Peter Aloysius Sillard

“ Williams was not long in Dublin before he was whirled into the vortex of the ‘Young Ireland’ movement. National ballads and stirring war songs flowed from his pen, and were eagerly read from week to week in the ‘Nation.’ The famine of 1847 and its attendant horrors evoked some of the most powerful of his poems. ”

“ WILLIAMS, RICHARD D'ALTON (1822–1862) , Irish poet, known as ‘Shamrock’ of the ‘Nation,’ born in Dublin on 8 Oct. 1822, was the natural son of Count d'Alton, an extensive land proprietor in co. Tipperary, and Mary Williams, a farmer's daughter. While still an infant he was taken to Grenanstown in Tipperary. When he was eight he was sent to the jesuit school of St. ”

“ He still contributed occasionally to American magazines and journals, and sent a few pieces home to the ‘Nation,’ but the greater part of his literary work was done. The climate of New Orleans proved unsuited to his health. ”