Hello, William -- First, a question: How do you descend from the Clannaboy (There's another spelling!) O'Neills? As to Skerry, I suggest you go to http://www.cgocable.net/~aoneill/homepg.htm and click on "The Royal O'Neill Family Genealogy Part 2 - Clan Aedh Buidhe" in the panel on the left. About 2/3 of the way down the page, just after no. 127, "French" John O'Neill, you'll find a link to some photos of Skerry Church (taken by my wife and me in 1997). That'll show you what sort of shape it's currently in (ruins). There are no graves to be found inside the ruin, just junk. Sad. Also, you'll see in the paragraph on French John that he built a mausoleum on the Shane's Castle grounds. There's a link to a photo of that, too. French John says elsewhere that his father, Brian, was buried at Skerry. Now Skerry is/was a Catholic burial ground, hence its current neglect. And this was a period in Irish history when the English were looking for land to take away from the Catholic Irish. So somewhere along here, the O'Neills became Protestant in order to keep at least some of their lands. Note in this context no. 124, Shane MacBrien O'Neill, wherein you'll learn about some of the lands the O'Neills actually lost at that time. Based on French John's construction of the mausoleum, one would guess that his father was a Catholic and John himself a Protestant. You'll probably get replies from others on this subject. So that's about it for Skerry and the conversion of the Clannaboy O'Neills, at least as far as my knowledge of them goes. By the way, I and a number of other folks on this list (tho not at all everyone, as has been well pointed out recently), are descended from a certain Hugh O'Neill (or O'Neale) who came to the New World around 1725-1730, supposedly by jumping ship while in the British Navy. Whether this Hugh can be identified with French John's brother Hugh is a subject I will not enter in to now, since it's not the point of this note. It's also a point of rather intense contention for some people. ;-) Hope this helps. Cheers -- John ---- John O'Neall Genas, France |-----Original Message----- |From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] |Sent: jeudi 1 octobre 1998 23:30 |To: [email protected] |Subject: [ONEALL-L] Skerry | | |I believe I am descended from the O'Neills of Clanneboy/ Clandeboy (The |O'Neills of Shane's Castle.) Several of my ancestral family members are |buried in Skerry Burial Grounds near Slemish Mountain in County |Antrim, Ire. |Skerry was the family burial grounds for the O'Neills of Shane's |Castle. As |far back as I can trace my family, they have been protestants. | |Does anyone in this newsgroup have any information about the old church at |Skerry that they will share with me? Does a list exist of the |names of those |who are buried at Skerry? I am interested in anything that has |been written |about Skerry. | |Many thanks. | |William O'Neil |Coraopolis, PA. |[email protected] | |