Nicholas Deevy

In the tranquil days of the early-Christian era, Laois was a haven of piety and sanctity, and the silent ruins which today are scattered throughout the county act as gentle, but poignant, reminders of the monastic era which originally shaped our Christian heritage. The sept or seven-fold system seems to have been a peculiarity of Gaelic civil life interwoven with ecclesiastical divisions and custom. An old common saying was "he (she or it) is the talk of the seven parishes." The 'Seven Laoises' was a loose description of both land divisions and clan/sept divisions and the following names were generally recognised as the Seven Septs of Laois: O'Devoy (O'Deevy), O'Doran, O'Dowling, McEvoy, O'Kelly, O'Lalor and O'Moore.

These Seven Septs of Laois are central to the county's deep heritage and their transplantation from Laois is a crucial aspect of Laois' history.

On the 3rd May 1601, Sir George Carew, President of Munster, wrote to the Privy Council that Patrick Crosbie had been employed in Her Majesty's service for close to twenty years, and during which time "he had proved himself an honest and faithful subject." In reward for these services he was granted lands in Laois and an extensive territory in North Kerry-lands that had been forfeited by the Fitzmaurices, the Stacks, the MacElligotts and the Cantillons for complicity in the Desmond rebellion. His most important service to the Goverment was the carrying out of the transplantation to Munster of the Seven Septs of Laois. For this purpose he was promised a grant of the district around Tarbert on which to plant close to three hundred members of the leading families of the Seven Laois Septs. In this way the English Government hoped to effect the pacification of Laois which was the scene of continual warfare since planters were first settled there in 1549.

When, on the 17th August 1600, the famous Owny MacRory Óg O'More (O'Moore), Chief of Laois, fell sword in hand, the cause of the Septs was shattered, and, says the Four Masters, "Laois was seized by the English, and they proceeded to repair their mansions of lime and stone, and to settle in the old seats of the race of Conall Cearnach, to whom Laois was the hereditary principality, for there was no heir worthy of it like Owny to defend it against them." Thus it was that the Government thought this would be a good opportunity, before the Septs recovered from their overthrow, to transplant their leading families to Munster or Connaught; for as long as an O'More was in Laois there would be trouble there for the planters.

In recognition of the important place which the Seven Septs hold in county Laois' past, a brief insight into the histories of each of the surnames of the seven families is presented.

The name Devoy is very well-known on account of the famous Fenian John Devoy (1842-1928), and it is surprising to find it so rare that in none of the years for which we have detailed statistics was there more than a combined total of 19 birth regis­trations for Devoy and its variant Deevy.

Judging by up-to-date directories and voters' lists, this low figure would appear to be somewhat misleading. The O'Devoys or O'Deevys were one of the "Seven Septs of Laois," the chief men of which were transplanted to Co. Kerry in 1609.

This transplantation had little success with any of these septs, and least of all with the O'Devoys since that name is not located in Co. Kerry now, nor was it in 1659. It has always been associated with Laois and adjoin­ing midland counties. As regards the Gaelic form of the name, O'Donovan places the sept from time immemorial in the barony of Maryborough (Portlaoise) and says that when sur­names came into existence it took that of Ó Duibh which, he says, in due course became the well-known Laois name of Deevy or Devoy. This is supported by an entry in the Annals of the Four Masters (1071) where the lord of Creamhthainn (i.e. Maryborough) is called Ó Duibh. Woulfe, however, gives Ó Dubhuidhe as the Irish form: the early anglicisations, written down phonetically from the spoken Gaelic, support this: O'Dyvoy, O'Dyvoie, O'Dywy, O'Dewy, O'Devy, O'Divie are some of these; all of Laoismen in the 16th century.

A later example of the equation of Devoy with these other forms is afforded by the Ossory will of Edmund Divey, "alias Devoy," of Smithstown (1681). On the other hand, Woulfe's state­ment that Ó Dubhuidhe is a form of Ó Dubhuidhir (O'Dwyer) can hardly be admitted in the absence of the evidence for it. With Duff being practically unknown in Co. Laois, where Deevey and Devoy do exist, O'Donovan's opinion must be accepted, with the qualifi­cation that Ó Duibhidhe or Ó Dubhuidhe was the sur­name adopted, or possibly that Ó Duibh in the course of time became Ó Duibhidhe.