Turlough O’Carolan moved as a boy to Ballyfarnon in Roscommon, where the MacDermott Roe family took him under their wing. Smallpox left him blind at eighteen, and he was apprenticed to a harper. For some forty five years he travelled Ireland, composing tunes and verse for his patrons, and he died at the house of his first patron.
© From R.B. Armstrong "The Irish and Highland Harps", Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1904.Public Domain Mark Turlough O’Carolan
Blind harper and composer
- Born
- 1670, Nobber, County Meath
- Died
- 25 March 1738, Ballyfarnon, County Roscommon
Further reading: Wikipedia · Dictionary of Irish Biography