Hello-
As many of you may already know, in 1944 Don Juan O'Callaghan of Tortosa,
Spain was recognised by the Irish Genealogical Office as the senior
descendant in the line of the last inaugurated chief, the Donncha who was
transplanted to Clare.
I ran across a website for a Juan O'Callaghan born in Tortusa in 1963 who
may be a descendant of that person.
Presumably this line of O'Callaghan's may know a great deal about the line
going all the way back to the tenth century Ceallachan of Cashel. I was
told once by the Dublin geneaology office that there was a book that was
published on the Callahan line.
I am wondering if anyone has ever contacted the Spanish line? Juan
O'Callaghan born in 1963 got his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and
he presumably
speaks English.
Kevin L. Callahan
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis
The First Callahan 10th Century AD website
http://ceallachan.users.50megs.com/callahan.html
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Sources:
From the Eolas na hEierann - Information about Ireland website
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~kthomas/names9.htm
Retrieved April 19, 2003
"O'Callaghan
O'Callaghan, along with its variants (O)Callagan, Callahan etc., comes from
the Irish O'Ceallachain, from the personal name Ceallachan, a diminutive of
ceallach. This was traditionally taken to mean 'frequenter of churches', but
is now thought to be a much older word meaning 'bright-headed'. The personal
name was much in favour among the Eoghanacht, the tribal grouping who
controlled the kingship of Munster before the rise of Brian Boru of the Dal
gCais, and it is from one of the Eoghanacht kings, Ceallachan (d.964), that
the family trace their descent. Murchadg Ua Ceallachain, a grandson of this
king who lived in the early eleventh century, was the first to transit the
surname hereditarily. His nephew Carthach was the ancestor of the
MacCarthys, and a bloody succession feud between the MacCarthys and the
O'Callaghans continued well into the twelfth century, ending with the
MacCarthys in the ascendant. By the end of the thirteenth century the
O'Callaghans had taken decisive possession of that part of Co Cork which
came to be known as Pobal Ui Cheallachain, O'Callaghans Country. This was a
very large area on both sides of the river Blackwater west of the modern
town of Mallow. Here their principal bases were the castles at Clonmeen and
Dromaneen, and from them they retained virtually uninterrupted control for
over four centuries, containing many of the earlier Gaelic customs. The most
notorious of these was the creach or cattle-raid; one Donncha, chief of the
family from 1537 until his undeservedly peaceful death in 1578, was reputed
to have carried out two hundred raids in every county of Munster, evidently
regarding the creach as a vital part of his cultural inheritance. In the
great confiscation�s following the wars of the seventeenth century the
family lost virtually everything. The ruling chief, Donncha O'Callaghan, and
his extended family were transplanted to east Clare, where they obtained
land in the barony of Tulla. The village of O'Callaghans Mills records their
continued presence. Like so many others from the old Gaelic aristocracy,
members of this Clare family emigrated to continental Europe. Cornelius
o'Callaghan entered the army of Spain in 1717. In 1944 one of his
descendants, Don Juan O'Callaghan of Tortosa, was recognised by the
Genealogical Office as the senior descendant in the line of the last
inaugurated chief, the Donncha who was transplanted to Clare."