His father was Mathghamhain mac Maolmhuire, a direct descendant of Tadg Óg Ó hUiginn (died 1448), prominent poet of his day.
[1] His brother, Maol Muire Ó hÚigínn, was a priest who became Archbishop of Tuam, yet also followed family tradition in composing poetry (little surviving).
[1] Irish sovereignty under threat from England features in several, along with restructuring invasion stories found in Lebor Gabala Erenn for the Norman-Irish,[1] who were now heavily Gaelicised.
A chancery inquisition of 1617 provided further details, stating that members of the Ó hEadhra family of Cashel Carragh, Kilmacteige, were attainted in 1591 for "murdering one Teige Dall O Higgen [sic] his wife and childe in the year one thousand five hundred ninetee and one or thereabouts".
[7] He was a preacher of Irish language sermons at the Trinity College Dublin Chapel,[8] and later vicar for eight Church of Ireland parishes in County Tipperary until he died in 1724.