By Stephen A. Faul

I am a member of the Clooneen branch of the O'Beirne family. Clooneen being a sub-branch of Feeragh branch of the O'Beirne. Feeragh is a townland in County Roscommon, in the parish of Kilmore, where the family originated, and where the family of John O'Beirne, son of Arthur still reside and farm the land as their family have done for hundreds of years.

This Feeragh O'Beirne family obviously descended from the great Dangan family, though the exact line is not possible to determine from the records available to us today.

The Feeragh branch and the Clooneen branches of the O'Beirne family have remained very close to each other over the past two hundred years, by letter writing, visiting, and generally being greatly interested in what everyone was doing in their professions and families.

Family occasions were a great source of joy regardless of the nature of the get-together, and it was obvious that the O'Beirne family liked nothing better than spending some time in each others company, talking exclusively about O'Beirnes'.

The inevitable separation that was bound to happen over the past 50 - 70 years as the family spread out over the world and lost contact with each other, was remedied on 26 September, 1993 when some 250 members of the Feeragh and. Clooneen branches came together for a "Family Gathering" with Mass in the Church of Saint Michael of Bornacoola, followed by a visit to the nearby graveyard and National School of Cloonmorris with Lunch afterwards in Longford. Mass was celebrated by Father Brendan John Burke and Monsignor Denis O'Beirne Faul, both members of the family, together with the local priests.

It turned out to be a great family occasion where a new generation of O’Beirnes’ got to know each other and where friendships were formed which will endure and the spirit of family was renewed. I had been able to prepare a detailed family tree (with the aid of the late Tom O'Beirne) and this turned out to be very useful in showing the family relationships.

In this article it is only possible to mention one or two members of the O'Beirne family within the Feeragh/Clooneen branch who may have distinguished themselves in some way which I hope will be of interest to the reader.

The family tree we were able to establish commenced with Owen O'Beirne (1736 - 1798) and his wife Mary, nee Rutledge. They worked the farm at Feeragh during very difficult times and are buried nearby with their ancestors in the old graveyard of Clooncraft. Mary erected a headstone over the grave which gives details of members of the family buried there which was extremely useful in setting out the beginning of the family tree. Headstones of this nature were rare for a Catholic family at the time and are evidence of their family pride and their sense of place in the community.

I understand a daughter married an O'Conor of the O'Conor Don family, but I have been unable to confirm this from the O'Conor Don family records. Readers will know that the O'Conor family was the last High Kings of Ireland

Their eldest son Tom O'Beirne (1782 - 1870) who married Anne Garvey (1788 - 1873), had seven children including a daughter Cecilia Elizabeth (1826 - 1898) who married a Mr. Barrett. They lived at Meelick House, Drumsna, County Roscommon. Their son Stephen made an important contribution to the history of Ireland. He was Treasurer of the Gaelic League and a great friend of Dr. Douglas Hyde, (also a Roscommon man and the first President of Ireland) and of Patrick Pearse.

The documentation of the period of the 1916 Rising and before does not fully set out the important contribution of Stephen Barrett to the Irish history of the period. Although treasurer of the Gaelic League he personally signed as guarantor for the finance which funded the schools established and run by Patrick Pearse, first at Cullenstown House on Oakley Road, Rathmines, and later at St. Enda's in Rathfarnham, Dublin. Additional financial support was provided by a Mr. Joseph Dolan of Ardee, County Louth.

Claire, daughter of Tom O'Beirne and Anne Garvey, married a John O'Beirne. They lived and farmed at "Shannon View,'' Rooskey on the banks of the Shannon in County Longford. This family later became what we now know as the Clooneen branch of the Family. I do not know from where this John O'Beirne came though the names of his children are similar to those in the family of the famous Protestant Bishop of Meath, Thomas Lewis O'Beirne (1748 - 1823), and his parish priest brother Father Denis who became Dean of the Diocese. This family came from the Augherea area of County Longford.

John O'Beirne and Claire, of "Shannon View," had a family of seven children which included Dr. Thomas, of Kildare town, and Eugene Francis who was kicked out of Maynooth University for agitating and subsequently made a career out of his "wrongful expulsion" writing and lecturing on the injustice done to him for the rest of his life

Charles, his brother (1815 - 1887), known as "Great uncle Charles," who was said to have been a gambler on a Mississippi river boat and returned to live out his days in County Roscommon complete with a trunk in which he was reputed to have locked the entire profits of his gambling career. Like many another gambler the trunk was empty when opened after his death. His brother John (1813 - 1896) carried on working the farm at "Shannon View" and became High Constable and Baronial Cess (Rates) Collector.

The O'Beirne family were always extraordinary - they set their destinies by the angle of the stars

Stephen A. Faul is a retired bank executive who lives in Dalkey, Co. Dublin.