parte. Witnesseth that where the said Walter Gall and Ellise his wife are to levie a fine in his Majesties Court of Common Pleas to the said Peeter Strange and his heires of twentie messuages, ten cottages, twentie gardins, seaventeen acres of land, fortie acres of meddowe, eightie acres of pasture, fortie acres of moore, eightie acres of wood, and twentie acres of underwood, with theire appurtenances in Killtokeghan, in the aforesaid countie of Kilkenny, for the better assuringe of the said messuages, to James Woodlocke of Waterford, Esquire, and his assignes, according the intent, purport, and true meaning of a paire of Indentures of demise made of the premises to the said James Woodlocke and his assignes, bearing date the three and twentieth day of May in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred thirty and eight aforesaid, as by the said deed more at large may and doth appeare. That now the said Peeter Strange for him, his heires and assignes, doth by these presents covenant, graunt, and declare that the true meaninge of the said fine was and is that the said Peeter shall stand seised of all and singular the said towne and lands of Kiltokeghan aforesaid to the use of the said James Woodlocke, his Execcutours and assignes, according the effect, purport, and true meaning of the said deed Indented, and upon the conditions and covenants herein expressed and contained during the said terme and tyme that the said lease shall continue, and after, to the use of the said Walter Gall and his heires for ever. In wittnes whereof to his parte of these Indentures remayning with the said Peeter Strange the said Walter Gall and Ellise his wife subscribed their names and fixed their seales the day and yeare first above written. "WALTER GALL B. ELLISE GALL." From the preceding documents, signed by Walter Gall Burke, Richard his son and heir, and Ellise his wife, it is quite clear that this family was in possession of the Castle of Gallstown and its appurtenances at the time that his brother was created Count of the Empire by the Emperor Ferdinand III. (who succeeded in 1637, and died in 1658). Richard, the son and heir of Walter, must have died young and unmarried, for it appears from the Down Survey, which was finished in 1657, that Gaulestowne, Ballymontin, Gauleskill, Licketstowne, Rath[ne]smuloghe, and Ballahoomoge, were forfeited by William Gaule, an Irish Papist, while Killaspucke (now Killaspy) was forfeited by Robert Gaule. The cause of this forfeiture by William, who was the second son of Walter, was his having opposed the Peace of Ormonde, and his haying fought against Ormonde in the battle of Ballinvegga, on the 18th of March, 1642-3, in which he was slain. See Carte's "Ormonde." It appears from the Depositions in Trinity College, Dublin, volume for Waterford, that Robert Galle, of Killaspy, was also deeply implicated in the rebellion "John Collins of Ballirobert, and Elizabeth his wife, depose that on the 10th of December 1641 came the servants of one Redmond Fitz-Nicholas of Waterford, merchant, together with the servants of one Robert Galle of Balliescobb [recte Killescobb] in the C° of Kilkenny, Gent., and theire confederates, to the house of the said John Collins, and there did robb and despoile the said John and Elizabeth of all the goods, corne, and cattle that they could meete with." The tradition in the country states that Gall Burke originally possessed the barony of Igrine, now included in the barony of Ida, of which it formed the southern third portion, and that he was a feudal Baron; but though this traditional rank was acknowledged and acted upon in Austria, no notice is taken of it in any of the Anglo-Irish records, in which the head of this family is styled simply Esquire. My ancestor, Edmond O'Donovan, traditionally called "Edmond of Bawnlahan," was married to Catherine, daughter of William Gall Burke, the last chief of this family, but I could never learn from records, or even tradition, whether William Gall Burke had any son, or whether his race still remain. When I was living in the county of Kilkenny, I knew many persons of the name of Gall, who were believed to be of this race, and the senior of whom was commonly called the Righ Gall, or chief of the Galls. The late eccentric Captain Michael Gall (son of Thomas, son of Walter, who was son of Richard), well known to the gentry of the barony of Ida, was unquestionably of this family, but whether he was descended from William, the last Gall Burke, or from Robert Gall of Killaspy, I could never learn. The following extracts from the letters of a learned old gentleman of the neighbourhood of Gallstown(who devotedhis whole life to the reading of Irish books of genealogy, antiquity, and history), to the writer of this paper, will show the vivid tradition in the country about the connexion of the O'Donovans with this family: "Nicholastown, June 16th, 1841. "MY DEAR FRIEND, It is now years since the Rev. Francis Donovan, at that time chaplain to my father, told me that the eldest [sic] son of Donell O'Donovan, of Bawnlahan, in the county of Cork, in some affray, had killed a man,' and that he was so hotly pursued in consequence of it, that he was obliged to fly from his native county. He fled for shelter to 1 Killed a man.