Colonel John Patrick O'KELLY of Aughrim
Seeking information about Colonel John Patrick O'KELLY of Aughrim and his family.
There is an account (known as the O'KELLY Letter) written down in 1932, from a version reputedly recounted in 1798 by Diarmud KELLY of Knocknahilla, Mullagh, West Clare, to his son John and his brother, Patrick's, sons (Teige and Patrick) that Colonel John Patrick O'KELLY, 'hereditary Prince of Hy Maine', raised an army - the 'Connaught Regiment' - in 1744 to fight for Charles Edward, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie', in Scotland at the Battle of Stirling. Colonel O'KELLY was killed at the Battle of Falkirk 1746. [Source: 'The Kelly Family of Kilmaley' by Tony MORGAN].
His widow, Eileen O'KELLY (nee McNAMARA) and her sons (Diarmud, John, Thomas and Morty) apparently fled to her native county, Clare.
According to O'Donovan J, The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many, commonly called O'Kelly's country (1843) p123, Colonel John Patrick O'KELLY's family 'was one of the most illustrious branches of the O'Kellys'.
Daryl Murphy (dasmurphy@hotmail.com)
