No.

Date Elected

Taoiseach (Chieftain)

Home

Tanaiste (Chieftain Elect)

Home

Years Served

1

July 1990

John B. O'Day, Jr.

Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, USA

none

n/a

1990 to 1993

2

July 1993

John B. O'Day, Jr.

Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, USA

Michael O'Dea

Dublin, Ireland

1993 to 1996

3

July 1996

Michael O'Dea

Dublin, Ireland

Bill O'Day

Wisconsin, USA

1996 to 1999

4

July 1999

Bill O'Day

Wisconsin, USA

Anderson O'Day

South Carolina, USA

1999 to 2002

5

July 2002

Anderson O'Day

South Carolina, USA

Sue Poole

South Australia

2002 to 2005

6

July 2005

Sue Poole

South Australia

John B O’Day III

Wisconsin, USA

2005 to 2008

7

July 2008

John B. O’Day III

Wisconsin, USA

Bill Dea

Iowa, USA

2008 to 2011

The O'Dea Clan

O'Dea Clan members from throughout the world gathered at Dysert O'Dea in 1990 for the first time since the Flight of the Wild Geese in 1691. Meeting in nearby Ennis, these Clan representatives formed the Dysert O'Dea Clan Association (as Gaélige: Cumann Chlann Díseart Ó Déaghaidh) to facilitate and encourage exchange between Clan members and to promote research into the history and genealogy of the O'Dea Clan.

The renascent Clan elected John B. O'Day of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin,  owner and restorer of Dysert O'Dea Castle, as first Taoiseach (Chieftain) of the Association.  Jack headed the Clan for two terms and is now Hereditary Chieftain of the O'Deas.

"Rísteárd Ua Cronín, Historian of the O'Dea Clan, presents the Certificate of Authority to Mr. John B. O'Day, Junior, who was the first O'Dea Chieftain elected since the 17th century by members of the clan from all over the world."   ( Photo and caption from The Clare Champion, July 13, 1990.)

EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL

O'DEA CLAN GATHERING

8 to 11 July 2011

Old Ground Hotel

Ennis, Co. Clare

Make your plans now!
Programme & Registration information available September 2010
Attendance will be limited.

**********************

Madison, Wisconsin, USA Gathering - July 2006
 View photos from the Wisconsin 2006 Clan Gathering here.

Adelaide, South Australia Gathering - February 2007
 View photos from the Adelaide 2007 Clan Gathering here.

Ennis, County Clare Gathering - July 2008
 View photos from the Ennis 2008 Clan Gathering here.

Early History

During the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., lands were allotted to the various Celtic clans of noble pedigree. The O'Deas became lords of that part of North West Clare between the river Fergus to the East, the Burren to the North, and the Atlantic ocean to the West.

Early in the 8th century a pious hermit named Tóla was given a plot of land near the O'Dea stronghold. Here he set about organizing a small monastic community. Tóla built a little church in Dysert about 700 A.D., parts of which are incorporated into the present church at Dysert O'Dea.

The chief who gave his own personal name to Clan O'Dea was Déaghaidh (pronounced Day), who is referred to in Keating's History of Ireland under the year 934 A.D, where he describes the rescue of Ceallachán (King of Munster) from his capture on a Viking ship at Dundalk. "Cinneide (Brian Boru's father) also brought five hundred men from Dal gCais (Co. Clare) under Déaghaidh son of Domhnall (ancestor of the O'Deas) together with those who came from the other free clans of Munster." The O'Deas, therefore, were one of the first families in Europe to have a surname, which they adopted before King Brian Boru made it compulsory early in the 11th century.

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a time of chaos throughout Ireland. There are many references to the O'Deas showing that they were involved in numerous civil wars and inter-tribal conflicts. In August of 1317, a great meeting of the Dalcassian chiefs was held at Rathlaheen. It was decided that they would meet a week later at Ruan, from whence they marched northwards past Tullach O'Dea until they reached the Cistercian Abbey of Corocomruadh. Numbered in this great army were many of the major and minor clans of County Clare. In opposition, Donnchadh, grandson of Brian Rua, gathered his forces and was overwhelmingly defeated in the battle of Lough Raska near Corcomruadh Abbey.

Copyright © 2001 Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Dysert O Dea Clan Association.

