These ‘Annals', written in a very archaic language, difficult to be understood, even then, except by the learned, give us the reigns, deaths, genealogies, etc., not only of the high-kings of Ireland, but also of the provincial kings, chiefs, and heads of distinguished families, men of science, historians, poets, etc., with their respective dates given as accurately as the Masters were able to give them. They record the demise and succession of saints, abbots, bishops, and ecclesiastical dignitaries. They tell of the foundation and occasionally the overthrow of countless churches, castles, abbeys, convents, and religious institutions. They give meagre details of battles, murders, tribal wars, wars with the foreigners, battles with Norsemen, Normans, and English, and political changes. Sometimes they quote ancient verses in corroboration of the facts they mention, but no such verses are quoted prior to the third century. We have here the condensed pith and substance of the old vellum books of Ireland which were then in existence, but most of which, as the Four Masters foresaw, have long since perished. Their facts and dates are not their own facts and dates. From confused masses of very ancient matter, they, with labour and much sifting, drew forth their dates, and as far as possible synchronized their facts. It is not too much to say that there is no event in the whole of Irish history from the birth of Christ down to the beginning of the seventeenth century that the first enquiry of the student about it must not be: 'What do the Four Masters say of this?"

These ‘Annals' have been published, at least in part, three times, but are now always read in the edition of the great Irish scholar, John O'Donovan[2]. In this splendid work the Irish text is given with a translation into English and a mass of the most valuable notes, topographical, genealogical, and historical, the whole contained in seven great quarto volumes. So long as Irish history exists the "Annals of the Four Masters" will be read in O'Donovan's translation, and the name of O'Donovan will be inseparably connected with that of O'Clery.

There are so many other magnificent Irish works of old, to my envy of antiquarians, that the temptation to which I frequently fell victim was the ever-present challenge to delve further. The 737 page Annála Connacht (Annals of Connacht) covering the years 1224 to 1562 is a fascinating history of not only the province but of Ireland generally. It shows great scholarship and dedication by its unknown authors, although the last entry on page 711 ends amusingly enough with the sentence: "I am John and I am worse for the absence of Dolp".

Apart from the many history books, among them John O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees or The Origins and Stem of the Irish Race, and the Coleman Family History Report compiled by Gerard Delaney at the South Mayo Family Research Centre in Ballinrobe, other important sources used in the development of our family history are the Index to Griffith's Valuation of Ireland, 1848-1864, from Family Archives CD# 188, Irish Source Records 1500s-1800s CD#275, and the International Land records: Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1838, CD262. The index to one of Ireland's premier genealogical resources, Griffith's Valuation, references more than one million individuals who occupied property in Ireland between 1848 and 1864. It is, essentially, the only detailed guide to where in Ireland people lived during the mid-nineteenth century and what property they possessed. It is a record of extreme importance that can be used as a census substitute for the years before, during, and after the Great Famine. Few other records can be used to identify an Irish ancestor's exact place of origin in terms of a specific townland and civil parish. The Irish Source Records, 1500s-1800s comprises the images of the pages of thirteen volumes of Irish census, land, marriage, and probate records. This information was thought to have been lost forever in a 1922 fire at the Public Records Office in Dublin. While nearly all of Ireland's pre-1901 census records were destroyed, here you'll find extensively researched reconstructions of the 1841 and 1851 censuses.

To those of you who have joined me on this trip into the past, fáilte róimhaibh go léir. First up, we are going to look briefly at (i) the origin of Irish family names and at (ii) the descriptions by a few genealogical groups of the derivation of the surname Coleman or Ó Colmáin (Colmán and earlier Columhán). Then we'll have a brief look at (iii) O' Hart's Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland and the Coleman Lineage as well as the ancient Uí Fiachrach dynasty in northwest Connacht, a dynast of Niall of the Nine Hostages one of the sons of Eochaidh Muigh Meadhoin (also Eochu Mugmedón), a fourth century ‘high king' of Ireland. We will travel north and also east to where his descendants established the Northern Uí Neill dynasty, whose descendants were to dominate the Irish high kingship over a long period, and the Southern Uí Neill dynasty represented in particular by Clann Cholmáin (today the 'h' has been substituted for the Irish búilte (dot) above the letter 'C', a form of inflection that gave the C a slight guttural sound). By the time we finish our journey in the 21st Century, you should figuratively speaking be well versed in time travel, alternating on a regular basis between times past and present.