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December 14, 2004

Meneely Newsletter #4

 

Dear Friends and Family,

 

First of all, let's start this off by thanking all of you that have sent in your information to Larry, and also to encourage those of you who have not done so, to go ahead, and take the time and do it. He has been extremely busy indexing all the family trees that we have received so far. Additionally we have had some success in connecting with some distant family members in our line and well as in another. I also want to welcome all the new family members who are now receiving this newsletter, there are now about 120 households on our e-mail list. We have made new contacts both here in the USA and the UK. Welcome aboard!

 

I need at this time to make a correction to our last newsletter. In it both Larry and myself had put that we were descendants of Andrew James and Elizabeth (Cobb) Meneely; it should have read Eleanor (Cobb) Meneely. My apologies to all you family researchers out there. We both knew better but it got by both of us.

 

Cousin Dave Cuzzort is finished with the first draft of our Clan Meneely webpage and it should be uploaded and available for all very soon.

 

We have had more responses to the 2012 reunion or gathering. As a matter of fact, if only half the people show up who have expressed an interest, we will have quite a crowd.

 

Recently I was able to purchase a 1912 portrait taken at a Meneely family reunion in Darlington, Indiana. I want to thank Cousin Nick Meneely for picking it up for me and for its safe keeping. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting or talking to Nick he has been extremely instrumental in the running down of loose ends for our particular branch of the family and in fact is the person responsible for finding Noble and Sidney's graves and hence Noble's date of death. He is also the person with whom the idea of a 2012 reunion was first discussed. Thanks Nick you are appreciated!   

 

Now for what has been promised:

 

Are we Irish or Ulster Scots (Scots-Irish):

First of all the term Scots-Irish is strictly an American idiom. In its sound there appears to be a connection between the Scots and the Irish, almost like a hybridization. This is not so. The term means someone who is from Ireland and of Scottish heritage, not someone who is part Scottish and part Irish. In fact the term Ulster Scot is used everywhere but here in the USA. That term implies someone who is from the old province of Ulster (nine counties in the NE of Ireland) of which six of the nine original counties now comprise what we know as Northern Ireland. Many settlers from England and Scotland made numerous attempts to colonize Ireland. Some of this started during the reign of Queen Elizabeth but the most successful plantation was made by lowland Scots during the rule of King James I. This particular king was King James VI of Scotland and after Elizabeth died sans heirs he became King James I of England, Scotland and Ireland and also the King James who commissioned the writing of the Holy Bible which bears his name. Because of the unrest in Ireland and after many attempts at colonization King James decided to send his fellow countrymen to settle in Ireland after the "Flight of the Irish Earls" which left much of the north of Ireland with no Nobles. The lowland Scots were a very hardy people, they had existed as a buffer for years between the raiding of the Highlanders and the English and they were much more loyal subjects for their King than the Highlanders who had much more in common with the Irish. Now when we look back into history, many times to get a better understanding of what was going on we need to look at what was going on socially, most especially in the religious movements of the time. During this time in history Protestantism was a new and fledgling endeavor and of course many rulers had an "official" religion. As a matter of fact, some "official" religions changed from generation to generation just depending upon which way a particular king might lean. By and large though, the official religion of Scotland was Presbyterian, England was Anglican and Ireland was Catholic. There were of course, always exceptions to this rule. Now while most of Ireland was Catholic the official church in Ireland while under English rule was the "Church of Ireland" which was, I believe, also an Anglican church.

 

Now as a lad growing up, there were two things that I remember being on the evening news on a nightly basis. One was the war in Vietnam, the other was the violence in Northern Ireland. Until relatively recently the problems in Northern Ireland have been an ongoing concern for almost 400 years. The problem can almost be reduced to this, the friction between the native Irish Catholics and the transplanted Scots Protestants.

 

In the course of doing genealogical research in the earliest available records to date we find Meneely's with Christian names like; Alexander, John, Robert, William, Samuel and in my line Andrew. All these names are Scottish first names. Andrew was the patron saint of Scotland and the Scottish flag depicts the "Cross of St Andrew". Any self respecting Irishman would have been hard pressed to name his son William in the early 1700's most especially after the Irish rebellion was crushed by William of Orange in 1690 when he defeated James II who was Catholic at the Battle of Boyne in Ireland. Or Robert after the most famous King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce. Alexander was also a very popular king from Scotland.

