DeArmond nobility of Chateauvieux?

The foreground area in the above photo is part of the Commune of Chateauvieux (equivalent to a rural U.S. township rather than a single village), located on a piedmont plateau in the French Alps, just south of the city of Gap.

Chateauvieux is familiar to generations of amateur family genealogists who have read "DeArmond Families of America" (1954) by Roscoe Carlisle "d'Armand". There are several locations throughout France referred to as Chateauvieux. Search engine map and photo correlation to nearby Venterol, France confirms that the location subject of this post without doubt includes the scenic view in the above photo. According to the opening pages of his book, the many variations of the DeArmond surname found in North America trace their origin back to the British Isles and once noble French Huguenot refugees. Roscoe conjectured that his proposed refugees during the late 17th century had made their way by supposed means and routes to London from their homes in the Dauphine or Haute Alps region where his referred to Chateauvieux is located in southeast France.

In fact, many thousands of Protestants (Huguenots) from much of France did indeed flee to neighboring Protestant countries during that time period. They did so to escape from mobs of Catholics intent on torturing and murdering the Calvinist Protestants after French king Louis XIV blindly responded to the urging of his pious converted Catholic second wife Madame de Maintenon who wished merely for Protestants to convert as she had done, not realizing the upheaval and suffering her influence would cause. In 1685 Louis unwisely revoked the Edict of Nantes religious peace treaty of 1598. This caused France to lose a vital segment of population, thereby weakening it's economic strength in Europe, felt even to present day. Roscoe was able to obtain copies of genealogies and an armorial coat of arms for the noble family known as d'Armand de Chateauvieux, whose Protestant male members he postulated to be the progenitors of the various DeArmond surname variant immigrant lines to North America that he listed in his work.

Right: Roscoe Carlisle "d'Armand". Left: Coat of Arms of d'Armand which Roscoe purported to represent the DeArmond family crest.

The nobility of France were primarily of Germanic ancestry stemming from invasions of Teutonic tribes after the collapse of the Roman empire. The name Armand, which is both a common given name and surname in Latin Europe, derives from the Germanic name of Heri-mann or Herman meaning "army man". The patronymic prefix d' or de means "of " or "from", and once signified status of nobility in pre-revolutionary France. Chateauvieux is actually two words meaning "old castle" with the adjective reversed in English. Roscoe proudly included several pages of genealogy records concerning members of the d'Armand de Chateauvieux extended family, with those who were Calvinist Protestants having to flee France after 1685. Here we first begin to notice the sketchy anomalies in Roscoe's narrative.

Huguenot refugee routes and population estimates for various areas accepting the Huguenots. Chateauvieux was located nearest to Grenoble shown on the map. Only possible piecemeal and no direct representation of refugee travel from this area to England is indicated. Musee virtual de Protestantisme Francais.

From the map just above, it appears that Roscoe's story line that the d'Armand refugee families would have taken the long arduous and dangerous journey from southeast France to London would have been highly unlikely for Huguenots from the Alps piedmont region or even later via Switzerland and then Holland. Chateauvieux was located in an area of predominately Protestant population as were many regions of southern France, known for the ill fated late medieval Albigensian Catharism movement. The infamous quote "Kill them all, let God sort them out!"(as to who is Cathar or Catholic) originates from a Catholic bishop's order in 1209 to slaughter several thousand surviving inhabitants of a French Mediterranean coastal city after being sacked by a crusader army. The Chateauvieux region of 1685 did not necessitate the immediate urgency to flee the country for survival as critically as in northern areas of France where most of the Huguenot refugees of England fled from to save their lives or escape persecution.

Sketch of French Protestant church on London's Threadneedle street. The church was demolished in 1840. About 1700, French Huguenot refugees represented about 5% of the population of London, most being skilled artisans or businessmen, helping to boost the British economy.

Roscoe's belief that d'Armand families of Chateauvieux found refuge in London and were members of the Protestant "French Church" on Threadneedle street is based on a very thin assumption. On page 15 he proposed that the father of the Armand brothers, listed as Espirit Armand,"was perhaps a younger son of Georges d'Armand de Chateauvieux of Venterol, France" (6 km from Chateauvieux). I have failed to discern where Roscoe specifies a citation reference that can be found to support this critical alleged birth location at Venterol. Without valid documentation to support this contention, his entire noble French Huguenot origin story is merely his wishful supposition. In his North American research, he scrupulously researched and noted sources, but in recounting his old world record research, he was subject to flights of childlike fantasy.  He cites several marriages and baptisms of the Armand family listed in the Threadneedle street church records. The registers of the French Church of Threadneedle street are extensive, covering nearly two centuries and are included in several volumes. They are very unwieldy to peruse on line. I was hoping to find justification for Roscoe's assumption of connection to the Chateauvieux area, but decided the effort to search the registers was not worth my time or interest.

Roscoe used a series of illogical and unfeasible logistical, social-economic and timeline  circumstances to support his fantasized contention of the Armands of London's Threadneedle street being one and the same as the early DeArmond surname variants found in 18th century northern Ireland. To preclude his own doubts about having any connection at all to the French Huguenots, he imagined the possibility of a Presbyterian minister led group emigration to America from England  instead of Ireland, that included Roscoe's ancestor. This was done in order to suggest his own surname line spelling was not corrupted by association with Irish names. The early DeArmond surname variant immigrants, including Roscoe's ancestor were exclusively Catholics who converted to the Presbyterian Church in order to lawfully take vacant tenant farming work. Presbyterianism was a Scottish and Ulster Scot religion not usually found or practiced widely in England. The English Anglicans considered Presbyterianism to be a "dissenter" or "non-conformist" religion and passed restrictive laws against it. This would later contribute to the rough and ready American Presbyterian Scots-Irish being the major patriot combatants in the revolution which was referred to as an "Irish war" by many British military officers. In his fairy tale version of history, Roscoe blindly ignored these critical historical factors or simply was ignorant of them.

My primary reason however, for discontinuing the effort to follow Roscoe's contention of an ancestral connection of the London Armand family to Chateauvieux, France, is answered in the following tree chart of Y chromosome DNA tested results of three descendants of Roscoe's own immigrant ancestor James, whom he designated as Line A. All three are positive for a Y DNA SNP FGC4113. This SNP is indicative of paternal line descent only from the native Irish clan of O'Duibhdhiorma, who for at least the past 1500 years have been indigenous inhabitants of the eastern Inishowen peninsula of northern Donegal, Ireland.

