Francis O'Neill

O'Neill was born in Tralibane, near Bantry, County Cork. At an early age he heard the music of local musicians, among them Peter Hagarty, Cormac Murphy and Timothy Dowling. At the age of 16, he became a cabin boy on an English merchant vessel. On one of his voyages, he met Anna Rogers, whom he married in Bloomington, Illinois. The O'Neills moved to Chicago, and in 1873 O'Neill became a Chicago policeman. He rose through the ranks quickly, eventually serving as the Chief of Police from 1901 to 1905. During this time he recruited many traditional Irish musicians into the police force, including Patrick O'Mahony, James O'Neill, Bernard Delaney, Patsy Touhey, John McFadden and, James Earley. He also collected tunes from a wide variety of sources.

O'Neill retired from the police force in 1905. After that, he devoted much of his energy to publishing the music he had collected, and edited several important volumes of musical scores, including:

• O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903), containing 1,850 pieces of music
• The Dance Music of Ireland (1907), sometimes called, "O'Neill's 1001," due to the approximate number of tunes included
• 400 tunes arranged for piano and violin (1915)
• Waifs and strays of Gaelic Melodies (1922), 365 pieces
• Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby (1910). Appendix A contains O'Farrells Treatise and Instructions on the Irish Pipes, published 1797-1800; appendix B is Hints to Amateur Pipers by Patrick J Tuohy.
• Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913), biographies of musicians from whom he collected

References

• Cremin, Nora, Bantry Historical and Archaeological Society Journal vol. 2

External links

• Francis O'Neill by Ronan Nolan
• Irish Minstrels and Musicians online at billhaneman.ie
• O'Neill's Music of Ireland O'Neill's Music of Ireland
• O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland
• O'Neill's Waif's and Strays of Gaelic Melody O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody