Feardorcha “Matthew” O’Neill Bloodline: A Short history of descendants .

Feardorcha “Matthew” O’Neill Bloodline: A Short history of descendants .

by M.A.O'Neill

Conn "the Lame" O’Neill, King of Ulster 1519 - 1542 and the first Earl of Tyrone in 1542 to 1559, Conn was the son of Art Og O’Neill.He was married three times the first time to his cousin the Lady Alice Fitzgerald, daughter of Gerald, 8th earl of Kildare, and the Lord Deputy of Ireland. The second marriage was to Mary O’Neill, the daughter of Aedh Buidhe O'Neill, Prince of the Clannaboy O’Neill’s, and the third marriage was to Mary McDonnell, the daughter of Sir Alexander "Mac Randall Boy" McDonnell of Dunluce.

Things get interesting when a woman named Alison Kelly the wife of John Kelly the Blacksmith of Dundalk appears, and reveals that her son Feardorcha “Matthew” is the legit son of Conn “Baccach” O’Neill. Conn accepted the confession of Mrs. O'Kelly and appointed Feardorcha his Tanist. This started a vendetta among Conn eldest son Shane “The Proud” and Feardorcha in Ulster. This resulted in Feardorcha being slain by Shane “ The Proud” in 1558 , and Conn seeking refuge from Shane “The Proud” in 1559 , where Conn “ The Lame” O’Neill would die later in the year.

Feardorcha “Matthew” O’Neill, the 1st Baron of Dungannon. Feardorcha married Joan Maguire, the daughter of Connacht "the Coarb" Maguire, a dynast of Fermanagh.

*After Feardorcha death Joan Maguire married Don Henry O'Neill of the Fews. Then she married a third time to Sir Owen O'Gallagher of Ballyshannon, hereditary Marshal to the O'Donnell kings.

The question of Matthew ‘Feardorcha’ legitimacy has the son of Conn 'Baccach ' O'Neill 1st Earl of Tyrone has always been put to question now with the technology of Y-DNA the truth can finally be found and all questions and doubts put to rest. If Matthew was not the son of  Conn 'Baccach ' O'Neill 1st Earl of Tyrone  then it should be noted that his descendants Y-DNA Haplotype and Haplogroup will not be the same has other O’Neill’s currently tested or any of the other O’Neill “Royal” clans if they ever obtain a Y-DNA test. The Great 'Red' Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and the last King of Ulster have been described as having countless illegitimate sons. Who knows what surnames they may have or who they are but with a concrete Y-DNA of one of his descendants we may know. If the Y-DNA of Matthew “Feardorcha “does exist and assuming he was not the legitimate son of Conn 'Baccach ' O'Neill 1st Earl of Tyrone then we must also know that means that within 500 years plus or so then the Y-DNA Haplotype must have mutations only found among this family also there must be some mutations from the original progenitor of Matthew ‘Feardorcha’ O’Neill. It must be an uncommon Haplotype and a Haplogroup only found among these O’Neill’s, it was believed, Matthew was the son of an O’Kelly or Kelly. Then also it‘s possible that these O’Neill’s would have more in common with the O’Kelly Sept than the O’Neill’s genetically.

Brian O’Neill, the 2nd Baron of Dungannon, he was murdered by his cousin Turlough Leynagh O'Neill, depending on various accounts it’s believed at the order of Shane “ The Proud”.

Hugh O’Neill, will forever be known as last King of Ulster,he ruled form 1598 to 1608 AD, and recognized as the 2nd Earl of Tyrone form 1585 to 1608 AD. Adopted by the Hovenedan family and raised in England under Sir Henry Sidney at Ludlow, Shropshire, and at Penshurts in Kent. In 1593 he was inaugurated on the stone at Tullahogue as The O'Neill Mór. In 1607 Hugh and Rory O'Donnell left Ireland in what is historically recognized as the "Flight of the Earls". Hugh O’Neill died in Rome, blind July 20, 1616. Hugh was married three times first to a daughter of Sir Brian O'Neill, Captain or Lord of Clannaboy. The second marriage was toJoanO’Donnell, the sister of Red Hugh O'Donnell and Rory O'Donnell, the 1st Earl of Tyrconnell and daughter of Aedh, King of Tir Conaill. He eloped with Mabel, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bagenal, Marshall of the Army of Ireland. His third marriage was with Catherine Magennis, the sister of Arthur, 1st Viscount Magennis of Iveagh.The Great Hugh O’Neill was a calculating man raised among the English at an early age. He understood their tactics and strategies and how the world was different than the middle ages mentality of the Irish clans. He was able to rise above the ancient tribalistic society which eventually brought down the ancient Gaelic society. Hugh O’Neill miscalculated to his demise that his power and position depended upon his countrymen in Ulster and Ireland.  He miscalculated the support from King Phillip 2nd of Spain who was more committed to his power struggles in the Netherlands than fighting a proxy war in Ulster. This is evident later on with the dealings of King Phillip the 2nd of Spain and Hugh O’Neill. The biggest mistake Hugh O’Neill made was that he trusted his military fortunes on his countrymen the Irish clan system was a weak system exploited by the English in a great ability.  The weakness of character of these men and treachery shows how weak these men were by not being able to rise above a dynastic mentality and unity for one Ireland. 

