Ní Dhonnchadha Dhuibh, Máire (d. 1795?), poet, was born c.1702 in Glenflesk, Co. Kerry, daughter of Domhnall Ó Donnchadha and his wife Alice (née Ferriter), both of Co. Kerry. She was a descendant of the Uí Dhonnchadha an Ghleanna (O'Donoghue of the Glen), ‘Dubh’ being the suffix of a younger branch of the O'Donoghues who settled in Glenflesk at a place called Anees, near Brewsterfield. Her uncle, Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha (qv) an Ghleanna (d. 1678), a poet in his own right, was well known for his generosity to poets and scribes who visited him at Killaha castle, near Killarney. Máire married (c.1718) Domhnall Mór Ó Conaill (d. 1770) and seemingly supervised the building of their family home, Derrynane house, on the outskirts of Caherdaniel, Co. Kerry. Of her twenty-two children, four sons and eight daughters survived, the most famous being Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (qv). Oral tradition concerning Máire Ní Dhuibh refers to her wittiness, pride and determination. Her grandson, Daniel O'Connell (qv), is reputed to have inherited her oratorical and intellectual ability.
Sources
Morgan John O'Connell, The last colonel of the Irish brigade (1892), i, 7–14; ii, 202–4; Séamus Ó Duilearga, Leabhar Sheáin Í Chonaill. Sgéalta agus seanchas ó Íbh Ráthach (1948), 338–9, 489; Séamus Fenton, It all happened: reminiscences of Séamus Fenton (1949), 10; O'Connell corr., i, 2, 9, 10; Burke, IFR (1976), 904; Ríonach Uí Ógáin, ‘Máire Ní Dhuibh’, Sinsear, iii (1981), 101–7; Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, ‘A natal poem for Daniel O'Connell’, Éigse, xxvii (1993), 115–19