't bother putting an ancient Connactian Galley where a United States Navy Aircraft Carrier should be positioned.

One must remember that the O'Flaherties made there living from the sea, because the farm land in Iar-Connaught was so poor that the people had to "make land" in the crevices of the rocky shore to grow their crops.  Though derided as Pirates by the English, control of the sea off your own shore is not piracy, it's call Coast Guard.  The lessons of history involve the prejudices of the story teller.

So, here is my prejudice.  After the fall of Japan and the end of World War II, quartermaster William F. O'Flaherty, my father, briefly taught coastal navigation at the United States Naval Academy.  He wanted to make more money than the Navy offered him, and he was tired of the military mindset, so he pursued a career in business instead of continuing with the Navy.  Yet, he remained a "Navy man" all his life.

He never lost his love for the ocean.  How could he?  It was in his DNA.

The best description of life with the ocean as an O'Flaherty was written by Tom O'Flaherty in a book called "Aranmen All."

I never new any of this when I was sailing the limpid lagoons of Foster City, California in 1969.  Sailing was only fun, for me.  For others of the clan, in our history, sailing was life and death.

I would like to post a picture here of young seaman William O'Flaherty in 1943, but I seem to have used up too much bandwith the the pictures I've posted already.  At least I posted the church window.

This post is dedicated to Mrs. Kevin O'Flaherty.

Tradition

"All the O'Flaherties are from Galway."  Ultimately, this is true.  From the era of the Ua Briuin Seola in the sixth century (and before) our ancestors had occupied the areas around Loch Corrib (also known as Loch Orbsen), until the 13th century when the Saxons and Normans built the walled town of Galway on the banks of the river Galimh.

Then the convulsions of the seventeenth century shattered "the country of the O'Fflahertyes" who were thrust landless on the world.  Yet, the ultimate homeland remained Iar Connacht.  In the mid-nineteenth century several of the O'Flaherty family remained in the Galway area, their tradition proudly represented by Martin and Anthony O'Flaherty, and too, by the father of Liam and Tom O'Flaherty, the Aran Islander, Michael O'Flaherty.

Sadlier, we'll speak of Laertes later.

My task, as I have chosen to believe it, will be to find out the path, genealogically and sociologically, of my ancestors from Iar Connact to Dublin.  Where did the Rathfarnham sept originate?  What sept of the Iar Connactians spawned them?

The fabulous possibilities of Dublin intrigue me.  Undocumented, unauthorized, unknown, we guess about the past.  There was a point in James Hardiman's career when he must have said, "I didn't know that."  Now, I have Rathfarnham and Dublin.  I didn't know that.  Now I have the possibility of finding "Pat Flaherty's" father, who survived the United Irishman and French Invasion of the 1790's, the Act of Union, and Emmet's rebellion of 1803.

Here, too, is the Industrial Revolution and the link to the paper manufacturing that the family lore discloses.

Check Rathfarnham here: http://www.southdublinhistory.ie/Rathfarnham/rathfarnham_history.htm



The marriage information I have puts "Pat Flaherty" in Rathfarnham along with an Andrew Flagherty, who seems to be a brother.  Why were they in Rathfarnham?  Who started the community.  What was their relationship to the other O'Flaherty families that had migrated to the Dublin area and show up in the church records of all these parishes for hundreds of years, indeed they still live there.

This post is dedicated to Queen Maeve.

Still remembering

On this Memorial Day Americans remember their servicemen.  My records show that in 1792 an O'Flaherty was granted a pension for his service in the Revolutionary War.  In December, 1941, a young seaman named Francis Flaherty earned the following entry in the annals of American History

"For conspicuous devotion to duty and extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, by Japanese Forces on 7 December 1941. When it was seen that the U.S.S. Oklahoma was going to capsize and the order was given to abandon ship, Ensign Flaherty remained in a turret, holding a flashlight so the remainder of the turret crew could see to escape, thereby sacrificing his own life."Medal of Honor citation of Ensign Francis C. Flaherty, USNR

The escort ship USS Flaherty (DE-135), 1943-1966, was named in honor of Ensign Flaherty. (Navy website).

