![]() On a bleak winter’s morning a few years later, Peig was visited by the wandering bard, Eoghan Roe Ward. In 1942, Peig and her son moved back to Vicarstown, the old home place on the mainland. 13 Only Micheál, author of A Pity Youth Does Not Last, did not favour life abroad and soon returned to Ireland where he remained for the rest of his life. Her sorrows were compounded by the emigration of all of her children, Maurice, Padraig, Micheál, Catherine and Helen. In 1923, at the age of fifty, Peig was widowed. In 1901, her 68-year-old mother and 76-year-old father were recorded there on the census. 12Īs far as can be established, Peig’s parents remained in Vicarstown. There her children were born, and there, like her mother before her, many of them did not survive. 11 Peig moved to the Great Blasket Island where she would remain for the next forty years. On 13 February 1892, at the age of 18, an arrangement was made for her marriage to fisherman Pádraig Ó Guiheen, son of Michael Guiheen and Mary Sullivan. 10 Peig was educated at Dunquin National School but at a young age was put out to work as a maidservant in the Dingle area. To the great joy of her mother, who had so heartbreakingly seen her last nine infants die, Peig thrived. They moved in 1872 and six months later, on 29 March 1873, Peig Sayers was born. 8 Margaret Brosnan, now Mrs Sayers, believed that if they moved, their fortunes might improve and so they took up residence in Baile an Bhiochaire (Vicarstown) in Dunquin. 7Īt this time, they had three surviving children, John, Patrick and Mary. They didn’t prosper in Dunquin no more than they did in Ventry … one after another, the children died, until in all, nine children were buried. 6 In her autobiography, Peig recalled that her parents enjoyed six years of prosperity before their fortunes took a turn for the worse: The young couple lived first in Ventry but at some point moved to Dunquin. Tomás Sayers was a farmer, fisherman and storyteller who shared his stories with Jeremiah Curtin 4 He was said to be of Bearla (English) descent (the name of Sayers was not uncommon to the Dingle area indeed, the parents of another Tom Sayers, the nineteenth century champion bare knuckle fighter who defeated Heenan, were from Dingle). 3 If this was the marriage of Peig’s parents, there is little more to add than it was witnessed by Daniel Divane. It is a long road from Castleisland to Ballyferriter but in the latter there is on record the marriage, in 1851, of Margaret Brosnan to Tomás Sayers (or Sears). Peig at her own fireplace in Dunquin c1946 © UCD Tom Brosnan, author of The Brosnan Gathering, remarked that, despite Peig’s international literary fame, little seems to be known about her mother, and her Castleisland forebears appear something of a mystery. It is generally accepted that Margaret Brosnan was from Castleisland. 1 It contains an interesting article about Blasket Island writer, Peig Sayers, whose mother was Margaret (Peig) Brosnan. You can find out more about Peig in the RTÉ Archives.A Brosnan Gathering is the title of a book produced in 2013. Maybe you didn't like reading the book for your Leaving Cert but isn't it about time we let her off the hook for something she had no control over and respected her importance and literary legacy? The absence of rural, poor womens' voices, however is even more blatant. It is now widely acknowledged that the Irish literary canon has neglected womens' voices. The photos featured here from Dúchas.ie show Peig laughing with Kenneth Jackson, one of the many scholars who came to listen to her stories. Whilst the book itself, Peig, A Scéal Féin isn't exactly the most uplifting of texts, it's a realistic depiction of a woman who lived a hard life and wasn't afraid to say how tough it was. Kenneth Jackson and Peig Sayersīecause Peig was educated in English, she wasn't literate in her native Irish, her son, Maidhc is thought to have transcribed her book. Of the 10 children Peig gave birth to, only 5 survived. Three died in infancy, her daughter Siobhán died of the measles at the age of eight, and her son Tomás was killed in 1920 when he fell off a cliff while gathering heather. She was 18 and her husband was 12 years her senior. She was born on the mainland and was married into the island by an arranged marriage. Of the 13 children born, Peig was only one of 4 who survived. Peig was one of 13 children born to Tomás and Peig Sayers. Let's have another look at this woman and her legacy. ![]() Before Peig became a textbook, a character upon which those who failed to learn Irish could pin their disappointment, she was a renowned storyteller. On this day in 1873, Peig Sayers was christened. ![]()
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