Y chromosome DNA tree chart of three descendants of James Line A who tested positive for Y DNA SNP FGC4113, indicating strictly a native Irish ancestry for James paternal line ancestors. The Y chromosome pedigree traces back to indigenous habitation in northwest Ireland centuries before a semblance of a French language began to emerge in western Europe.

R-M222 and Subclades Y DNA Project results chart screenshot at ftdna.com. FGC4113 is blocked in blue. The three test kits of descendants of James, Line A are shown listed. Click on image to enlarge. Included in the screenshot are additional related results demonstrating purely Gaelic origins. 

Lords of An Breadach

Kinnagoe Bay at the northern extent of the ancient kingdom of An Breadach, the ancestral homeland of the male Y chromosome DNA mutation marker SNP FGC4113, carried in body cells of all paternal line male (surname) descendants of the native Irish clan of O'Duibhdhiorma.

The Seanchloe type font rendition of the clan name above (Ui Duibh Dhiormaigh) uses the plural indicator suffix -maigh, but uses the Anglicized patronymic prefix O instead of the Gaelic plural Ui meaning all males of the clan (sept) who are paternally descendant of the clan progenitor Duibh Dhiorma

Just who were the people who originally carried this name down through the many centuries of turmoil in Irish history using several varying spelling forms, then for some to take up the Presbyterian religion and eventually become the DeArmond surname variant descendants of North America? This post deals with the early beginning of the native Irish clan of O'Duibhdhiorma (surname of clan chieftain and each male of the clan).

Section of 1846 published map of Irish surnames and clans from the 11th to the late 16th century. O'Dooyarma was an Anglicized phonetic transliteration of Ua Duibhdhiorma whereas Diermond was merely a substitution with a common Anglicization of the Gaelic given name of Diarmaid. The title Lord (Tighearna) was the clan chieftain's rank among other clans chieftains within the brotherhood of clans known as the Cenel Eoghain, all paternally descended from Prince Eoghain and King Niall (of the nine hostages). 

The surname appears rather late in the Irish monastery annals commonly referred to as The Four Masters. Not until 1043 A.D. is notation made of the death of one of the successive clan chieftains. Some historians surmise this may be related to the defeat of Viking power in Ireland and certain native Irish clans seizing the opportunity to establish home rule over former Viking controlled lands. I once accepted that theory until I came across a map showing where the Vikings held power, and northwest Ireland was not included. Perhaps because Inishowen was long the ancient stronghold of the powerful Cenel Eoghain ruling clans and their chieftains, relative stability existed throughout the Peninsula compared to adjoining areas. In any case, the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma most certainly existed centuries long before 1043. The genealogies in the annals note that the O'Duibhdhiorma paternally descend from Feilim, a son of Prince Eoghain (Owen) who was a son of Niall Noigiallach (of the Nine Hostages), 5th century High King of Ireland. Mention is made of members of the clan participating in and sometimes meeting death during horseback cattle raids and large pitched battles throughout the northern Province of Ulster.

Due to a practice of Celtic clan chieftains adhering to a centuries old tradition of serial monogamy, the male Y chromosome DNA mutation marker FGC4113 appears in every undisturbed paternal line (surname) male Duibhdhiorma clan descendant. The marker is located on a Y DNA tree branch of related markers that essentially confirm the accuracy of the ancient genealogies in the annals.

A streamlined version of the genealogy from monastery annals of the Northern Ui Neill paternally related family of clans of northwest Ireland dating back to first half of the millennium after Christ.

In the mid 14th century, Irish poet Sean O'Dubhagain (John O'Dugan) wrote the following stanza included in an extended poem about many of the clans of Ireland at the time.

The text is in Irish Gaelic using the highly stylized Seanchloe letters which correspond to the Roman alphabet. The rhyming of the lines is lost in translation to English. A translation of the verse by Irish scholar John O'Donovan (d.1861) follows below. I utilized my own minor modifications to provide a more commonly understood American English meaning.

Lord of An Breadach

O'Duibhdhiorma of high pride,
Chief of ever noble Breadach,
Well has it found the strength of its ancients,
The noblest clan of the race of Owen,
A tribe which has prospered without peace,
In Breadach lived the clan chieftain.

The line, "A tribe which has prospered without peace" refers to the clan homeland of An Breadach being a sought after prize, of first: the larger O'Donnell clan, then the Normans, then again a larger Irish clan (O'Doherty) and finally almost two centuries after the above poem was composed, the British in 1602 and succeeding rebellions in the mid 17th century and late 18th century and beyond.. Through all this turmoil in it's long history, the Y DNA marker FGC4113 endured among the male line clan descendants.

A surviving historical observation was made about the native Irish by a shipwrecked officer (Capitan Francisco de Cuellar) from the Spanish Armada (1588). After months evading the British and receiving assistance from the Irish, he made his way to a ship bound for Holland. In the following year, he sent a letter to the King of Spain. He described the native Irish as follows: "The men are large and energetic with handsome features while the women are exceedingly beautiful".   

Above left: a portrait of Spanish Armada ship captain de Cuellar. Above right: frontispiece of a modern published English translation of his letter to the Spanish king.

Above left: map depicting de Cuellar's escape route from his stranded ship in Sligo northeast to Derry and his departure by ship to Holland. His embarkation point was a few miles due east of the eastern Inishowen Peninsula, home to the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma. Above right: a 16th century illustration depicting native Irish, typical of the people that sheltered de Cuellar from the British.

Decline of the noblest Clan

Located at the far northern tip of Ireland, the peninsula known as Inishowen or Isle of Eoghain, had long been the center of the Tir Eoghain or land of Owen, with the McLaughlins having their seat of power as kings of the Cenel Eoghain at their hill fortress of  the Grianan of Aileach (see below). The O'Duibhdhiorma were situated as lords of their subsidiary Cenel Eoghain kingdom of An Breadach.

The Cenel Eoghain were a powerful family of usually allied Irish clans noted for their hereditary paternal descent from Prince Eoghain, son of Niall Noigiallach, a 5th century A.D. high king of Ireland. Although the successive chieftains of the clan of Ui Duibh Dhiormaigh held one of the two Gaelic titles of Tighearna (English equivalent of Lord) among the hierarchy of the chieftains of the Cenel Eoghain clans, they were never powerful enough nor had the hereditary right of acendency to leadership of the Race of Owen. That position fell to one of the two larger clans known as the McLaughlin and the ONeill, both closely related to each other, but nevertheless always ready to battle one another for the right of kingship of the Cenel if military and political advantage offered opportunity.

