In Ireland, was there ever an Earl of Dungannon?

Question

A visitor to my website for the Lynns of Ulster, Ireland has asked me if I know anything about a particular 19th-century Lynn being heir to the title Earl of Dungannon.  I do not, and I am unable even to find evidence for the title itself, apart from online family trees.  Does anyone know whether such an Earldom even exists?

Comments

In Ulster, at least as many Lynns (if not more) are of Scottish or English origins.  The William Lynn reported in "An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster", for which you provided a link, was Scottish and was granted denizenship in 1616.  Dr. Roulston has reported on him extensively and, in fact, William was just 1 of 3 Scottish Lynns who in 1616 were settlers in the Earl of Abercorn's manor of Dunnalong, County Tyrone.

Also, in my Lynn Y-DNA project at FamilyTreeDNA are 13 Lynn men with Ulster ancestors who are of the rather uncommon Y-DNA haplogroup R-U198; and R-U198 is conspicuously absent from Gaelic cultures.  It is found, instead, chiefly among Ulster Scots and in the Lowlands of Scotland, in England, and in a region of the European continent that includes eastern Normandy, the area that once was Flanders, and part of Belgium.

Notably, not one of them has a Y-DNA match with any O'Flynns, of which O'Lynn is a branch.

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I do not agree with the O'Flynn connection but I also do not agree that the O'Lynn's are Scot,  they are  Gaelic of which Scotland and Ireland both are, they have traveled back and forth since before St Patrick's time.   Not all O'Lynn's have the same DNA as noted. There are records in the 1830's of people travelling from the north to Scotland to help with harvest and returning to Ireland after harvest,   there have been invasions for centuries on both sides (recorded in the annals) and in my grandparents age it was common to travel across from toberhead to mull o kintyre.

The history of the Barony of Loughinsholin or the lough of the O'Lynn's history is interesting. Bill MacAfee is a true historian of the area and discusses here the plantation and what new comers were given confiscated land and who their Irish tenants were in the muster rolls.   http://www.billmacafee.com/homepage/historicalbackground.pdf

some history of the O'Lynn's and their existence today.   https://www.facebook.com/groups/672204836240826/posts/978842232243750/

Primate Colton's Visitation of 1397 talks about O'Lynn's and O'Lynn Island.

The O'Lynn's are part of the Ui Tuirtre

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Sorry, Lynn, but my Belfast friend and co-administrator of my Lynn Y-DNA project knows exactly how O'Flynn in many cases became O'Lynn.  He said that, in the Irish, the "F" in "O'Flynn" is only faintly aspirated and sounds more like a breathy "H".  Eventually, he continued, many O'Flynns simply stopped writing the "F".

I'm curious as to whether you know any males named O'Lynn who've had or would be willing to take a Y-DNA test.  I have no doubt that some of them at least would have matches among O'Flynns.

In any case, Gaelic is a culture, not an ethnicity, and yes there is a lot of Gaelic influence in some parts of Scotland.  However, Scotland also over many centuries had large influxes of English, French (including Normans), Dutch, and others.  Being Scottish, therefore, also is not an ethnicity.  It is a nationality.  As to Lynns in Ulster ...

William and the other two Lynns who settled in Ulster during the first plantation - John and David - were from a landed family in Ayrshire, Scotland that had close ties with both the Hamiltons and the Boyds and were, by all accounts, Anglo-Norman and not Gaelic.

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The O'Lynn's have been documented in the area of Loughinsholin since 359, hence O'Lynn's Island.   

Irish history is fascinating.  I doubt that any O'Lynn's I know would want to be involved in anything that says they are related to the O'Flynn's.

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It's a pity the O'Lynns would not want to know.  DNA never lies.  Like history, it can be misinterpreted, but the scientific data is indisputable.

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You need to learn that there are different clan's of O'Lynn's, I had a look at your profile and you are related to the O'Flinn's/Flinn because your name goes back to Linn not Lynn.  The O'Lynn's are not the same as O'Linn/O'Flinn.

Here, you can search Linn and Lynn and see that they are located in different areas and not associated in records.  https://cotyroneireland.com/names.php  I also notice that Hugh Linn was a Methodist Episcapalian which would account for the connection with England and Scotland,  descended Irish are usually Catholic.

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Oh my gosh.  There is no difference between "i" and "y".  If you read the right page, you will see that the Ayrshire Linn/Lynn family who were minor land barons are recorded in charters, deeds, and other documents spanning four centuries - many appearing in the Hunters of Hunterston's charter chest - as owning the same properties with their name written sometimes with an "i" and sometimes a "y", as well as sometimes one "n" and sometimes two, or sometimes with an "e" on the end and sometimes not.  The spelling of surnames simply was not standardized until the 19th century, by which time some branches of a family settled on one spelling and other branches on another.  You simply cannot rule people in or out of a family because of such things as one "n" vs. two or "Linn" vs. "Lynn".  At the same time, however, I don't doubt that there are different "clans" or families" or O'Lynn and undoubtedly many of those would prove by DNA to be O'Flynns.

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BTW, Hugh Linn converted to Methodist from Presbyterian, further evidencing his Scottish origins.  Further as to the spelling of Linn/Lynn, here is an abbreviated timeline of a single family who lived in Dunmacmay, Aghaloo Parish, County Tyrone derived from parish vestry records and Irish deeds.  Notice that both the surname and the name of their property were spelled differently on different occasions ...

1706 - George Lin of Dunmacmeagh was a sidesman at an Aghaloo Parish vestry meeting
1715 - George Linn of Dunmacmay witnessed a lease for Glenkeen
1726 - John Linn of Dunmacmay held a lease for Glenkeen
1748 - John Lynn of Dunmacmey endorsed a deed conveying his interest in Glenkeen
1752 - John Lynn of Dunmackmeigh entered a deed of marriage settlement
1766 - John Lynn, George Lynn, and Hugh Lynn were Protestant householders in Aghaloo Parish
... and others.

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So your LInn's are from Scotland,  planters,  you are correct Scots are for the most part Presbyterian,  the Lynn's in Loughinsholin are Catholic and have been, since the time of St. Patrick.  The 1st mention of the O'Lynn's in the Loughinsholin area is, as I have shared previously back to the 300's.   Not all the Lynn's or Linn's are the same although many Scots and Irish are interbred.

I wish you well with your research into your family,  I have been researching in Ireland for 40 years.

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It's very true that not all Lynns or Linns are the same.  There are about 60 men in my Lynn Y-DNA project, divided between a dozen or so unrelated Y-DNA haplogroups.  That disparity is in spite of the fact that certain men in two or three unrelated haplogroups all have documentary evidence of Scottish origins.  Scotland has been something of a melting pot, Ireland perhaps less so.

I hope your research goes well.  Coincidentally, I began my study of Lynns in Scotland 42 years ago.  My research in Ireland began in earnest about 30 years ago.

Answer 1

There was apparently a Baron Dungannon from 1542 to 1608, as well as Viscount Dungannon from 1662 to 1706, and from 1766 to 1862.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Dungannon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscount_Dungannon

Also, Melusine von der Schulenburg was apparently created Countess of Dungannon in 1716.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melusine_von_der_Schulenburg,_Duchess_of_Kendal