The O'Dea Clan and Surname

The name O'Dea (in Irish Ó Deághaidh) is associated "almost exclusively with County Clare and areas . . . which immediately adjoin it," writes Edward MacLysaght, the foremost authority on Irish surnames. He notes that the normal pronunciation of the name in English approximates O'Day, but that "some O'Deas call themselves O'Dee" when speaking the name.

MacLysaght adds that an "Irish variant" of the surname, Ó Diaghaidh, common to parts of Counties Tipperary and Waterford, is usually anglicized as O'Dee in both written and spoken forms. The Dysert O'Dea Clan Association welcomes anyone descended from these Irish ancestries, whatever contemporary spelling or pronunciation their surname has assumed.

The ancestral seat of Clan Ó Deághaidh is the region around Dysert O'Dea in the barony of Inchiquin in central County Clare. In early medieval times that area was part of the Kingdom of Thomond, which embraced much of southwest and south-central Ireland.

By the early thirteenth century, two regions on Thomond's eastern frontier--the Slieve Ardagh hills of Tipperary and the Slieverue (Sliabh Ruadh) of south Kilkenny--became home to a group or groups of O'Deas. Whether these O'Deas were warriors sent from Clare to defend east Thomond from Norman attack or whether they constitute a distinct sept remains an open question. In any case, by the end of the medieval era the Slieveardagh and Slieverue had joined Inchiquin in Clare as recognized "O'Dea country."

Over the next five hundred years, pushed and pulled by economic and political forces of the times, members of the O'Dea Clan spread outward from those two regions to other counties of Ireland, to continental Europe, and to the Americas and Australia.

As evidenced by Griffith's Valuation, the majority of O'Deas who had not left Ireland before the 1850's still lived in Clare or the adjacent counties of Limerick, Tipperary and Galway. Except in Clare, where the Irish root of the surname held fast, names without the Ó prefix - both Day and Dea - were common. In county Kerry across the Shannon estuary from Clare, as well as in South Tipperary and Waterford, the use of Dee and O'Dee prevailed. Smaller but significant numbers of the O'Dea Clan resided in Cork, Dublin, Laois, Offaly, Wexford and a dozen other counties by the 1850's.

A mixture of O'Deas peopled the province of Connaught, where migrants from nearby Clare comingled with "FitzGerald O'Dea's" expelled from Kilkenny and Waterford in Cromwellian times. Whether by choice, by chance, or by conqueror's fiat some of the O'Deas in Galway and Mayo bore the English surname Godwin into the twentieth century.

CONSTITUTION

1. The Association shall be called the "Dysert O'Dea Clan Association", as Gaeilge:

"Cumann Chlann Diseart O Deaghaidh".

2. The Objects of the Association are to:

• Facilitate and encourage exchange between Clan members to research the history and genealogy, ancient and modem, of the O'Dea Clan.

• Foster kinship, establish friendships, rekindle relationships.

• Promote the Clan and organise Clan Gatherings.

• Inform the Clan membership of its activities and promotions by publishing a regular Newsletter.

3. Membership shall be open to all persons who bear the surname or maiden name O'Dea (including O'Day, O'Dee, Day or Dee), and their relations, and others wishing to promote the objects of the Association.

4. All members shall pay an annual membership fee or subscription. The elected Committee shall set the annual membership fee, which shall be approved at the Clan Gathering. This fee shall be set so that income and expenditure are in balance. The subscription shall be payable each three years in conjunction with the Clan Gathering. There will be individual and family/household membership, the latter entitling a maximum of two votes to persons of that family/household over 18 years who are paid-up and present.

5. Membership subscriptions and any other income received by the Association shall be lodged to a bank account in the name of the association. Withdrawals from the account shall be made solely on the joint signatures of any two of the chairman, secretary, or joint treasurers. Two signatories shall be based in Ireland.

6. The affairs of the Clan shall be managed by the Clan Committee comprising:

Taoiseach (Chieftain)

Tanaiste (Chieftain elect)

Chairman

Secretary and

Two joint Treasurers.

From time to time, the above officers may coopt additional persons to further the Objects of the Association.

7. Members shall be entitled to visit the Castle at Dysert free of charge, receive a copy of the regular Newsletter, and be updated on developments. The Newsletter shall have an Editor and an Assistant Editor. They will be appointed by the Committee and preferably, one shall be based outside Ireland and one based in Ireland. It shall be entitled the "O'Dea Clan Chronicle".