Reconstruction of the ancient ring fortress the Grianan of Aileach where for centuries, the ruling clans of the Cenel Eoghain maintained their center of power over the subsidiary clans of the race of Owen and much of northwest Ireland.

By the 13th century A.D., the McLaughlins had long been the rulers of the Cenel Eoghain, but the O'Neills struck a temporary truce and military alliance with the encroaching Cenel Chonaill who were descendants of Prince Eoghain's brother. The O'Neill were interested in eastward expansion into Ulster and were willing to concede Inishowen to the Cenel Chonaill. In 1241, the out numbered McLaughlin were slaughtered at the battle of Caim Eirge with survivors retreating into the north of Inishowen. The powerful O'Donnell clan of the Cenel Chonaill became the rulers of Inishowen and the O'Duibhdhiorma lost their right of Tighearna or lordship of eastern Inishowen.

Illustrations from the 16th century Book of de Burgos, which dealt with the history of the famed Anglo Norman Burke family of Ireland.

Control of Inishowen by the Cenel Chonaill and the O'Donnells was to be short lived, however. The English king granted authority over all of Ulster to the crown supporting head of the powerful de Burgos Hiberno Norman family of central Ireland. The Normans invaded Inishowen and established military control of the peninsula. They allowed the indigenous Irish including the O'Duibhdhiorma to run their affairs as they wished as long as the Norman garrison of Inishowen was provisioned with food and labor manpower. Their main use of the labor pool of native Irish was to help construct a fortified castle at the neck of Lough Foyle.

Ruins of Northburg or Green Castle. Built by the 13th century Normans under the de Burgos, on the far eastern extent of Inishowen.  Located with advantage to monitor ship entry into Lough Foyle.

The Normans themselves became victims of an invasion in 1315 by a Scottish army led by the brother of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland. This was preceded by Bruce's victory over the English at Bannockburn in 1314. Obstensively, the Bruces wanted to form a Celtic alliance with the Irish to defeat the Anglo Normans who had ruled England since the battle of Hastings in 1066. The Bruces also wanted to hunt down surviving members of the House of Balliol who sought refuge in Ireland and could possibly usurp rule of Scotland from the Bruces.

Initially the Scots ran rampant through Ireland while alienating many native Irish with their plundering and murder of anyone opposing them. In 1316, the Scottish army marched through eastern Inishowen to capture Green Castle. However the plague weakened Scots were finally defeated at the battle of Farquart in 1318 by combined forces of Hiberno Normans and native Irish. Green Castle and Inishowen reverted to control of the de Burgos family. However, within a few years a bloody feud developed within the de Burgos family and the Normans abandoned all of Inishowen

Skull and reconstruction of the face of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland who briefly visited his brother's military expedition in Ireland. Evidence of a mild form of leprosy on the skull lends to substantiate the long held rumors of his illness.

With the abrupt departure of the Normans from Inishowen, the O'Duibhdhiorma were now too weakened and outnumbered to assert control of their former kingdom of An Breadach. The large O'Doherty clans of the Cenel Chonaill saw opportunity and swarmed into Inishowen to become the new lords of the peninsula. The O'Duibhdhiorma were left with nothing except their proud surname and a role of servitude to the now conquering O'Doherty clans and their chieftains.

The last contemporary historical comment about the O'Duibhdhiorma was in a topographical poem written by John O'Dugan before 1372, who wrote that they were the "noblest clan of the race of Owen" and that they had "prospered without peace", evidently referring to the numerous times their homeland was invaded by outsiders. After that, historical accounts of Irish history become for the most part silent as to their presence. Most modern Irish history writers appear to assume that the male bloodline of the clan simply became extinct, if they bother to mention the clan at all.

Nevertheless, The male Y chromosome DNA SNP marker FGC4113 indicating O'Duibhdhiorma paternal line heredity does still exist in many thousands of male surname variation descendants, not only in Ireland and the British Isles, but throughout North America. However, for most DeArmond surname variant descendants whose ancestors converted to Protestant religions, there hangs a dark cloak of ignorance of their once native Catholic Irish surname origin. This has occurred in Ireland also because many O'Duibhdhiorma Catholics who migrated or were forcibly removed in the 17th century to distant areas of the Isle, readily borrowed other Irish or anglicized surnames and over generations forgot their paternal ancestral heritage. Generally, only in Inishowen and the vicinity of (London)Derry do many Catholic Irish (usually using McDermott) today acknowledge or know of their O'Duibhdhiorma surname ancestry. 

How the clan survived extinction

Cover screenshot of recent paperback edition of the 1954 DeArmond book listing those variants Roscoe considered most common, but excludes many other similar variations of spellings found in North America that stem from the same source. 

Any amateur genealogist who researches the DeArmond surname variants of America to any depth, becomes aware of the magnitude of the related variations and vast number of paternal line descendants in North America. For a relatively moderate size native Irish clan that seems to be all but forgotten and ignored, or considered to have become extinct by many modern authors and historians of Irish history, the number of male paternal line descendants in the world today who carry the Y chromosome DNA of the clan's ancient hereditary chieftains, must exceed at least tens of thousands. To quote the 14th century Irish poet John O'Dugan about the O'Duibhdhiorma: "The noblest clan of the race of Owen. A tribe that has prospered without peace". Therefore how did the clan paternal Y chromosome DNA marker SNP FGC4113 continue to survive through centuries of adversity and be found today with so much abundance?

The surprising uniformity of individual Gaelic clan male Y DNA suggested by the patronymic prefixes of Mac, Mc (son of) or Ua, O' (grandson or descendant of) used by all males of a clan was achieved by the tradition of serial monogamy practiced by clan chieftains. He would successively marry women from neighboring clans for less than 5 years and then send each back to her parents without her sons. Thereby upon his death, the most powerful and popular of his sons was chosen as the next chieftain, insuring only one male Y chromosome haplotype would dominate within the clan. This tradition is corroborated in Y DNA SNP tree charts that remarkably correspond to the monastery genealogies of Gaelic clan heredity back to at least to the 5th century A.D.

