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August 03, 2004

Meneely Newsletter #1

 

 

 

Dear Friends and Family,

 

Sorry for the lengthy delay in getting this out to all of you.  I had intended to do this some time ago but alas circumstances and the living of life itself sometimes gets so very involved that it is hard to find the time. I actually almost got this out a few days ago after working on it off and on for about three hours and then got a little message that "outlook express" was having to shut down and of course the entire contents were lost. Part of the delay, I must admit is it has taken considerably much more thought than anticipated to compose such a newsletter.

 

What should be included?  What should not?  Where do we begin?  Are we all

related? Where does the name Meneely originate? Are we Irish or Scots-Irish

(Ulster Scots) ?

 

Now I do not intend to offend anyone, so let me start all of this off first by stating that the only things I know for certain are:

 

1. My own direct lineage back to 1787 or 88.

 

2. We all share Ireland (most if not all, Northern Ireland) in our common

    heritage.

 

3. The name has been misspelled consistently for at least 400 years.

 

While doing genealogical research for the last couple of years I have made

contacts with many members of this largely scattered family and rather than

discuss our differences perhaps we should focus on what we all share in

common. There are people receiving this newsletter in the USA, Canada,

Scotland and England. There are family members also in Australia and of course in Northern Ireland. Almost everyone of us with the Meneely surname are the only ones in our respective phone books, with the exception being some of the directories in Northern Ireland. There are still quite a few family members living in Northern Ireland but according to a recent voter registration list for the UK (if most are registered) there appear to be more of us in the United States than remain in the "old country". According to the data available so far there appears to be just a little over 600 Meneely households world wide. That is not a lot of us when you take into account that the use of surnames became common in about the 10th century.

 

Although many of us are not closely related it seems hard to fathom why anyone would choose this particular moniker we share. If there were not some connection why not choose a name that all could pronounce and most could spell? While doing my own research, the name has been found on censuses alone spelled the following ways; Meneely, Meneeley, Meanely, Manelee, Maneely, Menuly and of course the obligatory McNeely, McNeeley and McNealy. It has been a little frustrating and time consuming to say the least. It also makes one have to think and be creative while doing such research. You have to think of all the different ways your name has been (misspelled on junk mail in your mail box and then start sifting through the information while using a great deal of caution.

 

Most of our ancestors were either Presbyterian or Church of Ireland. Some of us still are. I have found no record of anyone spelling their name the way we do to be Catholic. Some of us can trace our name back to McNeely, some to McNeilly. There are some members in my own particular branch of the family that say we used to spell the name McNeely, however far and away most say it was spelled the way we spell it now even back in Ireland, and there is no conclusive proof that it was ever spelled any other way. In a booklet written By Harmon E Meneely and Ora Lee Meneely Smith in 1940-41 "Family Record of John C Meneely" states..."They were claimants of a stalwart Scotch-Irish background, and the name, if it ever was McNeely, somehow quickly cleared to its present form"... so it appears that there has been some contention for some time as to this.

 

 According to the official "Chief Herald" for the Republic of Ireland the name Meneely is derived from the old Gaelic name Mac an Fhilidh (or Filidh). It is pronounced MACK on EELY and means "son of the file (or poet)". The Fhilidh were hereditary seer/poets and were second only to the local king or chief in their position of respect. They were exempt from arrest except for the charges of murder or treason. Some say that there were 7 levels of Fhilidh with the highest level being Ollahm and taking at least 12 years of schooling to achieve that level. Their annual "salary" was 24 head of cattle and enough provisions for their entourage which included up to 20 servants. The earliest records for the name "Mackneely" show family members in both Ulster in Ireland and the Galloway region of Scotland. There is a record of a Duncan "Maknely" being a witness in Wigtown, Scotland in 1423 there is also a reference in the "Annals of the Four Masters" to a Gillalochroist Mac an Fhilidh, learned poet who died in 1509. There is also a William Moneyley on the 1630 Donegal County Muster Roll. With these early references being both in Northern Ireland and across the Irish Channel in Scotland, some researchers feel that originally the family may have come from the ancient heroic kingdom of Dal Riada which was located on both sides of said channel.  Some time back there was a message posted on a message board for "McNeilly, Meneely, Manealy, McNeely" which stated that the story handed down was that there were three brothers who came from Scotland during the Ulster Plantation (mid 1600's) and one settled in County Antrim, one in County Down, and one in County Tyrone. Unfortunately there was no name or contact information for this individual so the information could not be followed up on.

 

The Public Records Office for Northern Ireland (PRONI) is now available on-line and from the surfing I have done so far shows the spelling of the earlier records to be McNeilly most prominent in Antrim, while McNeely was more common in Down and Maneely was found in Tyrone. The earliest records found so far for our present spelling of the name are in some records for the Presbyterian Church. There is a John Meneely who came from Shercock, County Cavan to get some supplies in 1711, later in those same papers there was a mention of a John Maneely. Was this a different individual or one of the first found misspellings ? There is also a listing of several Meneelys found in County Tyrone on the 1796 Irish Flax Growers List.

 

Some things coming up:

 

I am currently working on a website that will be available to all for the entering and sharing of genealogical and other information.

 

The Meneely name has been registered with the Clans of Ireland Ltd. and we need some volunteers to be on the Clan Committee to help with the organization. At the present there is no cost to any of you to register with the clan. Some of us feel that having this contact in Ireland could help immensely with those of us that are still doing genealogical research and it will certainly give us a common network for the sharing of information and for being able to reach out to the widely scattered members of our family.

 

We are still getting positive responses for the June 2012 reunion in Indiana and so far have people tentatively planning to attend from all over the US, Canada and the UK.

 

I HAVE GREATLY APPRECIATED ALL THE INPUT FROM MANY OF YOU AND LOOK

FORWARD TO GETTING MORE !

 

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ALL YOUR RELATIVES IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOKS.

 

Peace and Blessings,

Vence