Captain Francis O'Neill wrote and named this tune in honor of his wife's sister Julia, who was married to uilleann piper Bernard Delaney. Julia was from Feakle in County Clare, Ireland but the tune was composed in Chicago. Although the author is known, the tune has been so much changed since the original, which was in a major key, to the point that this version might be considered a different tune.
This tune was first printed in 1903 in America, in policeman and Irish traditional music collector Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland, which contained 1850 melodies.
This tune dates from the 1700's. A number of possible authors have been identified, in Germany and England. It is often also played as a reel, for example for dancing the Shetland Reel in the Shetland Islands. The tune has also been named Egg Hornpipe, which may refer to performance hornpipe dancers strewing the floor with eggs, in order to dance among them without breaking any.