|  (Daniel)
Francis O’Neill was born on August 28, 1848, the youngest of seven children in
the west Cork town land of Tralibane (near Bantry Bay). The son of a well-to-do and
educated farmer, “Frank” and his siblings were spared from the ravages of
the Great Famine that devastated the western regions of Ireland.
O’Neill grew up in a largely Irish-speaking rural society
in which music, song, and dance were an integral part of life. His maternal grandfather,
a latter-day chieftain named Donal O’Mahony, kept open house for traveling musicians;
his parents, sisters, and himself, were all great singers; and his parish supported
two professional pipers in the years after the Famine. At a young age, Francis began
learning the wooden flute, a skill that would help him to read music quite proficiently
some years later in America
With the help of many devoted collaborators, O’Neill collected
well over 2,000 tunes in manuscript, which would result in several published works.
The most famous of which was the 1903 publication of O’ Neill’s Music of
Ireland. Containing 1,850 melodies, it was the largest collection Irish music ever printed.
Chief Francis O’Neill died on January 26, 1936, but the musical
tradition that he revived lives on forever in his hometown Chicago, in his native Ireland,
and in Irish communities all over the world.
There is a restaurant
and pub named in honor of Chief O'Neill in Chicago.
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