Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/305

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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mood, \^irginia, though of tender age at the time. He served on the staff of General Robert E. Lee. Michael .Archiliald Dinneen had four uncles on his mother's side killed in the civil war, one of them being Archibald Houston, who won much distinction. The grandfather of Mr. Dinneen, and father of John Hogan Dinneen, came to this country from Ireland.

The family to which Mr. Dinneen l:>elongs was distinguished and extremely ancient, and many members had held high office both in ecclesiastical and politic station in the history of Ireland. It was a branch of the Fox or MacSionnaighe family, whose official title was "Lords of Teffia," and whose pedigree has been authentically preserved by several branches of the family from the second century, A. D., to the present day. The arms of the Dinneen family are thus heraldically described : Arms : Argent on a mount in base vert an oak tree, the stem- en- twined with two serpents interwoven and erect respecting each other all ppr. Crest : An owl at gaze ppr. The original form of the Dinneen hereditary family name in the Gaelic or Irish language is 0"Doighain, meaning "the descendant (O') of Doigh- nain." Doighnain being the personal appel- lation of a celebrated commander of Gaelic gallowglasses or foot soldiers slain at the memorable battle of Clontarf, 1014 A. D. The word "doigh" in Irish or Celtic means hope or thought, and it is akin to the Greek, dokeo. meaning "to think." Celtic and Greek being kindred languages, that were spoken side by side on the plains of Europe for hun- dreds of years before the dawn of written history. Doighnain, chief ancestor of the Dinneen family was the l^rother of I'eice, v.'ho figures as No. 98 on the pedigree of the Fox family, the family descended from him being called O'Doighnain for hundreds of years till English spread in the land, when the old surname being anglicised to Din- neen. Dinan. Dinnen. Dignum, O'Dugenan. and even translated in some cases to Hope.

The Fox and Dinneen families Ijelong to what is called the line of Heremon in Irish genealogy, the other lines to which the an- cient ^lilesian families belong being those of Heber, Ir, and Ithe. The line of Here- mon is, however, much the most distin- guished of the group and it is to this line that most of the monarchs of Ireland be- long. Heremon was the seventh son of Mi- lesius of Spain, the semi-mythical character

to which most of the genealogies of Ireland are referred parallel to the Greek use of a similar godlike character, but he is the third ot the three sons who left any issue. From Heremon were descended the kings, nobil- ity, and gentry of the kingdoms or princi- ])alities of Connaught. Dalriada. Leinster, Meath. Orgiall. Ossory. of Scotland since the fifth century, of Ulster since the fourth, and of England since the reign of King Ilenry II. down to the present time. "The House of Heremon." writes O'Callaghan, "from the number of its princes, or great families, from the multitude of its distin- guished characters, as laymen or churchmen, from the extensive territories acquired by those belonging to it, at home or abroad, or in Alba (Scotland) as well as in Eirinn (Ire- land) — was regarded as by far the most illustrious ; so much so according to the best native authority, that it would be as reason- able to affirm that one pound was equal to one hundred pounds in value as it would be to compare any other line to that of Here- mon."

It is interesting to trace the line of pedi- gree of the Fox family from one of its chief ancestors, the monarch. Niall of the Nine Hostages, to the point where the Dinneen branch shoots forth, if only to note the lit- any of warriorlike names. Niall of the Nine Hostages, living in the early part of the fifth century. A. D.. was 126th high monarch of Ireland, and figures as No. 87 on the Fox or Alac Sionnaighe (fox) pedigree. The son of Niall in the direct line was Main, and his son was Brecan. The son of Brecan was F.rannan and his son was Aodh or Hugh. Bladhmhach. the son of Hugh had a brother named Aongus who was ancestor of the Loughnan or Loftus family of Meath. From Bladhmhach the direct line from son to son was as follows : Congall (son of Bladhm- hach). Colla, Giolla Brighid, Maolbeanach- tach or Benedict, Tagan and Beice. This Pieice had three warrior brothers. Doigh- nain. Cearnachan and Gabhtach, and it was from this Doighnain, son of Tagan, and brother of Beice, that the Dinneen and Din- nan families descend and derive their sur- name. Few kings have been more c-ele- brated in- history and legend than Niall of the Nine Hostages, descendant at the sev- enth remove from the renowned Conn of the Hundred Battles, also high king, ancestor of the Dinneen and Fo.x families, as well as f)f many of the royal and princely families