Annotation:Philip O'Neill
X:1 T:Philip O'Neill M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:O’Neill – Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 69 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G E|DBB B2 d | cAA A2 c | BGG GFG | ABG FED | DBB Bcd | cAA ABc | dGG DGG | BGG G2 :|| |:A|Bcd def | gfe fdB | ded dBG | GAG FED | Bcd def | gfe fdB | dGG DGG | BGG G2 :||
PHILIP O'NEILL (Pilib Ua Niall). AKA and see "Aherlow Jig," "Brandy and Whiskey," "Connie O'Connell's Jig (1)," "Quinn's Jig." Irish, Double Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The jig is a member of a rather large 6/8 tune family with numerous variants. This iteration was possibly named for the Philip O'Neill who was Chief Francis O'Neill's (1848-1936) eldest sibling, baptized 17 January, 1835. Parents John O'Neill (1801-1867) and Catherine O'Mahony (1812-1900) had seven children, of whom Philip was the eldest and Frances the youngest. Other siblings were Mary (AKA 'Nancy'), baptized 1836; John, baptized 1838; Michael, baptized 1841 (who died as a child); Catherine, baptized 1843; and another child named Michael, baptized 1845.
Francis O'Neill mentions Philip in his autobiography, Chief O'Neill's Sketchy Recollections of an Eventful Life in Chicago (1931, p. 37):
All of my savings since landing on American soil, June 1866, with wages due when paid off from the barque Hannah at New York, March 1869, and a balance grudgingly paid me by the agents of the ship Minnehaha (wrecked at Baker's Island), amounted to nearly two hundred dollars. I entrusted my pay to Mrs. Reid, my former host at 66 Oliver Street, for safekeeping the first day on shore, and she kept it literally! When I asked for it a few days later, she put me off with the story that she had used it to pay a pressing bill. Day after day, until my patience was exhausted, she went out ostensibly to collect some money due from steamship agencies without success. With my faith in humanity at a low ebb, I proceeded to Erie, Pennsylvania, and went to work with a stevedore gang, where my oldest brother, Philip, was the boss loading coal and unloading iron ore. We were paid by the ton and often worked from daylight to dark when the occasion required it, and though but a youngster among seasoned veterans, I endured the strain.