This post is dedicated to the mother of Francis C. Flaherty.

Remembering

My studies of the history of the O'Flaherty clan have taught me much about the life of our ancestors.  Kicked out of Galway in 1238, and almost out of Ireland, the O'Flaherties returned to Iar Connaught and turned some of the most desolate territories in Western Europe into an into a last bastion of Gaelic culture.

There are two mottoes that come down through history that pertain to the O'Flaherties:  fortuna favet fortibus, and fortuna faveat. 

Fortuna faveat has been translated to mean, fortune favored.  This indicates the natural assumption that due to the guidance of providence, the O'Flaherties have either been lucky, or been favored by God.

Fortuna favet fortibus, has sometimes been translated into "fortune favors the bold."  This is a mistranslation.  A closer understanding comes with the phrase, fortune favors the strong.  However, this Darwinian translation sometimes is interpreted to mean, power wins.  This would indicate a motto akin to the strategy of the United States military.  Acquire overwhelming force, and destroy the enemy.

I hope my personal translation of fortibus is somewhat more nuanced.  Because fortune doesn't always favor the strong. 

"Fortune favors fortitude" is my modern adaptation for the ancient phrase.  Strength becomes many ideas including endurance, integrity, courage and faith.  Power becomes something larger than physical force, something deeper and lasting.

To all this we must add the question, what is fortune?

Well, that's a much larger question than this little post should allow.  I can only tell you this, I've been trying to post a picture of a window from St. Mark's Church in Brooklyn.  The stain-glass window was donated by the O'Flaherties of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century.  It reads, "Peace on Earth, Good will toward men; Pray for Julia and Patrick O'Flaherty."

For some reason, my Blog's server keeps rejecting additional photos.  Indicating maybe I've been to generous with the size of my photos.  I shall endure, I shall figure this out.  I will post the window, or email it upon request.

Fortibus.

This post dedicated to Mrs. Andrew O'Flaherty.

Protector of professors

1419 AD Murchad son of Brian O Flaithbertaig, king of West Connacht, died this year. (Annals of Connaught)

Muircertach, son of Brian Ua Flaithbertaigh died this year: to wit, a general protector to the learned retinues and companies of Ireland, namely, king of West Connacht, and he died with victory from the world.  Annals of Ulster 

Muirchertach, son of Brian O'Flaithbhertaigh, king of the West of Connacht, died this year; i.e. the general protector of the professors and learned of Erinn.  Annals of Loch Ce.

Murrough, the son of Brian O'Flaherty, Lord of West Connaught, died. Annals of the Four Masters

These quotes can be found through the CELT.

My apologies to any copyright holders.

This post is dedicated to Julia Fullam O'Flaherty.

