I AM OLD SCHOOL.

Callaghan Sept Arms

In direct line from Ceallachan (see note at the bottom of this page), King of Munster from 935 until his death in 954, comes the widespread family of O Callaghan. Ceallachan was also Chief of the Eoghanact tribe which included the most powerful families in Munster, including the MacCarthys. Ceallachan became a folk hero and is the ancestor of many of the families which are still in the County Cork area. Even further back than Ceallachan's time, there is a manuscript in Dublin's Genealogical Office showing the tree of posterity of Milo, circa 1400 bc, which includes the progenitors of the O Callaghans and continues up to AD 1614! There is also a manuscript that records a pedigree of the O Callaghan chiefs and their vast territories, from 900 up to 1933. They were settled in County Cork until about 1670 when, as with so many Gaelic families, they were driven to Connacht.

Genealogists believe the name Ceallachan is derived from the word strife