I would surmise that the Protestant variants of North America likely comprise a third or less of the total number of men on the earth who carry the Y chromosome DNA SNP marker FGC4113 which signifies paternal line descent from the original male progenitor of the native Irish clan of O'Duibhdhiorma whose hereditary chieftains were once Tighearna or lords of the small kingdom of An Breadach which comprised the eastern third of the Inishowen peninsula of County Donegal, Ireland. Many other members of the clan who migrated to or were forcibly removed to near and far regions of Ireland remained Catholic and borrowed other common Irish names such as McDermott, McDearmond, Byrne, Lennon or Bellew which was actually an Anglo/Norman Catholic surname of a distinguished family of County Galway.

By the 14th century, events had left the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma isolated from it's brother clans of the Cenel Eoghain. They were now subservient to the Cenel Conaill and the populous O'Doherty clans. They learned to accept O'Doherty domination and acted in concert with their overlords, in some cases acting as jailers of the political prisoners of the O'Doherty clans or taking part in the failed rebellion of Cahir O'Doherty against the British.

In the late 16th century, British efforts to dominate Ulster were renewed with eventual success after the defeat of the Irish and their Spanish allies at the battle of Kinsale in 1602. Ulster Irish were left without their traditional leadership after the O'Donnell and O'Neill earls fled by ship to Europe in 1607. By 1608, the sole remaining Irish leader was the youthful Anglophile Prince of Inishowen, Cahir O'Doherty who hoped to receive an appointment to the English royal court in London. However he became disillusioned when newly appointed British governor George Paulet allowed Cahir's land to be gradually confiscated by British landholders who had contempt for the Irish Catholics. After his complaints were ignored and he was treated in an exceedingly ill manner by Paulet and the British authorities in Dublin, Cahir grew increasingly angered and vengeful. He allowed himself to be unwisely persuaded to attack and burn Londonderry. Cahir's men killed Paulet and abused the British women they captured. Because of Cahir's immature and irresponsible leadership, the rebellion was unsupported by many Ulster Irish chieftains and their followers, except mainly for men from Inishowen including the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma, Their names can be seen on the surviving lists of pardons granted to remaining rebels of Cahir's army that were not executed or deported to serve as involuntary conscripts in the Swedish army.

Within a few weeks strong British forces countered the rebellion and Cahir was killed by a musket ball in a skirmish. His head was severed and taken to Dublin and impaled on a spike as a warning to the Irish not to resist British authority. Ironically a court in Dublin finally upheld Cahir's right to have his land restored to him, but word did not reach him in time to avoid his rash actions. Inishowen became completely controlled militarily by the British who realized it was the best location from which to subdue the remainder of Ulster. The descendants of the once proud O'Duibhdhiorma clan were reduced to pastoral indigents with no land to call their own except the remote inland hills of that third of the peninsula that their ancestors once ruled. British Protestant mal treatment and persecution of the native Catholic Irish led to the inevitable uprisings that occurred throughout Ireland in 1641. Because of strong British military presence on Inishowen, the peninsula remained pacified and peaceful throughout the next eleven years that brought much death and destruction throughout most of the rest of Ireland.

Left: Phelim O'Neill, one of the Irish gentry leaders of the 1641 rebellion, unfavorably characterized in an English print propaganda sketch. Right: Oliver Cromwell, honored in England, but despised in Ireland and Scotland for his religious zealotry and brutal suppression of rebellions in both countries.

Left: Complete English control of print media in the 17th century allowed them to publish hundreds of illustrations of fiendish atrocities reputedly committed by Irish rebels. Right: Not till the 19th century were the Irish in turn able to publish their own illustrations of atrocities committed by Oliver Cromwell and his vengeful "New Model Army" which devastated much of Ireland.

For a time during the 1640s period of the rebellion, the native Irish achieved a degree of autonomy and independence from England. Then about 1650, England's Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell led his New Model Army on a reconquest of Ireland, leaving a genocidal swath of death and destruction wherever he or his lieutenants led their army. The clan of O'Duibhdhiorma, who were forced to live under strict military subjugation in their homeland of Inishowen, were in one respect fortunate to be spared the brutality of British suppression of the 1641-52 Irish rebellion.

According to John O'Donovan (1861), after the end of the mid century turmoil, many native Irish Catholics migrated or were forcibly removed from Inishowen south to the province of Connachta . Y chromosome DNA testing results for SNP FGC4113 suggest this must have certainly been the source for many Catholic O'Duibhdhiorma Y DNA results found in Sligo and Galway and other counties of Ireland.

Modern photo of Moville (Magh Bhile) which once lay at the heart of An Breadach of eastern Inishowen, the ancient homeland of the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma.

This diaspora from Inishowen is evident also in two different census taken between 1659 and 1665. A privately funded census was taken beginning after the 1652 "Act for the settlement of Ireland" and completed in 1659 by the English with intent to annex the land and remove Irish inhabitants in order to provide land to reward Cromwell's soldiers. Classifying Irish, Scot and English was often erroneous based on how difficult it was for the Anglo-Irish recording officials to understand a person's speech. Many of the Ulster Scots were monoglot Gaelic speakers, as were most native Irish, therefore Scots were sometimes recorded as Irish. The O'Dermond surname was recorded 35 times in Inishowen Barony. Evidently this represented heads of households for the existing clan population in eastern Inishowen.

In 1665, a Hearth money role tax census was taken. The census was broken down by parishes making a total tally of O'Dermond and variants uncertain, but perhaps only about a dozen adult male individuals were recorded within the Barony of Inishowen. There certainly appears to be a significant decrease in population. This abrupt decrease was likely the result of the afore mentioned forced exodus south to Connachta Province. "To Hell or Connachta" became a commonly used phrase in Ireland at the time that survives today. Those native Irish who were employed as tenant farmers, servants or needed occupations were allowed to remain in their indigenous counties.

I must resort to conjecture when attempting to determine when a second major exodus occurred from Inishowen by those O'Duibhdhiorma who sought employment as tenant farmers in other areas of Protestant Ulster. Due to discriminatory laws also passed by the English Anglicans (Episcopal) against the Non Conformist Presbyterians and the sunset of rent control laws, a fifty year exodus of Ulster Scots ensued beginning about 1725, with most emigrating to North America and primarily Pennsylvania. This left often heavily indebted landlords without tenant farmers to provide rental income. Consequently the landholders were willing to hire native Irish as long as they complied with the law and converted to Protestant religions.  These native Irish would become the Presbyterian converts and gradually integrate themselves as part of the continuing Ulster Scot (Scotch-Irish) migration to North America.

