JOURNAL OF THE COUNTY DONEGP...L HISTORICAL. SOCIETY fun1iture of No. 15 Merrion Square North, both for her sole use and benefit to he enjoyed or disposed of in any way she might think fit. As Si: Neal's two eldest sons had predeceased him without male issue the title, estates and interest on mortgages passed to the third boy, Sir Neal Beag (2nd Bart.). He was instrumental in bringing the Cathach back from the Continent. Upon learning that it was lying in a Belgian monastery ,with instructions that it was to be delivered to whosoever should ·prove himseH to ibe Head of the O'Donnells, he sUJbmi tted a claim that was accepted. His twin brother, Conell brought the venerable relic baak to Ireland and so, after its long repose in a foreign land the Cathach was once more restored to the family. Sir Neal Beag died in 1:827 after making arrangements for a jointure to his widow ·(who was the daughter of Lord Annesly) and legacies for his younger son and daughters. His elder son, Sir Hugh James Mor (3rd. Bart.) succeeded him. His reign !Wa& a short one. He died of gunshot wounds on 29th July, 1828, whether by accident, suicide, or worse · is not known. He too charged the estate with a yearly jointure for his widow and a legacy for an unborn child, that turned out to be a girl. The 3rd Baronet's brother, Sir Richard Annesly O'Donnell {4th Bart.). born 1808, next got the title. He and some local merchants ibore the expense of erecting a pier at Newport that accommodated ships UP: to 200 tons. Sir Richal'ds's sister, Mary, became a Catholic and entered the Presentation Order of nuns in Galrwav. .He, however, t-0ok reli.e:ion the other way ·.n.nd was a bit of a "hot-Gos'Peler." O'Donnvan in his "Ordnance Survey ;Letters for Mavo" calls him the "D'lrlbvite Preacher." Despite thi~ he pre~ented Dean Waldron of Con.E? with 2 acres of land rent-fre-e for a Catholic school in 1852. 271. He married in 1831 but was hard set with all the encumbrances on his estate to make any arrangements to secure his w1fe's welllleing in case she survived him. He was not able to pay the amounts due to his brother's wido,w and child and was forced to sell the property piecemeal. In 1856 he disposed of 7,770 acres ·at ;Cong to Sir Benjamin Guinness. The thing must have gone very far as only a small fraction of the first Baronet's wide domains descended to his own son, George Glendinning O'Donel, who was horn in 1832. Sir George was the fifth and last · Baronet. He married a Catholic lady and it was pro1ba:bly at her instigation he purchased and donated the site for the Mercy Convent in Newport in 1884. Two years later he presented the nuns with two 1beautiful stained glass windows executed in Munich. With his death in 1889 the Newport Branch of the O'Donr. :-!ls became extinct in the male line. Sir George's niece, Millicent .<\cgnes, daughter of his brother, Richard Alexander, who had predeceased him, succeeded to the property. She had married Edwin Thomas and he took the surname "O'Donel" by deed-poll in 1889. They had one son, George Frederick Thomas, an officer in the British Army who iWas killed in action on 16th June, 1915. He left a widow but no family. After the death of the parents (.1933) she sold what was left of the place-Newport House and demense---to a Mr. MacShane, a returned American. He in turn sold to a Mr. Smith, an English !businessman, who enlarged "the big house" and is now conducting it as "Newport House Hotel." The Newport Branch still continues strong in the female line. The first Baronet's youngest daughter, Maria, married Dodwell Browne of Rahines, Castlebar, who is mentioned in the Wilt She died on 22nd Fe'bruary, 11809, aged 36 years. There is a wall-talblet to her memory
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