Modern History of Durrus and District - Distinguished People Local Parishes

Distinguished People Local Parishes

• James Swanton, (c.1760-1828) joined Berwick's Irish regiment in 1780 great grandfather of Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953)
• Sir Francis L. O'Callaghan, (1839–1909), Born Dunmanus, son of James O'Callaghan, JP, educated Queen's College, Cork in Engineering, consultant to the Government of India for State Railways, supervised construction of Railway bridge over River Indus and the railway through the Bolan Pass
• Robert Swanton from Ballydehob, United Irishman, lawyer in New York, he chaired a meeting of "the Friends of Ireland in New York" in 1825, possibly the first attempt to mobilise the Irish in America. He became a judge of the Marine Court in New York, he returned home in 1836 and died in Ballydehob in 1841, his grave inscription in Skibbereen states "Do ghradhaigh se na Gaedhil agus an Gaeilge", he loved the Irish people and the Irish language.
• Thomas Swanton, Crannliath, Ballydehob, merchant, landlord and Gaelic scholar, he tried to use the language in public, in 1848 he had posters printed in Irish advertising the new fair in Ballydehob from the first Thursday in May, 1848. He was a member of learned societies in Dublin.
• Capt Francis O'Neill 1848-1936, Tralibane, Collector of Irish Music Chicago
• Diarmuid O h-Eigeartaigh1856-1934, author of Tadhg Ciallmhar 1934 folklore of 18th century, Is Uasal Ceird memoirs of a teacher 1926.
• Patrick Joseph Sullivan, born Kilcrohane, Republican US Senator for Wyoming, 1929-1930.
• Robert Dawson Evans, 1843–1909, born in St. John, New Brunswick, who rose to prominence and influence in Boston as an industrialist and arts patron, was a son of Captain John Evans—a native of Brahalish who emigrated to British North America, with five of his siblings and their parents, Richard and Elizabeth (Shannon) Evans, in 1831. At Evans' death, in 1909, his wife donated 1,000,000 (US) to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in his memory. "Evansway"-a street near the Museum and Boston's famed Fenway Park is named for him.