From the Ysearch.org Y chromosome DNA STR/SNP FGC4113 chart shown below, the Protestant converted families (orange tint) appear to have been relatively closely related and separated somewhat from the known FGC4113 Catholics (green tint, I included only a sampling of all Catholic positive results). This separation appears to have occurred at least a century before most of the Protestant O'Duibhdhiorma began their emigration to North America in the mid 18th century.

Ysearch.org (no longer available) Y chromosome DNA data base comparisons of 37 STR marker results of men (Catholic: green tint, Protestant: orange tint) known to have tested positive (McDearmond excepted but likely to be positive) for SNP FGC4113 which is inclusive of the paternal line Y chromosome DNA of clan O'Duibhdhiorma.

The clan survives today not in the once traditional Celtic manner of a close knit community with all males of the clan sharing the same bloodline of the clan's hereditary chieftains (Y chromosome DNA), but in the Y DNA SNP marker FGC4113 that exists in surprising abundance throughout much of the English speaking world.

The Clan's Religious division

                                Father Cathaoir O'Duibhdhiorma, 1935 to 2008

The above photo is of the late Catholic priest Father Charles McDermott of the Diocese of Sacramento, California. He was a highly respected cleric who was considered an authority on morality and church law. He was born in the city of Derry (Londonderry), Ireland, a few miles south of Inishowen. To his fellow Irish Catholic priests, he was known as Cathaoir O'Duibhdhiorma. His Irish and Anglicized dual surnames and place of birth and religion are revealing in regard to the history of the clan that produced descendants who became Protestants and used DeArmond surname variants, and those who remained Catholic and used the surname McDermott or McDearmond and other familiar Irish Catholic surnames such as Byrne, Bellew and Lennon.

Ysearch.org Y DNA 37 marker STR results for men who have tested positive for SNP FGC4113, the Y DNA terminal SNP marker for the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma. Click on chart to enlarge.

Examining the Y DNA Short Tandem Repeat chart above reveals the distinctive divide among descendants of the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma between Catholic and Protestant. The four markers designated with an asterisk denote the descendants whose ancestors had converted originally to the Presbyterian religion. 7ZKDS McDearmond did not test for FGC4113 and there is little information about his immigrant ancestor. His STR results unmistakably place him among the Connachta Catholics (green) of FGC4113. Bellew did not transfer his results to Ysearch.org, but he closely matches McDermott. His ancestor was from Galway, a few miles south of Sligo, and his surname was undoubtedly originally O'Duibhdhiorma/McDermott. His Bellew surname was obviously borrowed from the esteemed Catholic Anglo/Norman family (Belleau) of Mount Bellew in Galway.

Following the failed mid 17th century revolt of the Irish against British rule, perhaps a third of the Catholics of Ireland were forcibly removed to Connachta Province or even further south. The Irish phrase to "To Hell or Connaught" originates from this period. This early forced refugee migration likely accounts for Catholics McDermott and Bellew being from Counties Sligo and Galway. A point of confusion is that County Roscommon in Connachta Province was the home of the large MacDiarmada clans who also used McDermott. This has led to many Catholic descendants with a McDermott or other common Irish surnames mistakenly assuming the wrong source for their paternal ancestry.

17th century cannon on the old walls of Londonderry suggesting how much the native Irish were once considered a threat to the city's survival. The hills of Inishowen are to the north on the horizon. O'Duibhdhiorma history is linked to the city through early warfare, migration, emigration, employment and political/religious/cultural conflict.

According to Brian Mitchell (2010), during the mid 19th century, several descendants of Catholic (and Presbyterian?) O'Duibhdhiorma migrated from eastern Inishowen and environs to Londonderry to work in shirt making factories and the shipyards. Many began using the surname McDermott which today is one of the more common names in Derry.

John O'Donovan (1861) wrote "O'Duibhdhiorma is still numerous in Inishowen, but corruptly anglicized to Diarmid and sometimes rarely to MacDermott, though always pronounced O'Duibhdhiorma by the natives when speaking Irish."  O'Donovan was collectively using the Gaelic Diarmid for Anglicized spellings of Dyermott, Diermond, Dermond and Dermott which were usually substituted in Inishowen and Ulster for O'Duibhdhiorma. His mention that McDermot was only used rarely likely reflects the period prior to industrialization in Londonderry. In 1878, Father James O'Laverty wrote "O'Duibhdhiarma (sic), The name is still numerous in Inishowen and in the neighborhood of Derry where it is anglicized to Dooyearma and changed into MacDermot". O'Laverty's comment reflects the time period after the full swing to industrialization in the city of LondonDerry.

In 1973 Brian Bonner, writing about Inishowen, said that O'Duibhdhiorma was rather illogically changed to McDermott, but that the older folks of Inishowen pronounced the surname, "Dee-Erma" which was a more recent Gaelic rendering of the older Anglicized transliteration Dooyearma. A mid 19th century baptism of a Peter Dyermott was recorded in the Moville Parish Catholic church of Inishowen, illustrating how written records were kept using only the substituted Anglicized variants of Irish given name Diarmuid.

The Protestant split from the clan.

Judging from the surviving records of the period during the 17th century forced removals to Connaught (Connacht), less than half of the O'Duibhdhiorma remained in Inishowen afterwards. I would surmise this is reflected in the Y DNA results shown above. About 1725, the Presbyterian Ulster Scots began a 50 year long mass migration to North America leaving behind vacant tenant farming positions that were filled by native Irish provided they convert to a Protestant religion which in most cases was Presbyterian. They became integrated among the Ulster Scots and became part of their migration also. A few Protestant converted O'Duibhdhiorma remained in Ulster or migrated to Scotland, England and then on to North America and Oceana. They can be found today in the environs of Belfast with surnames like Deyermond. Protestant O'Duibhdhiorma can also be found in mid 19th Glasgow using McDermid for a surname and having American, Canadian and Australian descendants test positive for Y DNA SNP FGC4113 or have autosomal DNA matches to DeArmond descendants. 

Note from his book by Father Patrick Woulfe in 1906. His informant was likely to have been a Catholic priest in Belfast who was amused by this attempt to change a native Irish surname into various pseudo Protestant French Huguenot surnames. The fashion actually began in America following the celebrated return tour of America by the famed Marquis de Lafayette in 1824-5.

Very little is known about the Protestant converted O'Duibhdhiorma before their18th century emigration among the Ulster Scots to America, since nearly all writings about the O'Duibhdhiorma in Ireland were by native Irish Catholics, who were often priests who had no interest in Protestants. Except for Father Patrick Woulfe (1906) who noted the "assimilation" of pseudo "French" spellings for O'Duibhdhiorma substitutions (see above).

