Micí Mac Gabhann

Mac Gabhann, Micí (1865-1948), author of the autobiography Rotha Mór an tSaoil (1959), an account of a labourer's life in late 19th-cent. Ireland, Scotland, and America, told in a plain, direct style. Born in Cloughaneely, Co. Donegal, he began work as a spailpín (hired labourer) when he was 9. At 20 he emigrated to America, where he worked in the silver mines in Butte, Montana, before joining in the Klondyke gold rush. His son-in-law, the folklorist Seán Ó hEochaidh, persuaded him to dictate the autobiography.