Welsh – Irish Viking?

I started researching my family history almost 15 years ago and became rooted in curiosity ever since.

I have yet to find a “key ancestor” I’m afraid, which is not to say I haven’t found interesting stories; I discovered that my x2 great grandfather was born on the Red Sea and sadly one of my x2 great uncles was tragically killed due to wearing his scarf!

For this blog, I’ll be focusing on the Donovan family, on my mother’s side, which I guess starts with me; although I’m not a Donovan per se, I want to briefly mention that I was born “out of wedlock” and my birth name was registered as Jonathan Donovan (yes, I’m aware that it rhymes). This family settled in Wales during the late 1840s from Cork, Ireland. I’ve traced the Donovans back to John Donovan (born 1848) from who I am descended through his son John Donovan and then his son, my grandfather, John Donovan. I hope the repetition isn’t too confusing.

1881 Census. Courtesy of the National Archives.

I discovered that I’m one generation away from applying for an EU passport, as your mother or father needs to be the 3^rd generation of a (now) EU country e.g. Ireland.

With research it’s near to impossible to go back so far without a key ancestor, as most records only go back to the beginning of the 19^th century with the introducing of the England and Wales Census which began in March of 1801, when the Census Act also known as the Population Act received Royal Assent in December of 1800; this did include Scotland, however, from a genealogical point of view it must be highlighted that a census was already recorded in the country as far back as the 1750s. Ireland, which was part of the British Empire at the time was not included in this until much later in the 1820s.

It is difficult to fully research Irish records as many have been destroyed but a benefit with Irish surnames is that they act as homing beacons and are associated with clans or septs (subgroups or families whose allegiances are with a more prominent family). This is by all means no quick fix solution to researching family history, as surnames don’t reveal anything about the history of individuals and their lives.

The history of Irish surnames can be associated with the Penal Laws in Ireland; these were a series of laws that forced mostly on Irish Catholic families to accept the reform denomination set by Anglican Church of England. Additionally, they were in place to discourage of the use of the Gaelic language and even encouraged the Anglicisation of old surnames that would use systems like “O” meaning the “grandson or descendant of”. Later on there would be a high number of families altering back to older spellings with the rise of Irish nationalism during the mid and late 19^th Century. But, in terms of genealogy, this is irrelevant as old surnames are distinguishable from others and are evidently deeply rooted in the country’s landscape.

Early medieval and later historical lineages have been recorded in the Annals of Ireland, which traces the Donovan family back to Donnabán mac Cathail, anglicized as Donovan son of Cahall, who is its progenitor. Donndubháin (or Donnabán) can be translated as donn meaning dark or noble, and dubh which means dark or black; all loosely translating “dark-haired noble.”

Donnabán was a 10^th Century ruler of the kingdom of Uí Fidgenti; an early kingdom located in modern day Munster and mainly situated in county Limerick. He was killed by the famous Brian Boru, High King of Ireland in 980 A.D, which caused the Donnabán sept of Uí Chairpre (a part of Uí Fidgenti kingdom) seeking refuge and being displaced over the next few centuries. This resulted in a long-term feud between the O’Donovan and O’Brien families for centuries! The last member of the Donovans to be styled king was Amlaíb Ua Donnubáin (or Olaf O’Donovan in English). He was killed in 1201 A.D by William De Burgh, the Anglo-Norman, and by the sons of Domnall Mór Ua Briain – who all belonged to the O’Brien dynasty.

During the hordes of Viking raids in the 9^th and 10^th centuries in Ireland, of course there would have been some influence from these invaders, who would later settle and integrate with the native peoples; the Donovans’ (or  O’Donovans) association with Ivar of Limerick, the last Norse King of Limerick, would result in the family having kinship with the Nordic royal dynasty Uí Ímair (meaning Dynasty of Ivar); though this would refer to Ivar (d.873AD), styled “King of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain.” This is where that Viking link comes in. The Vikings truly had an influence on the Donovans since they’d go on to use Nordic and Danish names for the next three centuries or so.

I hope to keep on discovering more about things about my Irish heritage through genealogy and perhaps one day will return to the land of my mother’s father’s father’s father – and so forth!