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History of the Distinguished Surname Doody |
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Written by Steven Dowd
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World history has seldom been influenced more by any other race than by that of the Irish people. Not only does Ireland have the world?s oldest standing structure, and was home to the earliest missionaries to Scotland and England, and was possessed of a refined culture, but there is also reasonable claim to the statement that the Irish were the first settlers in North America.
Entwined amongst the romantic chronicles of this great land is the distinguished history of the Irish sept Doody. The works of O?Hart, McLysaght and O?Brien, the Four Masters and Woulfe, supplemented by church baptismals, parish records, and ancient land grants, have been used to reconstruct the family name history.
We found that the family name Doody was first recorded in county Mayo where they had been seated from very ancient times. The family can be traced back to the ancient King Niall of the Nine Hostages, who in turn could be traced back to the Heremon Kings.
Several spelling variations of the name were found in the archives and mainly these variations were the result of families translating the name from the Gaelic into English. Recorded versions of the name Doody included Dowd, Duddy, Doody, O?Dowd, Dowdy, Dowdie, Doudy, Doudie, Doudd, Doodie, Dowde, and many more. Frequently a name was spelt several different ways during the lifetime of the same person, when he or she was born, married and died.
The legendary Kings of Ireland, some 1500 years B.C., were descended from King Milesius of Spain, the grandson of Breoghan (Brian), King of Galicia, Andalusia, Murcia, Castile and Portugal. Milesius turned his attention northward to Ireland to fulfill an ancient Druidic prophecy. He sent an army to explore this fertile island. On finding that his son had been murdered by the three resident Irish Kings (the Danans), Milesius vengefully gathered another army. He died before he embarked on the voyage but his surviving eight sons conquered Ireland.
Heremon, eldest son of Milesius, reigned in Ireland for fourteen years, along with his brothers Heber, Ir, and Ithe. They named the land Scota or Scotia, their mother?s name, the land of the Scots. This name would later be taken by the Irish King Colla in 357 A.D., when he was exiled to Scotland, leaving the name ?Ir-land?, land of Ir, the youngest of the four sons of Milesius, to the emerald Isle.
The great Gaelic family of Doody emerged in later years in Mayo. King Niall, brother of Fiachra and descended from Daithi, was one of the last pagan Kings of Ireland. For centuries they were the leading sept of northern Ui Fiachrach. Their territory embraced the baronies of Erris and Tirawley in the county of Mayo and Tireagh in Sligo. The family was called to arms during the Anglo-Norman incursion into their properties in the twelfth century. The long battles to follow lasted until 1354 when Sen-Bhrian O?Dowd succeeded in driving all the Anglo-Norman settlers out of Tireagh. Two branches of the clann established themselves in other parts of Ireland at this time. One group settled in the southern county of Kerry in the province of Munster. This sept called itself Doody and maintained strong ties with the heads of the family in the north. The other sept held a barony in Derry in the far north where survivors of this clan were usually called Duddy. Several O?Dowds were bishops of the parish of Killala. Father John O?Duada who died in 1579 was one of many Irish Franciscan martyrs. The family is noteworthy, in that, great height is a common feature of the family. Notable tall Dowds include the head of the sept, killed at the Battle of the Boyne, who was seven feet tall, and Reverend Patrick Dowd, (1813-1891), the Irish priest who did so much for the Catholic community of Montreal. Notable amongst the family at this time was Father John O?Duada.
In 1172 A.D., Dermott McMurrough, King of Leinster, requested King Henry II of England for assistance in achieving the Kingship of all Ireland. Through treachery, many proud native Irish families lost their chiefships, territories and the spoils were divided amongst the Norman knights and nobles. This was followed by Cromwell?s invasion in 1640 and later, Ulster in the north was seeded with Protestant Scottish and English.
In 1845, the great potato famine caused widespread poverty, and the exodus from Ireland began. Many Irish joined the armada of sailing ships which sailed from Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Holyhead, Liverpool, and Glasgow, bound for the New World or to Australia. Some romantics called these ships the White Sails, others, more realistically, called these vessels the Coffin Ships, when 30% to 40% of the passengers died of disease and the elements.
In North America some of the first migrants which could be considered kinsmen of the sept Doody and of that same family included the Dowd family who arrived in Virginia as early as 1656. Thomas Dowd began the family trek. Most of the family, however, landed following the potato famine and settled in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts in the late 19th century.
In the New World the Irish played an important part in building the nation, the railroads, coal mines, bridges and canals. They lent their culture to the arts, sciences, commerce, religion and the professions.
The Irish moved westward with the wagon trains, and settled the Midwest, some trekking over the Rockies to the distant west coast. During the American War of Independence some were loyal to the cause, joining the Irish Brigades. Others were loyal to the Crown, and moved north into Canada, becoming known as the United Empire Loyalists and being granted lands on the banks of the St. Lawrence and the Niagara Peninsula.
Meanwhile, the family name Doody produced many prominent people. Ronald Dowd, Australian Opera Tenor.
Research has determined the above Coat of Arms to be the most ancient recorded for the family surname Doody.
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