* Born in Co Carlow to a peasant family
* Educated himself and managed to enter Ireland's
most prestigious University, Trinity College Dublin.
* Became embroiled in the bid for freedom and joined
the Young Irelander movement
* Captured by the British and sentenced to death -
sentence later commuted to life in Tasmania
* Became editor of local 'Irish Exile' newspaper
* Suffered real hardship in Tasmania and eventually escaped
to San Francisco in 1852 as a stowaway on board the Yarra Yarra
* Lived in squalor and moved to New York
* Died in poor circumstances in 1854