8. It shall be the responsibility of the Committee to ensure that the O'Dea Clan Gathering is organised on a three year basis. Notification of a subsequent Gathering shall be sent to all those who attended the previous one.

9. Officers shall be elected at each Clan Gathering by members who are present and fully paid-up. Current Title holders shall retire from their offices at the end of the Gathering, with the exception of the Tanaiste, who shall become the Taoiseach for the subsequent three year period. The previous officer board shall oversee the election of new officers. All office holders shall be entitled to re-election. Nominations for election must be received, in writing by the Tanaiste, who will publish them, at least twenty four hours prior to the election.

10. The Clan Committee shall hold a formal General Meeting at the Clan Gathering at which Reports shall be presented by the Chairman, and the Joint Treasurers, and other officers. Other meetings shall be held as required.

11. This Constitution shall be approved at the second Clan Gathering together with any amendments proposed and agreed at this second Gathering subject to a simple majority of those present and eligible to vote. Thereafter, proposed amendments must be advised to the secretary in writing at least a week before Clan Gatherings. These will be published on the first day of the Gathering and a two thirds majority of those present and eligible to vote shall be required to carry any such amendments.

Ennis, Co. Clare, July 1990

Approved at the Second Triennial Clan Gathering, Ennis, Co. Clare, July 1993

The Battle of Dysert O'Dea, 1318

When Richard de Clare heard of the devastating defeat of his allies at Corcomruadh, he decided to attack O'Dea at Dysert and so cut off the strong arm of the combined Gaelic opposition. His troops arrived at Ruan on the morning of May 10, 1318, and were divided into three columns. The first column, headed by his son, marched northwards to Tullach O'Dea to cut off help which might arrive from O'Connor of Ennistymon. The second division marched southwards towards Magowna to intercept any support from that side. The third division, under his own command, marched westwards towards Dysert O'Dea, the home of Conor O'Dea.

When Conor got news that such a large force of English and Irish mercenaries were advancing on him, he sent messengers to the neighboring clans for aid while he hastily put together a strategy for defense. With a small band of followers, he maintained a stand at the ford on the Fergus (where Macken Bridge now stands) and held back the Anglo-Norman advance while his men took up an ambush position behind him. De Clare, seeing only a small body of Conor O'Dea's men at the ford, rushed across with some English knights and was immediately surrounded by the O'Deas. He was felled by the axe of Conor O'Dea himself and was hacked to pieces by others while the main body of his troops looked on helplessly from the opposite bank of the stream.

The enraged Anglo-Normans fought their way across the stream and surrounded the O'Deas. Suddenly, Feilim O'Connor's troops charged down the hill of Scamhall (Scool) and cut a path through the English to join O'Dea in the fray. De Clare's son arrived on the scene and was cut down and killed by Feilim O'Connor.

About this time news reach Muircheartach O'Brien, who was encamped about 10 miles east of Dysert O'Dea, that O'Dea and O'Connor were sorely pressed by the English. He and his men rushed to the battle as fast as their horses could gallop. O'Connor was first to see them arrive and thought they were more English reinforcements which caused him to despair, but he was soon delighted when he heard their Gaelic war cries.

Soon Lochlann O'Hehir and the MacNamaras joined the fight. The English continued to fight bravely and fiercely. Their commanders fell where they stood and they were annihilated almost to a man. Those of the race of Brian Rua who made it across the Shannon were banished forever from the Kingdom of Thomond. Later the Irish arrived at Bunratty to find the castle ablaze and de Clare's wife and household fled to England.

Since that day in May 1318, no Englishman held power or land in Country Clare for over two hundred years. So began an era of peace and prosperity which had not been seen since the coming of the Danes five hundred years before.

Copyright © 2001 Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Dysert O Dea Clan Association.

Clan Archives

All O'Deas or O'Dea descendants are invited to send ancestor charts, family histories or compiled genealogies of their particular Clan line to the Local Studies Center of the Clare County Libraries, the official repository of the O'Dea Clan Archives.The library offers an on-line list of extant church records, an index to Griffith's Valuations for County Clare, and a transcription of the 1901 Census for the county. To add to or to inquire about specific information from the O'Dea Clan Archives, write to:

O'Dea Clan Archives
Local Studies Centre
Clare County Libraries
Harmony Row
Ennis, Co. Clare