SeánProinsias Ó Faoláinin his great work "The Great O'Neill" wrote:

“Conn said that Matthew was his eldest son, although a bastard, by one Alison O'Kelly, the wife of a blacksmith of Dundalk town. Sean, who had hitherto been thought the eldest son, denied this as soon as he was old enough to realize the consequences to himself. He asserted passionately that the thing was a trick to defraud him of his rights, that Matthew was not his father's child but the veritable child of the blacksmith Kelly; and that Matthew had always been known as the blacksmith's child until Alison found herself a widow, and he proved, at least to the satisfaction of the English courts that Matthew was a Kelly.  As he put it to Elizabeth herself: Matthew's mother ' for vain glory and for a name to herself declared him to be  O'Neill's son, alleging and boasting of her unhappiness, how that O'Neill lay once with her. And O'Neill being a man that never refused no child that any woman named to be his, as he had divers beside the said Matthew, accepted and took him to be his son. His nature was such he never refused any man of nothing that they asked of him.' From which it follows that Matthew's sons were likewise blacksmith's blood, and that the second ofthem, our Hugh, is not Hugh O'Neill at all but Hugh O'Kelly. Yet it is hard to see why Conn should have disinherited Sean for Matthew if he did not wish to acknowledge a fact - that Alison was his first passion. The Truth will probably never be known. It is merely the first of many mysteries that darken the long and tangled story of the house of O'Neill.”

 - SeánProinsias Ó Faoláinin ‘The Great O'Neill  ' Chapter Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth: 1550 – 1568 A.D.

• Hugh O’Neill, died on September 23, 1609, the 4th Baron of Dungannon, the son of Hugh O’Neill and Joan O’Donnell, he left Ireland with his father with his father.

• Enrique O’Neill died on August 25, 1610. He was known as the 3rd Conde de Tyrone, Colonel of the Regiment of Tyrone in the Archduke Albert's service in Flanders.
• Don JuanO’Neill died in January 29, 1641. Known and recognized as the Conde de Tyrone, a Colonel of the Regiment of Tyrone in Span, and was recognized as 4th Earl or Count by the King of Spain. Don Juan O’Neill became a member of the Spanish Supreme Council of War in 1640.

• Don Hugo Eugenio O’Neill, born on November 15, 1633 died in 1660. The recognized thePrince of Ulster and the 5th Count of Tyrone, also a member of the Knights of Calatrava, and a colonelin the Regiment of Tyrone.
• Conn "of the Rock" O’Neill, born in 1601 and was accidentally left behind in Ireland in the "Flight of the Earls" of 1607.He was committed to the Tower of London in 1622 where he died.

• Brian O’Neill, was born in 1604 was murdered at the age of 13 in Brussels by English agent or agents on August 16, 1617. He was a Page to the Archduke Albert.
• Art "MacBaron”O’Neill, died in 1618.

• Art OgO’Neill, the son of Art “MacBaron” O’Neill, and the father of Don Hugo “El Negro” O’Neill.
•  Don Hugo “El Negro”, 6th count of Tyrone in 1660,Governor of Limerick and a Spanish officer, In 1646 he was the Major-General of the Irish forces in Ulster that drove back Cromwell himself from the walls of Clonmel, and inflicted on Cromwell the most serious check he experienced in Ireland in 1650. Hugh O’Neill died in 1667 fighting for Spain in Portugal.

• Owen Roe "the Red" O’Neill, died on November 6,1649 , a Spanish Officer for 30 years, held Arras against the French, surrendering "after a notable resistance" (1640). Eoghan was the Lord General of the Catholic Army in the Ulster from 1642.

• Enrique “El Rojo" O’Neill, in July 1650 he was taken prisoner by Sir Charles Coote at Scariffhollis and beheaded at Derry. He had married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Luke FitzGerald of Tyrone.
• Hugo O’Neill, died circa 1673, the 7th Conde de Tyrone, ColonelHugo O’Neill was recognized as Count by the King of Spain.

• Conn “El Rojo” O’Neill, not much is known about him.
• Bernardo “El Rojo” O’Neill, died on December 5^th, 1681, he wasknown as the 8th Conde de Tyrone, served for 37 years under the Spanish crown. In 1663 was in command of his own Regiment in 1663, and succeeded his cousin Hugo O’Neill, as Count and as Colonel of the Regiment of Tyrone in 1673.

• Eugenio O’Neill died circa 1689, known asthe 9th Conde de Tyrone and Colonel of the Regiment of Tyrone in Spain. After his death the style of "Comte de Tyrone" was assumed in France and Martinique by the descendants of Don Patricio O’Neill. 

Titles of Counts of Tyrone:

“This title is currently part of Dutch nobility modern day Comes Jacobum de Tyrone or Count James of Tyrone"

• Patrick O'Neill was born in 1622, the 1st Count of Tyrone

• James O'Neill was born in1660,the 2nd Count of Tyrone.

• Henry O'Neill, 3rd Comte de Tyrone.

• Jacques Henri O’Neill, 4th Comte de Tyrone.

 (Brother was Jean Laurent, 1st Viscount Tyrone, and Dillon Regiments.)

• Paul Francois Henri Teyssier O’Neill b. 1749, 5th Comte de Tyrone.

• Jacques O’Neill, b. 1783 d.1839 6th Comte de Tyrone. 

(Brother was Francois Henri, 2nd Viscount Tyrone)

• Louis Jacques Tiburce O’Neill, died in 1859, the 7th Comte de Tyrone.

• Francois Henri O’Neill d. circa 1887, 8th Comte de Tyrone.