Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/MacGeoghegan, James
MACGEOGHEGAN, JAMES (1702–1763), historian, was born near Uisnech in co. Westmeath in 1702, and belonged to the family known in Irish as CinelFhiachach, so that he was related to Richard MacGeoghegan, the defender of Dunboy in 1602, and to Conall Mageoghegan [q. v.], translator of the 'Annals of Clonmacnoise,' as well as to Francis O'Molloy, author of the 'Lucerna Fidelium.' He was educated in France, and entered the church, becoming an abbe. In 1758 he published in Paris 'Histoire de Flrlande, ancienne et moderne,' of which the second volume appeared in 1762, and the third in 1763. Amsterdam appears on the title of vol. iii., but as the paper, type, and most of the ornaments are identical, and as the royal approbation for the first two volumes appears at the end of the third, the place is probably merely an indication that an official approval was not given to the recent politics of the last volume. The work is dedicated to the Irish troops in the service of France, and is a summary of the existing printed books on Irish history. The author shows some colloquial acquaintance with the Irish language, but had not examined any manuscript except the 'Book of Lecan,' which was then at the Irish College in Paris, and which, he says, was difficult to read. The history is not critical; it inclines, for example, to the view that the Giant's Causeway is a specimen of early Irish architecture, but it contains a good deal of interesting information arranged in order. It concludes with an account of the confiscations and grants which followed the treaty of Limerick. The abbe's name appears as Ma-Geoghegan on the title of vol. 1., and as MacGeoghegan on that of vol. ii.; both are phonetic expressions of the Irish form MacEochagain ('Cunnrudh Mheig Eochagain agus an t-Sionnaigh,' line 2). He became one of the clergy of the church of St. Merry in Paris, and died there 30 March 1763.
[Works; Biographie Générale, Paris, 1855; Miscellany of Irish Archæological Society, vol. i. 1846; Topographical Poems of John O'Dubhagain, ed. O'Donovan, Dublin, 1862; National MSS. of Ireland, vol. ii.; information from the Bey. Patrick Bogle of the College des Irlandais, Paris.]