O'Beolan or Ross

Here is some new information from old Celtic Monthly sourced above that has an Irish flavor. Used were some online translations to give some idea of the meaning. Needs someone familiar with Gaelic to help with it. Needs to be sourced.

Aillean was Fearchar's mother, “nighean righ Mhanainn,”

Aillean means beautiful like a flower defined in text.
Nighean means daughter of.
Mhanain is Irish for of Man in an online Irish translation. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CASICM_enUS886&sxsrf=ACYBGNQ...
Righ in Irish means King in an online translation from Irish.
https://www.google.com/search?q=irisg+to+english&rlz=1CASICM_en...

Fhearchair mhic Airt mhic Aillinn.

Mhic is son of in early Irish.
Airt in Gaelic means Aird. That's a familiar word.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CASICM_enUS886&sxsrf=ACYBGNR...
Aillin is the name of a mythical character who burned the Hill of Tarah in Ireland. Tarah was associated with the Applecross Abbots who started in Ireland...the "O" in the name on the maternal side.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aillen

Les Ross -- the work you just linked to is a story written for the Oban festival in, I guess from the printing, 1894. It is not a useful source. Though as a story it took first prize that year, so there's that.

The Oban festival is still going, of course -- https://www.ancomunn.co.uk/localmods/detail/oban

Alexander MacKenzie, Editor of Celtic Magazine, in his History of the MacKenzies, 1892, tells us the O'Beolan Earls of Ross and Applecross are one and the same. MacKenzie's 3 families modified genealogy graph tells the history of Fearchar Earl of Ross, Clan Ross and the MacKenzies.
https://archive.org/details/historymackenzi00mackgoog/page/n64/mode....

Page 39 shows the MacKenzie graph. MacKenzie adds The Priest, An Sagart as father of Fearchar. This is different from Skene who has Gillanrias after Fearchar. And MacKenzie says he found some more people than Skene had from a second MacKenzie manuscript that changes the numbers for the Rosses. And MacKenzie talks of an Earl Gillandres in his text whom he says was grandfather or great grandfather of Fearchar. So Mackenzie has them both as grandfather of Fearchar, Earl of Ross, on the graph for Gillanrias and in his text for Earl Gillandres, but opens the possibility of great grandfather.

The Clan Gillander article on Wikipedia seems to have Earl Gillandres and Gillandrias interchangeable:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Gillanders:

One caution is I think they have Gillion of Aird in the 10th century mixed-up with Earl Gillandres of 1160.

All this points to Earl Gillandres of Wester Ross (North Argyll maybe further south). Earl Malcolm MacHeth, was of Ross-shire (Easter Ross).

Thanks Anne. A fun link. Did have some Irish words in it at least.

One more thing -- there is a idea that son of the priest refers to the St. Duthac Shrine. Fearchar built it as Earl of Ross: "A chapel was built in his (St.Duthac's) honour and a sanctuary established at Tain by the great Ferchar mac in tSagairt, first Earl or Mormaer of Ross in the thirteenth century, and was ministered by the Norbertine canons of Fearn Abbey."

The Norbertine Canons were a famous arm of the Catholic Church whose founder was born in Germany and moved to France where the order began.

Earl of Ross was a strictly secular position.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Duthac

If sourced the Celtic Monthly quote above would be oral tradition perhaps. We can go from there.

I might add that Alexander MacKenzie, Editor of Celtic Magazine, was of the opinion that Gillion of Aird and Beolan (Bjolan) of the Norse (Icelandic) sagas were the same:

"It is established to the satisfaction of all reasonable men that the Applecross and O'Beolan Earls of Ross were one and the same, and that they were descended from Gilleoin na h' Airde, corrupted in the Norse Sagas into "Beolan" [Bjolan]."

One of the problems with a great deal of scholarship from the 19th century -- which would include MacKenzie -- is that one didn't actually have to back up statements. One could just say "it is established to the satisfaction of all reasonable men," without necessarily backing it up.

Perhaps he does, elsewhere!

Good point as you always make. I am not able to check for all of that myself, but MacKenzie makes that comment a couple of times in his MacKenzie History. Whoever does the research and they need to will have to sort through lots of material if you count Celtic Magazine and all his books. Thanks for the good direction.

Hi Sharon, I was curious about this also so I had my mothers surname Bolan tested. Her Mac Beólain-Bolan family is R-A260 > Uí Briúin Seóla of Connacht. The more likely relation to the O'Bolan of Ross would be R-A260 in my opinion.

I am aware. I had my mothers brother test his Y-DNA.

Unfortunately, The Bolan paper trail is incomplete so there is no way of knowing from which county in Ireland they immigrated to the US from but it is suspected they immigrated from Roscommon.

However, according to the Ancient "Crichaireacht Cinedach Nduchasa Muinteri Murchada" (Territories Of The Hereditary Proprietors Of Muinter Murchada), it was recorded that Mac Beólain was the keeper of the black bell of St. Patrick at Killower.

Hey, I'm glad to finally meet an L226 Boland. I was beginning to think it was a myth. I'd like to know who can claim themselves heirs to BallyBolan.

Btw, Brian Boru and the O'Brien family surname originates from the Uí Briúin Seóla.

That's right, Boland L226 are the Royal heirs of Thomond at MountShannon (Baile Ui Bheollain)!

The traditional genealogy of the Bolands of Dal gCais have them descending from a brother of Brian Boru and it was recorded that Brian Boru's mother was Bé Binn inion Urchadh, a Princess of the Uí Briúin Seóla.