J·.)URNAL OF' THE COUNTY DONEGAL I-HSTORICAL S0CIETY great respect and delights to hear him romancing al::out the daring achievements of Sir Malmurry Mac Swinnedo, from whom, in a direct line, he is the fif.th in descent. . . . . I asked the fisherman if I could call him back to converse with him about his family and he desired me to go down b his own house and that he would make signs to him to return. On entering the house my e:l:'es were as.tounded at the sight of ~ able~bodied men (with thighs as thick as those of two fat bullocks) playing with deafening sound, the one upon the bagpipes, the other upon the fiddle. On enquiry I learned that these were the two sons of Mc..cSweeny :who had been, for the last month employed in Captain Hart's house. When the father arrived at the door of the fisherman's cabi.n, he, (eguipped in his professional attire and carrying about him the implements thaot characterise his profession) looked in at us wi•th that good humour a nd ease which travelling gentlemen are masters of and with a countenance which' spoke his descent from a goodly race. 1 . . . . He then sat down and told me his story, the misfortunes of his family,how he came to be a tinker and lastly his pedig r e e up to Sir Malmurry MacSwyne-Doe, which runs thus: 1. Sir Malmurry, the father of 2 Donogh .:.vtore, father of 3 Morogh, father of 4 Donogh Oge, father of 5 Torlogh, father of 6 Emon. now the senior, aged 61. 7 Donogh 8 Torlogh. He refers to his relative, Morogh MacSwyne of Machairemore in Boylagh, for a confirmation of this pedigree, and asserts that every old IMilesian from Fan.aid to Ballyshannon acknowledge ·him to be the senior . He is in great expectation of 241. d~s:overing Horn Head because C:iptain Hart told his youngest son that the Mac Sweenies (Swynes) were unjustly deprived, of bat part of Doe." (Sept. 5th, i835). .. y ~sterday we removed from Dunfanag-hv . . . . on the :-oad we were overtaken by Donn2ll" Mac Torlogh, Mhic Owen Mhic Bri:in, Mhic Todogh, Mhi~ Shane, Mhic Donogh '.\fac Swyne, of the race of Godfrey Na Bunoige MacSwyne of Doe, who is mJst intimately acquainted with this coast and from whom we obtained a great deal of informa- ~ion." (Sept.- llth 1835). "To-morrow will be Sund_ay, rnd I expEct to be able to see some of the ~lacSweenie:;,. They are a most glorious race, warmhearted, humane, obliging, manly and honourable and easily dist · nguishable from t ·h e other t;ibes by the peculiar cast of their physiognomy." (Ballyconnell Sept. 13, 1835). lKilmacrenan) - "This was a theatre of great sectarian fury uatil the year 1'810 when Manus O'Donnell aided by a feiw huma!le Protestants succeeded in the restoration of peace." ·(Letterkenny 18th Sept., 1835). THE INAUGURATION STONE OF THE O'DONNELLS "One of the sappers (?) wrote in the Kilmacrenan Name Book t h a t the O'Dormells were inaugurated at the Hill of Doon but Manus (O'Donnell) says that the O'Donnells were crowned (elected) within the old church (of Kilmacrenan) and that the stone on which they stood and which had on it the impression of a foot and other ornaments was to· be seen there when he was a boy (circa 1775). Some suppose th<J.t the stone was stolen, and that it is ~t. preserved but Manus states that it was destroyed by a .Mr. MacSwine, who having changed his religion, became a violent hater of every~ thing Irish. He tore down a great part of the old Church to obtain
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