O'Neill

Of the County Clare.

This family, sometimes called Nihell, Neile, and Creagh, derive its origin from Neil, the son of Congal, the son of Aodh Caomh, King of Cashel, who is No. 96 on the "O'Brien Kings of Thomond" stem.  Clan Daelbhaoi was the tribe name of this family, and the principal seat of their chief was at Finlora:-

"The land of Clan-Daelbhaoi of the poets,
 Is governed by O'Neill, lord of Fionluaraigh;
 To his residence come the hosts of Tradree,
 Warriors of flaxen tresses."

The domain of this O'Neill was co-extensive with the deanery of Tradree, comprising the parishes of Tomfinloe, Kilnasodagh, Kilmalsery, Kilcoury, Clonloghan, Drumline, Feenagh, Bunratty, and Killaneed.

Of this family was Lieut.-Col. O'Neill, who served in the Regiment of Lord Clare, and fell at Fontenoy; and Sir Balthazer O'Neill, a Brigadier-Beneral in the service of the King of Naples.  In 1585, Torlogh O'Neill, a native of Tomfinloe, succeeded the martyred Dermod O'Hurley, as archbishop of Cashel.  Laurence Nihell, was bishop of Kilfenora in 1791.  The head of this family in 1690 - down to which the sept maintained a respectable position in Clare - was married to the daughter of Thomas Coppinger, Esq., of Ballyvolane, in the county of Cork, by his wife, the daughter of Edward Galwey, Esq., of Lota, and sister of John Galway, Esq., a member of parliament for the city of Cork, in King James's Parliament, held in Dublin, 1689.

We regret being at present unable to procure the genealogy of this family.

REF:
'Irish Pedigrees' by O'Hart, Volume 1, Page 242, dated 1892, reprinted 1989.