Perhaps DeArmond surname variant researchers in the future will have a more substantial data base of Y DNA results to work with and be able to determine ports of departure, either Londonderry or Belfast. Contrary to widespread belief, I strongly suspect the overwhelming majority of Protestant immigrant surname ancestors were from County Donegal and sailed from Londonderry, as opposed to Roscoe C. "d'Armand" who would have most of his immigrant lines be from County Down and embark from Belfast or else from England where their noble French surname had not been "corrupted" by Irish influence. My belief stems from a search of the 1796 Flax Growers bounty lists for County Down that reveal not a single possible surname variant of DeArmond, whereas the surname is abundantly found in County Donegal. This and a lack of any other record in Counties Antrim (Lisburn) and Down before 1800 suggest the surname was unknown there until sometime in the 19th century.

Probable migration and emigration routes and time periods for O'Duibhdhiorma clan Catholics and Protestants. These represent the primary movements of male line clan descendants. Isolated examples of Y DNA test results show that individual clan descendant men carried their Y chromosome to other countries of the world as well. The Catholics in particular often borrowed surnames not recognizable as specific to the clan.

Etymology of O'Duibhdhiorma

Duibh Dhiorma first appears in the recorded Irish monastery annals (later referred to as The Four Masters) for the year 1043 A.D., when a chieftain of the clan died. The monastery genealogies of the Northern Ui Neill Irish clans suggest the personal name and clan existed much further back into the first millennium as we trace the paternal line Y chromosome DNA to 5th century High King of Ireland, Niall Noigiallach. His son Eoghain (Owen), was the male progenitor of the large interrelated group of ruling clans of Ulster known as the Cenel Eoghain or Race of Owen, which included the clan of Duibhdhiorma.

Traditional genealogy of O'Duibhdhiorma (simplified version) showing descent from Prince Eoghain of the Northern Ui Neill. Y chromosome DNA test results of several DeArmond surname variant men compared with surnames from other clans of the Northern Ui Neill and Cenel Eoghain, confirm the essence of the genealogies.

Referring to the image at beginning of the post, the Old Irish Seanchlo font or script was a highly stylized Irish monastery adaptation of the Roman alphabet. The dots or sometimes small circles indicate the consonant is spoken with a lenition or aspiration (softened exhale) which changes the phonetic sound recognition differently than the usual phonetic rendering of the consonant. Because English alphabet script does not allow for the dotted consonant, the accepted manner became to place a letter h after the consonant that is meant to be lenited.

A dotted letter "b" becomes a short v and the dotted letter "d" becomes a short y. This produces "Doove Yiorma". When the two words were spoken together as a surname, there was an elision or dropping of the "ve" and the pronunciation becomes "Doo-Year-ma". Dooyearma is how the early Anglo/Irish recording officials first transliterated or Anglicized Duibhdhiorma. On occasion "Dooyiorma" or even "Dughierma" spellings were used. The pronunciations were all similar.

Gaelic Duibh is an intensive adjective meaning very black (hair color). Dubh with the letter "i" missing, meaning merely dark hair and is commonly found in many Irish and Scottish Gaelic surnames such as in Dugh-again or Dugan. D(h)iorma means a member of an armed group of men.

Properly speaking, Ua Duibhdhiorma is the surname of an individual male descendant or clan member. Although only occasionally found, Ui Duibhdhiormaigh is the name of the clan itself. The patronymic prefix Ua is pronounced O' as in O'Keefe. Ui is the patronymic of a clan or clan group as in Ui Neill, pronounced "Eee Neal". Ua has long since fallen out of use in favor of the Anglicized O'. Ui is still used for larger clan groups. A single clan or sept is generally referred to today by the singular manner such as O'Duibhdhiorma. The older genealogies translated from Seanchlo Gaelic into English often don't show that a consonant is lenited. Therefore you will find Duv Dirma, which is actually Duibh Dhiorma.

In various other posts of my blog, I detail how O'Duibhdhiorma over time became DeArmond, McDermott, DeYarman and an untold number of other variants.

DeArment of western Pennsylvania

View of Presque Isle and Erie, PA. The sketched map was drawn by a soldier stationed there during the war of 1812. The war and location were part of the backdrop of DeArment surname history.

This post discusses points of interest concerning the surname variant spelled as Dearment or  DeArment. The variant was designated by Roscoe Carlisle d'Armand in his book "DeArmond Families of America"(1954) as line F, which he listed as John DeArment of Westmoreland County, PA. The "Oxford Dictionary of American Surnames" notes: "Dearment, a variant of Irish Dearmond". Roscoe noted that several instances of the surname spelling occurred in western Pennsylvania (during the early part of the 19th century), that he assumed were closely related, but was unable to further trace. The surname variant is only a small fraction as numerous as DeArmond, but is still widespread in North America.

John Diermond of Fersalmore?

Roscoe arbitrarily determined the progenitor of some of his immigrant lines to be John Diermond, who was recorded on the 1766 List of Protestant householders of Fersalmore, Leck Parish, County Donegal, Ireland. The only written source that he referred to in his book for his paternity determinations is a reference on page 302 where he writes "John DeArment, son of John Diermond of Fersalmore, Parish of Leck, County Donegal, North Ireland." Then on the bottom of the page, he includes a footnote #1: "From a pencil notation on the flyleaf of the DeArment-Minnis Family reunion Register, Crawford County, Penna., 1901-1904". It apparently was not known as to when and who penciled the note, but there is an obvious clue to what their source of information was. Whoever wrote the flyleaf notation, was only familiar with the 1766 census misspelled version of the place name and did not know the name is spelled in Donegal as Farsetmore (Gaelic: Fearsaid mhor), a townland of 125 acres and site of the last large scale battle (1567) between the clan families of Ulster (and Ireland) before total British hegemony over the entire Isle in 1603.

The register notation was highly likely to have been merely an uninformed supposition by a more recent amateur family genealogist who didn't realize, that except for tiny Leck Parish, all 1766 census records for Donegal and Ulster had been destroyed in a 1922 Dublin insurrection fire. Certainly, at that time there were many other clan paternal surname line descendants in Donegal and other counties of Ulster for whom no written record survived, whom could have just as well have been the progenitors of the various immigrant lines. Note that on the 1796 Flax growers bounty lists for Donegal there were numerous anglicized surname variants suggesting many likely family choices to chose from for possible DeArmond/DeArment variant O'Duibhdhiorma ancestors.