-The tradition among ourselves is that he killed the eldest son of O'Sullivan Beare, nicknamed the larla Beg. The Rev. James Hampston, in a letter to the writer, dated Hermitage, Newtown Beare, September 8th, 1848, states that the tradition among the O'Sullivans of Beare is that this fugitive had killed the eldest son of Sir Owen O'Sullivan of Reendeshart, near the river Meallagh, not far from Bantry. He adds "I have this from a lady, whose maiden name was O'Sullivan, but is now a Mrs. Mac Carthy, of Brandy Hall, in Beara. This lady is one of the last of the O'Sullivan Beara line, descended lineally from Donell Crone. She is near ninety years of age, and heard this tradition from her grandfather, the eldest brother of Morty Oge the murdered. The homicide--if I may so call him—was the eldest son of O'Donovan, and after his flight into the county of Kilkenny was followed by his father, who, tradition tells, was more displeased at his marriage in that country than for having committed the-shall I call it-murder." It was only manslaughter unintentional, or without malice prepense. Gaul Bourke's, of Gaulstown, in this neighbourhood, one of whose daughters he was said to have seduced [sic], but soon after married. Another daughter of his [Gaul Burke's] was married to the Baron or Earl of Upper Ossory. This is the tradition in this neighbourhood. "MY DEAR SIR,-Edmond, of Bawnlahan, your ancestor, was, most positively, married to Miss De Burgo, or Gaul Bourke. About the year 1763 your grandfather Edmond, and, I believe, his brother William, took the lands of Attateemore, in this neighbourhood, from Colonel Dyas, of Melville, but he sold the property soon after to Richard Kearney, of Waterford, in whose family it still remains. "The Gaul Bourkagh possessed, amongst other estates, the following in this neighbourhood:-Gaulstown, Ballincrea, Killaspy, Licketstown, Rathnasmolagh, Ballyhoomoge, Ballymontine, Davidstown, Little Gaulstown, Ballyhubbuck, Ballinlammy, Coolnaleen, Marterstown, and Ballinclare. It is said that a great part of this property was in your family by the marriage of Edmond, of Bawnlahan, with Miss De Burgo, and that it remained in their possession until the confiscation made by Cromwell of the fortunes of the old Irish families to enrich his followers. The Duke of Ormonde, on joining Cromwell, usurped several properties, and amongst the rest Ballinclare, Ballyhubbuck, and Ballinlammy. Other parts of the Gaul Bourkagh's property were given to two of Cromwell's officers, Bisshopp and Dyas. Bisshopp established himself at Gaulstown, part of which he called Bisshopp's Hall; Dyas, a little further on; his place was called Melville. "Edmond O'Donovan, the French officer (of whom you are so anxious to learn some particulars), was your grandfather's uncle; he came here to enlist Wild Geese,' and was taken prisoner at Waterford in the year 1738 or 1739. He had a brother [William] living in the country, whose son [Edmond], then aged nineteen years, happened that day to be in Waterford, and, with others, followed the crowd. He observed the prisoner make various signs to him, all of which passed unnoticed at the time, but that night he dreamed that the Captain he had seen that day was his uncle, and he found on inquiry that it was true. He never was heard of more by his family, and was probably killed at Fontenoy. "Yours most truly, "RICHARD O'SHEE." The exact year in which Edmond O'Donovan, commonly called of" Bawnlahan," settled in the county of Kilkenny, has not yet been determined, and must remain for future research. I made every effort in 1841 to fix the date of his flight, but I could get no monument of his race older than a tombstone, showing that his grandson, John Donovan of Ballynearl, in Iverk, was born in 1672. The tradition, which is very vivid, and truly romantie, is that he was killed at Ballinvegga, 1643. My uncle Michael, who was born in 1766, could give me no clue whatever to the year of his flight. The following is an abstract of his most artless letter on the subject: "Drumdowny, Sept. 20, 1841. "DEAR NEPHEW,-Edmond O'Donovan, the first of our family who settled in this neighbourhood, was the son of the chief of our name in Munster. He and O'Sullivan [Beare's son] had a dispute about the boundary between their estates, and they walked out together on a certain day to settle this dispute; but as there were no bounds those times but hills and rocks, the dispute between them became warm. O'Sullivan's son gave Edmond the lie; and Edmond, who could not bear the insult, gave him a stroke of his fist, which caused his death. He fled on horseback, and came here, bringing with him a store of gold in a driving bag. He came to Gallstown, and made