A History of the Gorman Name In Ireland

The Gorman family dates back nearly as far as the history of Ireland itself, and the twists and travails of it’s own history mirror that of Ireland. If the Irish genealogists of the Middle Ages (namely the Catholic monks in monasteries throughout the country) are to be believed, at the root of virtually every Irish surname lies royalty. Similarly, at the root of all royalty lies the origin of man itself, Adam and Eve. At its heart, this may seem like reason enough to document family histories, but they had others. In a patriarchic social structure as was Ireland at that time, an heir’s right to land and property hinged on a well preserved and recorded family genealogy to prove his birthright. As a consequence, most families had their own Shanachy, or historian, who recorded the family genealogy and historic events into an annal. These annals would later be transcribed and compiled into larger volumes by the monks as a record of noble families in their area. The most significant of these are:

1. Annals of Tighernach by Tighernach O'Breen (d. 1088), abbot of Clonmacnoise and Roscommon.
2. Annals of Innisfallen, 1215 by scholars of the monastery of Innisfallen.
3. Annals of Ulster by Cathal Maguire (d. 1498) on the island of Senait Mac Manus, in Upper Lough Erne
4. Annals of Lough Ce, 1588 by Bryan Mac Dermot, on the island of Lough Key, in Roscommon.
5. Annals of Connaught from 1224 to 1562.
6. Chronicon Scotorum, 1650 by Duald Mac Firbis.
7. Annals of Boyle, 1253.
8. Annals of Clonmacnoise, English translation by Connell Mac Geoghegan of Westmeath, 1627.

Occasionally, comprehensive compilations were produced which encompassed the genealogies and histories of a much larger area, if not all of Ireland. In the third century AD, Cormac Mac Art, 115^th monarch of Ireland, commissioned just such a compilation, the Psalter of Tara. Saints Patrick, Benignus, Carioch, and others executed another in the fifth century. Cormac Mac Cullinan produced another, the Psalter of Cashel, in the ninth century. Finally, the Franciscan monk Michael O’Clery, with brothers Conary, Cucogry and Ferfesa O'Mulconry, executed the largest work in 1632. Known as the Annals of the Four Masters, it attempted to draw together previous genealogies into a single, complete history and genealogy of the Irish nation. It was translated into English and combined with other genealogies by O’Ferrall in 1709, in what is known as the Linea Antiqua. In general, all modern Irish genealogies reference some combination of all these.

The Uí Bairrche was the original designation given to the family or tribe, thought to be of Firbolg origin, that became the Gorman and a number of other families (including O’Bracken, Mooney, and Mead). Their genealogy is known from the Book of Glendalough, a medievel text from approximately A.D. 1130. The territory of the Ui Bairche was known as Crioch mBairce, what is now the barony of Slievmargy, County Laois (Leix, or Queen’s County), near County Carlow (see map). The original Uí Bairrche are said to be related to the Brigantes tribe of northern Britain. They ruled southern Leinster from the earliest centuries A.D. until the Uí Cheinnselaig (the family line of Daire Barraig’s brother, Fiachu Ba h-Aiccid), broke their power. Presumeably, this occurred after Crimthann mac Endai Cheinnselaig, king of the Ui' Cheinnselaig, was killed by #94 O'engus mac Ercae of the Ui' Bairrche in AD 492. At that time they were split into at least two major groups, the Uí Bairrche of northern Carlow (Ui Bairrche Maighe, which this lineage follows) and those of southern Wexford (Ui Bairrche Tire).

The original ancestral land of the Uí Bairrche in southern Leinster was occupied from the early Middle Ages until the Norman Invasion in 1169. Following the Norman invasion, the clan MacGormáin (which the Uí Bairrche adopted as their family surname) was evicted from its lands due to their proximity to Dublin, the Norman stronghold at that time. These lands were given over to the Preston family of England. The O’Briens, who ruled the western province of Thomond (now County Clare), granted the MacGormáins land in the Barony of Ibrickan, a rocky and generally treeless coastal area south of the cliffs of Moher. Here, they became marshals in the O’Brien’s army. They purportedly prospered for four centuries and became known for their generosity in supporting artists, poets and the general poor of the area. It was at this time that the family adopted its coat of arms: an azure field, with a lion passing between three erect swords. Its crest is an armored arm, with the hand grasping a sword with a wavy blade. Their motto: First and Last in War (in Gaelic Tosac cata a’s deire áir, or in Latin Primi et ultimi in bello).

It was common before the use of surnames for sons to append their father’s name after theirs as a means of denoting paternity. As an example, in some texts, #91 Feicc will be seen as Feicc Mac Dairé Barraig (Feicc, son of Dairé Barraig). Surnames as we know them today did not come into common usage until the rule of Brian Boru, A.D. 1002 – 1014. The original Gaelic surname for the Gorman family was MacGormáin, Mac being the Gaelic equivalent to son of and Gormáin denoting the color blue. It is thought that family members would have worn blue tunics or cloaks, just as Scots are known to wear tartans to denote family affiliation.

