Siobhán O'Donnell

Siobhán O'Donnell, Countess of Tyrone (; died January 1591), sometimes anglicised Joanna, Joan, or Judith, was a sixteenth-century Irish noblewoman of the O'Donnell clan. She was the second wife of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and bore him most of his children.

Family background Siobhán was the daughter of Hugh McManus O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell. Her mother was Sir Hugh's first wife (not his second wife, Iníon Dubh). Historian Francis Martin O'Donnell has named Sir Hugh's first wife as "Nuala, a daughter of O’Neill", and states that she was the daughter of Shane O'Neill. Siobhán's mother had probably died by 1566. Siobhan's younger half-siblings included future clan chief Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell.

Marriage From the late-1560s to early-1570s, Hugh O'Neill (then 3rd Baron Dungannon) allied with many neighbouring clans to strength his political position.

Children Siobhán and Hugh had two sons and multiple daughters:

Margaret ( 1598) who married Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret sometime before 8 October 1596 —possibly in October 1595. Sarah ( 1595–1602), who married Sir Arthur Magennis, 1st Viscount Iveagh sometime before 4 March 1595 - possibly in 1590. Through Sarah, Siobhán is an ancestor to the Anglo-Irish Wellesley family. Mary (fl. 1608), who married Brian McHugh Og MacMahon. According to historian George Hill, she is the same woman who married Sir Ross McMahon. Alice (1583 – ) who married Randal MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim. She was younger than her sisters Sarah and Mary, and older than her brother Hugh. Hugh, 4th Baron Dungannon ( – September 1609); he died in Rome and was buried in San Pietro in Montorio. Henry ( 1586 Family tree