 

So here it is... although the name Meneely has its root in the Gaelic language and was most probably originally Irish (especially when it was Mac an Fhilidh) we were by nationality at least by the year 1700  Ulster Scots. If for no other reason the simple fact that our male ancestors would have married Protestant brides would have in effect made them Scotsmen eventually.  

 

Now as for our affiliation with other families or Clans:

There are some that say we are a derivative of the Mac Neil Clan of Scotland, others say that we take our stock from the O'Neils of Ireland while yet others say we come from the O'Dochartaigh's of Donegal. Of the first two let us take a look. According to the Mac Neil Clan Association of Canada, Meneely is one of over a thousand versions of the Mac Neil name. Yet the official Clan Association of Scotland says in the "History of MacNeill Clan" ..." another Galloway family, the MacNeillys are unrelated - their name is derived from "mac an fhilidh" meaning son of the poet. 

 

Most of this confusion is due to the one unique thing that sets us apart.....our name. Since the second syllable in our name is "neel" different persons at different times and for their own reasons have used the sound of our name to link us with other like sounding names. 

 

The same thing goes for our link to the O'Neil Clan we have been associated to them mostly through phonics. However it should be noted that the MacNeills are an offshoot of the O'Neills of Antrim. Both families trace their lineage to "Niall of the Nine Hostages". Here is an interesting fact it seems young Niall was the youngest son of the current Ard Reigh or High King of Ireland. The old king had two wives and had sired three sons with his first wife and fathered Niall with his second and favorite wife. The old king had tested his sons to see who would succeed him as king and young Niall passed the test with flying colors while his brothers failed miserably. The kings first wife learning of the old king's decision plotted for the demise of young Niall so the old man hid his son with....let's see if you can guess... a Fhilidh who then raised him as his own. Thus we see that Niall was also a "son of a poet" or a Mac an Fhilidh.

 

On to the O'Dochartaigh connection: I have heard from Patrick O'Dougherty who is the Manager of the O'Dochartaigh Clan Association. Now first I must tell you that Patrick admits that he is an American and Gaelic illiterate. He writes..."This clan is so populated that all septs have nick-names; Out of the Laggan Valley, near Raphoe and Lifford (East Central Donegal) where the Finn River drains all of Central Donegal to the River Foyle comes the Meneely O'Doughertys. In 1608 this sept fled their land of origin (the Laggan Valley) escaping into North West Co. Mayo, (Landing at Broadhaven Bay, Mayo). They fled due to the Clan's failure to keep the oppressive British out of Tyr-Connail (Modern Donegal). They took their nick-name as their surname to escape detection. Several other surnames were born from O"Dochartaigh in 1608 due to this failed uprising. In Irish; Meneely stems from the fact that they lived and farmed in a level productive land. My Irish speaker who works with me as a genealogist is out till next Tuesday. I will get him to explain this much better than I can. I will start looking for all the sources we have on the above explanation. A large family resided in Greenfield, Illinois. An ancestor, born about 1860 was named Amos Menealy (or Meneely). I have more on this family. Your name could have been McNeely, (Son of Neal). It is very common in Ireland. The Brits had a problem with the 'Mc' and may have caused it to be altered..."

 

Patrick's claims do need further investigation but ultimately he has opened up the door to more questions and few if any concrete answers. There may be a lot of truth in what he says (or not) but this does not explain how the Meneelys came to be protestants. We also already know that most Meneely's were at one time McNeelys or McNeillys or such. After all our own Grant Nichol has been to Ireland many times (14 I believe) and he tells us that often the name McNeilly is pronounced Meneely. (For those of you who are more than one or two generations removed it is pronounced Men - eel - ee.) We may find that the O'Doc Meneelys got their nick-name because one of their ancestors married a Meneely woman. 

 

Coming up in the next edition; we shall start on some individual family histories. 

 

If you are able to, I ask all of you to put Larry Meneely on your "safe list" or "buddy list" for Meneely Clan business:  his e-mail address is Barlar@aol.com . Remember our family members who are in harms way in service to their country. Please forward this to all your relatives in your address books.

 

As always

Peace and Blessings,

 

Vence Meneely