2B ROHERTY: OUR 2011 HOLIDAY CARD

I welcome everyone from around the world to join in my blog! I would, however,
like to especially invite participation from anyone Roherty/Rafferty. We are a
unique lot with part of our ancestry originating in Ireland and now part from
whomever our ancestors blended with. I myself am primarily Irish and Norwegian.
We all have hugely diverse backgrounds and life experiences and I'd love to hear
from you all. The following Roherty heritage background comes from a business in
Ireland name HOUSE OF NAMES in Dublin.
RohertyTERRITORY: The surname Roherty is now
rare in Ireland, and is all but exclusive to Donegal where it is particularly
associated with the region of Inishkeel; Roarty is a form more widely found in
Donegal, Derry and Tyrone, but most descendants of the Roherty sept are now
known by the surname Rafferty which has some two thousand five hundred bearers
throughout Ulster and Leinster. The ancestors of the Rohertys are traditionally
said to have numbered among the descendants of Naill of the Nine Hostages, King
of Ireland 379-406 AD, tracing their lineage via his son Conall Gulban from whom
they took their clan name Cinel Conaill, or ‘descendants fo Conall”. A famed
ecclesiastical sept, the Rohertys for many years held the office of co-arbs (or
hereditary lay heads) of the church of St Colmcille on Tory Island. A second
sept belonged to the clan Ui Fiachrach of Sligo (descended from Fiachra, brother
of Niall of the Nine Hostages) where they were described as one of ‘the Seven
Pillars of Skreen”.MEANING: The original Irish surname was Ua
Robhartaigh, or ‘grandson/descendant of Robhartach”, a forename meaning “full
tid”. Local dialect soon rendered this both O Rabhartaigh and O Raithbheartaigh,
a Quo Rafferty, which later scribes mistakenly accorded the meaning of
“prosperity-wielder”.ANCESTORS: Aenghus O Robhartaigh, hermit of Derry,
died in the year 967. An O Rabhartaigh was erenagh (church guardian) of Loath
and died in 1081, while Domhnall O Raithbheartaigh, co-arb of St Colmcille, died
in 1098. Dermot O Raithbheartaigh, abbot of Durrow in Ossory, died in 1190.
Several of the sept appear in Elizabethan rolls, and a Graine O Raithbheartaigh
is recorded in state papers dated 1603. Griffith, in his “Valuation” (acensus of
households taken in the mid-nineteenth century), recorde just three Roherty
houselolders in Ireland, all of whom dwelt at Inishkeel; Charles, Daniea and
Michael Roherty.
COAT OF
ARMS: On a field of ermine, a spotted fur used to edge the cloaks of noblemen
which has come to symbolize Honor, Dignity and Nobility, is a black eagle for
Valour and Vigilance, over which is a yellow fess charged with two salmon,
emblems of Wisdom but here said to allude to Full Tide, as in the surname.

Friday, December 23, 2011

OUR 2011 HOLIDAY CARD

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