Ogrady Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Ogrady Family History

Ogrady Family History

The O'Grady ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Meaning 'illustrious', the O'Gradys were a Dalcassian sept, whose territorys was in County Clare. Their fortress was Inis Cealtra on Lough Derg. The O'Briens dispersed them to Limerick, where the present Chief of the name, Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Vigours de Courcy O'Grady, lives at Killballyowen. During the frenetic period of Henry the eighths rule, an O'Grady changed his faith and his name to Brady in order to keep his lands. His son was the first Protestant Bishop of Meath. Since then his family has reverted to their original name. John O'Grady was Archbishop of Tuam from 1364 to 1372 and in modern times many more O'Gradys have distinguished themselves.The O'Grady family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including O'Grady descendants.