Donegal People of the Past
 Isaac Butt ~ Father of Home Rule Isaac Butt regarded as the founder of the Home Rule movement in Ireland, was born in Glenfin, Co. Donegal, on the 6th of September, 1813. Isaac was educated at the Royal School in Raphoe, Co. Donegal and Middleton College, Co. Cork. He... Read more. |
 Francis Makemie was born in 1658 in Ramelton, part of the Ulster Scots community. He was ordained as a clergyman in West Ulster in 1682. He was sent as a missionary to America, arriving in 1683 in Maryland. Later that year he founded the first Presbyterian Church in the Town of Snow Hill. He... Read more. |
 Fr James McDyer (1910-1987) was born in Glenties, Co Donegal. After attending Glenties National School, he went on to St. Eunan’s College, Letterkenny, going on to St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth to study for the priesthood. He served in London during the Blitz, and then went on to Tory... Read more. |
 Dave Gallaher was born on October 30th, 1873 in Ramelton, Co. Donegal to shopkeeper James and his wife Maria, a teacher in Ramelton, on October 30th,1873. The 7th of 14 children (3 of whom died in infancy), his birth is recorded in the parish of Tullaughnish and he was baptised in the First... Read more. |
 Also widely known as St. Columba, Colmcille was born on the 7th of December 521 in Gartan. A Christian Abbot and Missionary he is renowned for the spread of Christianity to Scotland, and the founding of the famous monastery on Iona. A great great grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, he was... Read more. |
 Charles Macklin was born near Culdaff on the Inishowen peninsula. There is some confusion about his actual date of birth but Macklin himself claimed 1699. Little is known of his early childhood, although his family name was McLaughlin and he changed it for the English stage. He found work as an... Read more. |
 Stoker was born on 8th November 1847 in Clontarf, the northside of Dublin, Ireland. His parents were Abraham Stoker (1799–1876), from Dublin, and Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley (1818–1901), from Ballyshannon, County Donegal. As a child, Bram endured a sickly childhood and didn't walk until he... Read more. |
 Billy Gillespie was born in Kerrykeel on the 6th August 1891, the son of a policeman. He began his football career in Derry at the age young age of just 17 and by 1910 Leeds City manager Frank Scott-Walford was persuading him to turn professional. He joined the West Yorkshire club and two years... Read more. |