friends with Gall Burke. There are, you must know, three kindreds of Galls here: Gall, Gall Burke, and Gall Duve, or Black Gall. Edmond married Catherine, Gall Burke's daughter, and had three sons by her. One of them went to sea; and, as Father Donovan, the Friar, relates,' he was the [maternal] grandfather of Buonaparte. The other brother built [repaired?] the Castle of Ballinlaw, and the third settled at Balmonteen. "I remember my grandmother, Mary Hoberlin, although I was but five years old when she died. The fortune that was got by her was Knock brack, Ballybraghee and Bawnnageloge. I could not tell you where the house of my grandfather stood on this townland [of Drumdowny], unless you were on the spot. "John O'Donovan, of Ballinearl, was the priest's father. He had three other sons ordained priests, who died in France. All John's children of Ballinearl were my father's first cousins; my father's brothers were John, Cornelius, William, and Richard." In another letter, dated Waterford, October 13, 1842, he writes: "All the account I can give now by tradition is that I heard my father say that Edmond O'Donovan was the first man of our family who came here from the County of Cork. He was the chieftain's son. He married Gall Burke's daughter, and had three sons by her; two of them went beyond seas,' and the third remained at home, and had sons and daughters, one of whom was John of Ballinearl, and the other my grandfather, who married Mary, daughter of Richard Hoberlin, who fell in love with him. He got three townlands as a fortune with her." It would appear that this fugitive, Edmond O'Donovan, had three sons, Richard, William, and Cornelius. In the letter just 1 Relates.—I made every search for Father Donovan's MSS., but in vain. He was of the Order of St. Francis, and lived at Kilmacow for many years. He spoke Irish and French fluently, and was well acquainted with the history of Ireland and the genealogies of Irish families, particularly those of Munster. He was so intimately acquainted with the characteristics of his own clan, that quoted, of my late uncle Michael, it is stated that two of these sons went "beyond seas," but I incline to think that this is not accurate; for Richard, his eldest son, who lived in the Castle of Ballinlaw, was certainly shot by the people of the county of Waterford at Snowhill, opposite Cheek Point, near the Meeting of the Three Waters; William, as it would appear, encouraged by the Count Gall von Bourckh, went into the service of the King of Poland,' where he attained the rank of Colonel, about A. D. 1670; and Cornelius, the ancestor of the Clan-Donovan of Ida and Iverk, remained at Balmontin [baile Mómtín], and married Rose Kavanagh, of the Ballyleigh family, in the county of Carlow, and is the ancestor of all the Gall-Burke Donovans, that are now extant in the barony of Ida and Iverk, in Ireland, as well as in New York, and other parts of the United States of America, and in the British service in the East Indies, &c. Of the Castle of Gallstown, and the armorial bearings of the Gall Burke family, the following particulars may be added: The Castle of Gallstown, which stood near the southern margin of Loch Cuillinn, now Holly Lake, in the old barony of Igrine, in the south of the county of Kilkenny, was standing in the year 1798, but it was, shortly after, pulled down, and the stones thereof used to build the house of a farmer named Griffin, in the immediate neighbourhood. The sculptured stone which formed the keystone of the archway of the castle gate, and which exhibited the armorial bearings of Walter Gall de Burgo, impaled with those of his wife Ellise Denn, was mutilated, and placed as a corner-stone in the gable end wall of Griffin's house, where I saw it in 1822; but when I visited Gallstown in the summer of 1841, I found that Griffin's house had been pulled down, and that no account of the stone exhibiting the Gall Burke's 1 The following extract from a letter addressed to the Rev. William Reeves, D. D., by Count Charles Mac Donnell, dated Palais Lubienski à Worsovia (Pologne Russe) 12th Feb., 1852, renders this very probable; but none of the race would appear to be now extant in Poland: "Will you have the kindness to send the hue and cry after O'Donovan. I have several O'Donovaniana-among others, a seal about 100 years old, with his family arms, crest, motto, and supporters, which I picked up in Cracow, where it was made. Only imagine, too, I caught some of them interlopers among the Polish Rioghdamhnas (all Polish nobles were Rioghdamhnas in the old times) in the seventeenth century. A brave Col. John Wm. Donovan and his son John were naturalized among the Polish nobility in 1684 by the Diet. If I could unearth him, I would send him [an account of] all his wandering relations [of Gallstown]. Tell him they were all very creditable, proper people. I give Very faithfully yours, "CHARLES MAC DONNELL.” 2 See "Annals of the Four Masters," A. D. 1585, p. 1839, and A. D. 1600, p. 2156. |