O'Shaughnessy

Name Origin

O'Shaughnessy is one of Galway's great surname families — lords of Kinelea in south Galway, a family that maintained its identity through plantation, Cromwellian transplantation, and the Famine.

Historical Background

The O'Shaughnessy surname — Ó Seachnasaigh in Gaelic — comes from a personal name whose meaning is disputed but sometimes rendered as the elusive or eloping one. The family were lords of Kinelea, a territory in south Galway between Loughrea and the River Dunkellin, and one of the sub-kingdoms of the great Connacht province. Their castle at Gort — now known as Kinvara Castle — commanded the eastern shore of Galway Bay.

The O'Shaughnessys were allies of the Burkes (de Burgh) and navigated the complex politics of Connacht through the medieval period, maintaining their lordship through the Norman presence by aligning with the most powerful Anglo-Norman family in the province. When the Burkes became effectively Gaelicised, the O'Shaughnessys moved with them, and the two families were closely intertwined through the late medieval period.

The Cromwellian transplantation of the 1650s was catastrophic for Connacht Gaelic families. The policy of removing Catholic landowners east of the Shannon and transplanting them to Connacht (in theory) left many Galway families dispossessed. The O'Shaughnessys lost their Kinelea lordship but some family members retained smaller holdings as the Act of Settlement was partially reversed under later Stuart monarchs.

The Jacobite wars

Like many Galway Gaelic families, the O'Shaughnessys supported James II in the Williamite Wars of 1689–1691. The defeat at the Battle of Aughrim — fought just north of O'Shaughnessy territory — and the subsequent Treaty of Limerick effectively ended Gaelic landownership in Connacht for a generation. Many O'Shaughnessys joined the Wild Geese, the Irish Catholic soldiers who emigrated to serve in the armies of France, Spain, and Austria.

The Famine

South Galway was severely affected by the Famine. The O'Shaughnessy families of Kinelea dispersed widely in the 1845–1852 period, primarily to New York, Boston, and Chicago.

O'Shaughnessy in the Diaspora

In the United States, O'Shaughnessy concentrates in New York, Chicago, and Boston — the great Connacht diaspora cities. The name is found in the records of the Friendly Sons of St Patrick and the Ancient Order of Hibernians across these cities.

Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844–1881), the Victorian poet born in London of Irish parents, composed "Ode" — which begins "We are the music makers / And we are the dreamers of dreams" — words so evocative they were adapted by Willy Wonka and used across Anglophone culture for a century and a half.

Notable O'Shaughnessy Families

• Arthur O'Shaughnessy — Victorian poet, author of 'We are the music makers'
• Col. Sir William O'Shaughnessy — 19th-century polymath who introduced cannabis to Western medicine
• Dennis O'Shaughnessy — Galway-born Famine emigrant, patriarch of Chicago O'Shaughnessy line