 John Cook Dearment of Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Although I know of other instances of use of the Dearment spelling by families in Pennsylvania descended from different ancestors, the primary source of the surname spelling derives from a John Cook DeArment of Crawford County, Pennsylvania who was born in Ireland about 1780. Recently I received from a patrilineal surname descendant of his, copies of three pages of the opening of a booklet about a Moses Logan, authored by his grandson Milton Logan in 1926.

                          Moses Logan story first three pages. Click on image to enlarge.

Fundamentally, the story relates oral tradition supposedly told to Milton by his grandfather about his experiences during his youth in Donegal and later his activity in the year prior to the failed 1798 Irish Rebellion against the Anglican English by both Presbyterian Ulster Scots and native Catholic Irish, referred to as the "the United Irish". The story included involvement in the murder of a "British officer, Captain" Hamilton along with the unintended shooting death of a minister's wife.

The Logan story details how Moses fled from arrest and hanging, by stowing away aboard a ship bound for New York from which he had further hair raising experiences. Finally in New York harbor, his "mate" John Dearment is mentioned, without giving any detail as to how their friendship came to be. Eventually the two journey together to Crawford County, Pennsylvania where they finally settle. My personal assessment of the story is that there may be some fictional elaboration added by either Moses or Milton, but on the whole, the story line is historically and location wise specifically correct and I would accept the overall timeline and particulars as essentially accurate. Fundamental elements of the story are supported by a DeArment family source entirely unrelated to the Logan version.

 

Screenshots from a YouTube video about the hauntings of Sharon Rectory. The original stone walled Rectory is in the distant right of the building photo. The right photo purports to show the ghost of the murdered wife.

Also supporting the story is the historical record of the murder victim in Donegal. He was in fact William Hamilton a noted minister and magistrate who was also esteemed for his work in various scientific pursuits. Although a descendant of Presbyterian Ulster Scots himself, he was widely known for his British and Anglican sympathies. This put him at risk from the local population of  Presbyterians and Catholics, many of whom were members of the United Irish and bitterly resented the harsh discrimination practices of the British Anglicans against them. His own parish was near Lough Swilly. While traveling by boat on the Lough, he took refuge ashore in another pastor's rectory where his presence became known and was converged upon by an angry mob intent on taking his life which they succeeded in doing, and by unintentional mistake, also the resident pastor's wife.

The 1796 Flax Growers list for Donegal (shown above) show several men having Logan and anglicized Duibhdhiorma surnames living within a ten mile distance of the Sharon Rectory where the murders occurred (see map shown below). Only circumstantial timing and association evidence suggests that John Cook Dearment and/or my own ancestor William Dearment were present and may have took part in Hamilton's murder. Even mild crowd excitement can quickly escalate into mob violence, and participation can stir ordinarily peaceful persons to do regrettable acts. Several different first hand and second hand accounts of the murder on 2 March, 1797 vary in details but concur basically with the Logan version. Sharon Rectory where the murders took place is today known as one of Ireland's infamous haunted houses where the ghost of the murdered wife reputedly still appears.

Evidently the informant(s) from the Crawford County descendants of John Cook DeArment contacted by Roscoe were not aware of the Logan paper, as he did not mention the story and has John Cook DeArment accompany his parents from Donegal, Ireland as a small child long before 1798. I took keen interest in this story because my own immigrant ancestor William Dearment likely left Ireland also within a similar time frame.

1850 U.S. Census, Crawford County, PA, Greenwood TWP, John D Armah Sr. and his son also named John D Armah.

In Roscoe's book on page 304, footnote #2, in which he quotes the 1850 U.S. census for the entry of John D Armah and family of Crawford County, PA., Roscoe correctly identifies this entry as John Cook DeArment, son of John DeArment, line F.  The spelling of "D Armah" was likely the phonetic interpretation of the census taker upon hearing the family informant use the Gaelic pronunciation of their surname. It appears that he was mistakenly given the impression or himself assumed that the name was of French origin which commonly occurred among Dearmond variants after the celebrated return tour of America by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1825. Only afterwards do pseudo French spellings such as DeArmond or D'Armond begin to be recorded. Previous to 1850, the Crawford County surname was recorded in 1840 as "Dearment". Today, nearly all surname descendants of John D Armah Sr. pronounce and spell their surnames as DeArment.

Section of 1846 published map of Irish surnames and clans from the 11th to the late 16th century by Phillip McDermott M.D. O'Dooyarma insert is from John O'Hart's 1888 book "Irish Pedigrees" page 12 which used the map as a source.

Back in Inishowen in northeast Donegal, when speaking in Gaelic, native Irish pronounced their surname as Dee-Arma or Dee-Erma which had evolved from Doo-Yearma, spelled Dui(bh) Dhiorma in Gaelic. Dearment was just one of many anglicized variants of Irish given name Diarmuid (pronounced Der-mid) or Diarmait (Der-mitt/Der-mott) which Anglo-Irish recording officials in turn used to anglicize Duibhdhiorma.

Just below is a layered composite of several pages of Y DNA matches from my personal account at Family Tree DNA (ftdna.com) that I created to demonstrate the variety of surnames either tested positive or highly probable to be positive for Y DNA SNP marker FGC4113 indicating paternal descent from the Irish clan of O'Duibhdhiorma, which includes a descendant of John Cook DeArment.

William Dearment of Indiana County, PA

My own well documented Irish immigrant ancestor William Dearment most likely emigrated from Clonleigh Parish of County Donegal before 1800. He appears on the 1820 Indiana County, PA, U.S. census above, with an apparent brother or cousin James Derment listed above. James was never again recorded in Indiana County and his fate is unknown to me, although I matched with autosomal DNA along with other distant paternal line cousins to a lady in Texas with a Derment ancestor.. At least two other surname men appear to have lived in Brush Valley (Wheatfield) Township among my ancestor's family during the 19th century who were not William's sons. Perhaps they influenced the extensive family of William's descendants to use today's Deyarmin and lesser known Deyarmie or DeArmey (spelled D'Armee on 1840 census shown below).

