Mac Giolla Phádraig Osraighe Uachtarach ~ Fitzpatrick of Upper Ossory

The Fitzpatricks of Upper Ossory are called so following a 1541 decree by Henry VIII of England, which required that Barnaby MacGilpatricke and his kin 'utterly forsake and refuse the name'.

Much intrigue surrounds the ancient patrilineal origins of the clan, and there are three lineages to consider.

The lineage with the most substantial claim to be the descendants of the barons of Upper Ossory has a pedigree in Linea Antiqua, a work by Roger O’Farrell, with later annotations by William Beetham, the Ulster King of Arms (1820-1853). The pedigree traces from Reverend Joseph Fitzpatrick of Drumcondra, Dublin, back to John Fitzpatrick of Castletown, the second son of Florence, third Baron of Upper Ossory. The pedigree of the Drumcondra line was later confirmed by the Ulster King of Arms, Neville Wilkinson, in 1913. The direct male descendants of John Fitzpatrick of Castletown possess a Levantine haplotype, which challenges the notion of an ancient Irish origin for the family.

A second line of Fitzpatricks who trace their ancestry to Ossory (i.e., effectively modern-day County Kilkenny and County Laois) carry the Y-DNA signature, R-FT265133, which is associated with Norman-Irish surname families, notably Dalton (once de Antonē), Cody (once Mac Odo, which stems from the eponymous Odo Archdeacon), and Branan (once de Branham). The common pre-Irish origin of the families de Antonė and Archdeacon was the parish of Antonē in Cornwall, which, after 1066, came to be part of the vast estate of Robert, Count of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall. Meanwhile, the de Branham family originated in Brantham, Suffolk, which, also after 1066, was part of another vast estate granted to a Norman Lord – Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. 

Robert and Odo were full brothers and maternal half-brothers of William the Conqueror. Hence, the common paternity of County Kilkenny Daltons, Branans, and Codys, whose families provided high ranking clerics, militia, and the members of the judiciary to early Norman society in County Kilkenny, provides an intriguing origin narrative for the emergence of County Kilkenny and County Laois Fitzpatricks, among whom was an established clerical lineage.

And, a third lineage of Fitzpatricks, who carry the Germanic haplotype R-U106, is a well-established family in south County Kilkenny.