Slayned and Destroyed

After living for centuries in the houseless wilds of Iar-Connaught, the curse of Cromwell struck in 1651 when the O'Flaherties were expelled from Moycullen, Connemara and Ross after the fall of the Catholic Confederation.  James Hardiman prints the story in the Choreographical Description of West or H-Iar Connaught.  The order by the English governing council says, "Whereas the places hereafter mentioned, within the province of Connaught, are known harbors and receptacles for the enemy, and other bloudy and mischeivous persons, who from thence take advantage and appointments to committ murders, rapines, thefts, and all kind of spoyle upon the English and others in the said province under the protection of the Parliament of England, and their army and forces; For the prevention of such mischiefs it is hereby ordered....In the County of Galway, the baronies of Mucullin and Ballynehinchy, the half barony of Ross, the half barony of Buryshule be likewise excluded from protection...."
   Those that were not removed by March 10..."shall be excluded from protection, and shall be taken slayned and destroyed , and their cattle and other goods shall be taken and made prey of, as goods of enemies."
   Indeed, Colonel Eamon O'Flaherty, leader of the Irish forces that took the city Galway at the start of the war, is hung for his military actions.  Eamon is the grandson of Grace O'Malley.  His cousin the Viscount Mayo, leader of the lower Burkes, is hung for the massacre at Shrule, a crime often associated with the O'Flaherties.
   The fall of the Catholic Confederation signalled the last stand of the O'Flaherties for the Brehon system of Irish law.  Unlike any other conquest of Ireland by English forces, none crushed the Gaelic Irish like this one.  A few O'Flaherties managed a tenuous grip on portions of their homeland.  Roderic O'Flaherty inherited a portion of Moycullen, on account of his youth, 12 years old in 1641 when the Irish rose.  A man known to history as Edmund O'Flaherty of Ballyhaunis and others also remain near Galway.  There are stragglers on the Aran Islands who begin a long and poetic life on Inis Mor.
   The rest are dispersed, as James Hardiman writes, "In the seventeenth century, the entire territory of Iar-Connaught was confiscated, and such of the O'Flaherties as survived war and famine, were thrown 'landless' on the world."
   There are many who might say that throwing the O'Flaherties landless on the world, might have caused more problems than just leaving them where they were.  The O'Flaherties had suffered defeats before and had been driven from their lands, from Ui briain seola in 835, from Galway in 1235, and crushingly in 1651, once again.  The 1840's and the great Irish diaspora pushed us to the far corners of the globe.
   So far I've noted early colonies of O'Flaherties in Dublin, Galway, Tralee and there will be others.
   Many died.  Those that survive produced a remarkable historical legacy, in the Galway territory, on the island of Ireland, inside the United Kingdom, across the oceans and around the world.

This picture of the Ryan clan was taken in upper New York State circa 1929.  Note William Francis O'Flaherty, the little blonde boy at the bottom left of the picture, and his brother Andrew Joseph O'Flaherty at the other side of the picture.  Seated behind Andy is Carrie Ryan O'Flaherty.  Seated behind Whitey (William) is his grandmother, Anne Schroeder O'Flaherty.  She married two O'Flaherty men - Andrew (1865-97) then his brother Thomas in 1908.
  Not seen in this picture, the probable photographer, Andrew Joseph O'Flaherty (1896-1945), father of William, Andrew, and little Marion; son of Annie Schroeder and husband to Carrie.

This post is dedicated to Carrie Ryan O'Flaherty.

Rathfarnham

   Thanks to irishgenealogy.ie, and their incredible access to church records, my search for my connection to the genealogy of the medieval O'Flaherties is now a step closer.  On the website I found the following information:
   There is a record in the Roman Catholic Church of Rathfarnham, in south Dublin, of the marriage between "Pat Flaherty" and "Rose Dunn," a bachelor and a single woman, witnessed by James Waters and "Margt" Pluck on 14 July 1828..
   Pat and Rose Flaherty's names come up repeatedly in Rathfarnham.  They serve as marriage witnesses, and parents in the parish records.  There names are repeatedly linked with Andrew and Elizabeth Dunn Flaherty, who are also married in Rathfarnham, who also have similarly named children baptized in the same church.
   I am confident enough in what I have reviewed to separate the "Rathfarnham O'Flaherties" in Dublin from other branches of the clan in different places in Ireland at that time.  The O'Flaherties of Tralee, in Kerry, for example, seem firmly established.  So we can distinguish the Rathfarnham branch, who seem somewhat established in the Rathfarnham area in by the 1770's, several other Flaherties show up on the church records in the late 1700s.
   Finding Patrick's father is the next elusive step.

This post is dedicated to Rose Dunn.  There is a record of Rose Dunn, daughter of Wm. Dunn and Ann Cammel born 24 July 1804 in Cork, South Parish.

The brooch in the picture is now owned by Jean Becker.  Jean's mother Florence Brown - daughter of Julia, daughter of Patrick and Julia O'Flaherty - was the great-granddaughter of Rose Dunn and Pat Flaherty of Rathfarnham in Dublin.  Picture courtesy of Jean Oldenbuttel Becker.