Fort Erie and the war of 1812

The history of Erie and Presque Isle during the war of 1812-14 is a harrowing story of dispirited men stationed in a disease infested environment with poor sanitation and food.  Most were not supplied with any weapons, while critical military and naval supplies were withheld and rerouted or transferred to other military facilities by more senior commanders intent to insure their own success. Against these almost insurmountable odds, Oliver Perry was able to organize the building of enough ships in time to take advantage of a respite in the British blockade of Presque Isle. His men were able to perform a herculean task moving ships and cannon across a massive sandbar and into Lake  Erie.  With a trained skeletal backbone of veterans from the famed USS Constitution (Old Ironsides), he then sailed west to Put-In-Bay to blockade and then narrowly but soundly defeat the British fleet on September 10, 1813. Afterwards, he sent the famous message "We have met the enemy and they are ours!".

20th century idealized conception of U.S. warships towing their battered British captives after victory in the Battle of Lake Erie.

Roscoe cited those DeArments of Crawford county who served at Erie and Presque Isle during the War of 1812. One Dearment record Roscoe purposely ignored, was that of my ancestor. Several more listings of earlier spelling versions of the DeArment and DeArmond variant surnames can found in the militia company muster roles of the Pennsylvania Archives collection for the War of 1812. One individual's name, who was drafted into the Huntingdon County military marched to and stationed at Erie under Captain William Morris in the spring of 1813, appears on three different muster role lists for the same company. He was my Irish immigrant 3x great grandfather, William Dearment, for whom I can well document his life and my linage back to him. In mid August of 1813, some event or unwelcome news apparently persuaded several men from the company to desert, including my ancestor. Considering that his wife and numerous children were without his presence and support, no doubt his decision to desert was based on concern for their welfare. My family has a considerable history of honorable wartime naval service and combat, including my own. In the circumstances that my ancestor faced, and considering that four of our recent Presidents chose to avoid Vietnam or military service, I feel his action was understandable.

Photo from my visit to my paternal ancestor's final residence in Indiana County, PA, and two consecutive pages from the Pennsylvania Archives Series showing the Aug 16th, 1813 militia desertion of my 3x great grandfather William Dearment. Click on the image to enlarge.

Deyermond Huguenots of Lisburn?

            19th century woodcut and 1910 photo of views from Market Square in Lisburn

Another "documented" source often cited by those who believe the DeArmond surname variants are of French Huguenot origin, is a book published in 1997 by the Lisburn Historical Society. Lisburn is a small city located along the north bank of the Lagan river adjacent to the southwest of Belfast in County Antrim of Northern Ireland. It was once famed as one of the centers of Irish linen manufacture. The original fine quality of it's linen was attributed to Protestant French Huguenot refugees who arrived in Lisburn circa 1700. Many of them were highly skilled weavers from Picardy in northwest France, who helped to improve the already nascent Irish linen industry. Irish linen manufacture and export became so successful that the English imposed unfair restrictions so that their own industry was not threatened.

The book's author was E. Joyce Best, a member of the Historical Society, who had collected records and notes concerning the early Huguenots of Lisburn. On the whole, the book is well written and researched with historical sources mentioned for most of the Huguenot individuals and families listed in the book. However in chapter 5, we find the following oral tradition story that was apparently provided by a patron member who Mrs. Best probably felt socially obligated to recognize. The manner of how Mrs. Best retold the story, suggests she likely had private doubts to it's authenticity. Click on the text image below to enlarge the print, or go to lisburn.com and select "Books", then scroll down to "Huguenots of Lisburn", go to chapter 5 and scroll down to Deyermond.

Note that the lower entry for Dupre has several citations as do most other surname entries, however the Deyermond story has none. The Deyermond entry evokes a sense of childlike made up storytelling while providing no practical information of worth. The time period referred to is evidently circa 1690 when the Protestant Prince William of Orange (Holland) defeated Catholic dethroned King James II at the Battle of the Boyne, north of Dublin. William maintained his title as the new English King. In deference to those who abhor any math, I will merely note that the battle was 307 years before the book was published. Considering the number of possible generations and thousands of ancestors any individual in 1997 would have since then, makes the story humanly impossible to have even been partially accurate and passed down strictly by oral tradition without documented historical record being accessed. There is absolutely no such record that is mentioned or known of to support the yarn of any surname version resembling Deyermond in Lisburn or in William's army during that time period.

Reputedly, the story originated from two adult bachelor brothers living on a nearby farm. Coincidently, the same two brothers are also mentioned in a footnote on page 19 in "DeArmond Families of America" by Roscoe "d'Armand". Roscoe had hired a Dublin based researcher who interviewed the two brothers in 1933. The researcher likely was aware of Roscoe's interest in a French Huguenot connection and would likely have hoped to provide any that he found in order to please his client. The brothers said the farm had been in the family for eight generations and that they were great grandsons of Thomas DeyArmon (sic.), elder of Loughaghery Church, but nothing more. It is glaringly striking how the brothers offered no information about any French surname ancestors.

The hired researcher would have most likely queried the brothers on the matter of their "French heritage". Roscoe was not adverse to including and giving credence to oral tradition stories, yet he wrote not a word. This suggests that after Roscoe's book was published in 1954, the two brothers attained a bit of minor celebrity attention and were frequently asked about their "ancestors from France". Consequently, scraps of unrelated family yarn were jelled together to concoct a story not about the refugee ancestor (no forename given) but supposedly about his sons (no forenames provided) during the still celebrated Protestant victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Then it seems probable that a Deyermond family member later pressed on Mrs. Best to include the recently manufactured Deyermond tradition in her 1997 publication.

The Huguenot refugees were likely to have been skilled in professions, trades and entrepreneurial pursuits and were not generally humble country peasants willing to work the land. By 1841 a census taken in Lisburn listed only one or two surnames likely to be of direct French origin. The Huguenot refugees or their children were eventually likely to look for economic opportunity elsewhere in nearby Belfast or abroad. They certainly were unlikely to seek employment as humble tenant farmers. The family of the two brothers likely only owned the farm since the mid 19th century when land reform laws were enacted to allow tenant farmers to buy the land they worked on with low interest mortgages.

Deyermond as a surname is clearly represented in 18th century documents in North America as belonging to paternal line ancestors of DeArmond variant descendants who tested for Y chromosome DNA matching. In every case the matches were Irish and all nearly descend.from the clan of O'Duibhdhiorma who were inhabitants of the eastern third of the Inishowen peninsula of County Donegal for at least the past 1500 years.

Above is an extract from the 1749 will of James, Line A, Roscoe's paternal line immigrant ancestor, now proven beyond question to be entirely native Irish. He is recorded as James Deyermond.