Seán Crosach
Collected from Séamus Ó Cholla, Béal an Bhearnais, Co. Dhún na nGall, 1937. Preserved through the National Folklore Collection, UCD.
Written descriptions of people being forcibly transported to the New World are obviously rare, but some traces may be found in the oral record. Here, the closing of a story about a highwayman named Seán Crosach reveals his possible forcible transportation. The fact that he was transported to the New World strongly suggests this story is set before the American Revolution. After this, convicts were instead sent to Australia (officially becoming a penal colony in 1787). This retelling of course does not date from that time, but this is the story:
Rowlandson, Thomas. 1819. “Doctor Syntax Stopped by Highwaymen” in Poetical Magazine. Rudolph Ackermann: London.
“San am fadó bhí ropaire ina chónaí tríd sléibhte Dhúin na nGall anseo dar ainm Seán Crosach. Chaithfeadh sé tamall in áit amháin agus ansin d'imeodh sé go áit éiginteacht eile. Bhí na tuaithe iontach maith dó agus leo bhí seisean maith dóibh fosta, agus roinneadh sé an greim deireanach nó an phingin dheireanach a bhí aige leo …
Ba ghnách leis a fhanacht amuigh anseo i mBearnas Bheag (áit idir Leitir Ceanainn agus an Dún Fionnachaidh), agus duine ar bith a bhí ag dul tríd an bearnas agus airgead leis ghlacfadh se uaidh é …
Deir cuid de na daoine go ndeachaigh na Francaigh agus gur éirigh sé a bheith ina oifigeach in Arm na Francach, agus abrann duine eile go ndeachaigh sé síos go cois na farraige i Loch Súiligh agus go raibh long Sasanach ansin, agus go bhfuair na mairnéalaigh greim ar Sheán bocht agus go dtug siad é go dtí an Oileain Úir agus gur díoladh ansin é ina sclábhaí, agus sin an scéal a chuala mise faoi dtaobh Seán Crosach.”
“Long ago there was a highwayman who lived in the mountains of Donegal here by the name of Seán Crosach. He would spend a while in one place and then he would depart to some other place. The countryside was wonderfully good to him and he was good to them also, and he would share the last bite or the last penny he had with them …
It was usual for him to stay out here in Bearnas Bheag (a place between Letterkenny and Dún Fionnachaidh), and anyone at all that was going through the gap and had money he would take it from him …
Some people say that the French came and that he rose to be an officer in the French Army, and other people say that he went down to the seashore by Loch Súiligh and that an English ship was there, and that the sailors got a hold on poor Seán and that they took him to the New World and that he was sold there as a slave, and that is the story that I heard about Seán Crosach.”
Adapted from: “The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1076, Page 201-207” by Dúchas © National Folklore Collection, UCD is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