The first documented MacGormáin to use his surname was #111 Murtach (also Muireadach), whose death is recorded by the Four Masters as being in A.D. 1124. It is possible that the surname began being used some generations before, possibly by #105 Dunagan, for he was the first son of a Gorman at the time when surnames came into general use.

After the Act of Settlement of Ireland of 1661, all lands held by Mac Gormáins in County Clare were given over to English landholders and the formerly powerful Mac Gormáin family was reduced to serfdom on their own lands. Charles II, King of England gave 1100 acres owned by Malachy Mac Gormáin to Captain William Hamilton, presumably as a reward for service to the crown.

In seeking out the royalty in our past, it helps that the farther back in time, the fewer people there were. The likelihood that an ancestor may have ruled something, be it a tribe of dirt farmers or a country of millions, becomes greater. But logic tells us that not everyone can be king. Additionally, not all family genealogies are likely to have survived down through the ages. Many of the great literary works undertaken by the monks of the middle ages were destroyed or stolen by the marauding Vikings, including the Psalter of Cashel, of which there is no copy today. The work of compiling what fragments remain would have been a daunting task, especially for genealogists working with a largely illiterate and dispersed population. Finally, if the task was to show a genealogical line of succession from Adam and Eve to the present day, it would have been impossible, for many of the biblical figures (depending on your beliefs) are purely mythological. As a result, it is thought that many of the genealogies written contain a large number of mythical characters as bridges between the biblical periods and more recent history. The authenticity of many sections must be treated with some skepticism. According to Michael R. Davidson, a genealogist and historian from Edinburgh. Scotland:

A true and complete Gorman family genealogy is, in fact, an impossibility. Even if one could separate one’s self from any biblical trappings, he would have to extend the lineage many thousands of years into human prehistory. By definition, there is no history in pre-history. Geneticists trace the origin of the human species through the mutation of mitochondrial DNA to a common maternal ancestor said to have branched from chimpanzees some 222,000 years ago. Needless to say, the likelihood that any written record of family lineage that far back is remote.

I am presenting here the lineage of the family of Purcell O'Gorman, a member of Parliament and son of the famous activist and barrister Nicholas Purcell O'Gorman. This list is compiled from a number of different sources, the most significant of which is O’Hart (2). He contends that, based on the ancient texts, the ancestry of the Gorman noble line descends from one of the primary royal lineages in Ireland, the Faley O’Connors. They in turn are descended through a long succession of kings, from Noah. According to some accounts, all names preceding #95 in this list are entirely mythical. We can assume that many more are as well.

3. The Gorman family is a branch of the family O’Connor Faley, whose ancestral lands are in Offaley. This family branch extends from the primary Line of Heremon starting at #60 Leghaire Lorc, 68^th Monarch of Ireland.

4. #90 Daire Barraig, second son of Cathair Mór, King of Leinster and 109^th Monarch of Ireland, is considered the first chief of the Ui Bairrche (sometimes Hy Bairrche, named for him). He is presumed to have died around A.D. 487. The genealogy of the Uí Bairrche as exerpted from The Annals of the Four Masters can be found in Appendix 1.

1. Descent from Adam to Luke Joshua Stevens (website) by Luke Stevens. http://geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2444/descent.htm.
2. O’Hart, John. Irish Pedigrees. ©1915, P. Murphy & Son, NY.
3. Bartrum. Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts, A Welsh Classical Dictionary. &"Pedigrees of the Welsh Tribal Patriarchs", National Library of Wales Journal v.13.
4. Celt Corpus of Electronic Texts (website). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/ © 1997 1998 Corpus of Electronic Texts (UCC).
5. P.W. Joyce, M.A., LL.D., T.C.D.; M.R.I.A. A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland. ©1908 M.H. Gill & Son, Ltd., Dublin. Website: http://www.alia.ie/tirnanog/sochis/sochis01.html.
6. The Tribes of Laigin, Leinster Series (website). http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/kilkenny/2/leinst2.htm
7. Patrick Lavin. Ancestral Quest. © 1997 by Garryowen, Inc., Publishers.
8. Index of Ireland Family Names and Al Beagan's "Genealogy Notes©" (website). http://www.capecod.net/~abeagan/ireland.htm
9. Edmond Gorman. The Records of Moycarkey and Two-Mile-Boris. ©1935.
10. Samuel Lewis. Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. ©1838.
11. Thomas Cahill. How the Irish Saved Civilization, 1995 by Doubleday Books, New York, NY

A fragment of the The Annals of Tigernach, A.D. 1088.

A two-page spread from the The Annals of The Four Masters, A.D. 1632.

Map of Ireland showing the location of the clan Uí Bairrche (circled in red) around AD 800. Image courtesy wikipedia.com.

The Barony of Ibrickan (circled), County Clare

The Cliffs of Moher in west County Clare

The MacGormáin/Gorman/O'Gorman family Crest and Coat of Arms

Purcell O'Gorman, as caricatured in Vanity Fair, March 13, 1875.