Samuel Seaton: Little-known Killygordon writer's works spanned the globe

A little-known, yet remarkably prolific writer from Killygordon was recalled at a talk this week.

The life and works – at least what is now known – of Samuel Seaton were the subject of this month's meeting of the Ballybofey, Stranorlar & District Historical Society.

Rev Raymond Blair gave a fascinating talk on Monday night at the Henderson Hall on Seaton, who was born in 1845 and who died in 1934.

Seaton was a poet and storyteller who lived in Ballinacor, Killygordon, in a house now owned by Mr and Mrs Billy McCready.

Rev Blair noted how Seaton's works are absent from books and journals that chronicle local writers.

“It shows how much he has been forgotten,” Rev Blair said.

Originally a farmer, Seaton became a teacher in the old Drumavish school. He changed direction again and forged a career as a journalist and writer. In 1891, he advertised seeking 'an amanuensis and copyist, male or female' with an offer of £250 p/a.

Seaton was a Presbyterian, yet wrote letters in the Derry Journal in favour of tenants and against landlords. Seaton was also in favour of Home Rule.

The title he gave to these writings was: 'Watchman, what of the night?'

Rev Blair said: “He was saying 'beware you landlords who have treated tenants so badly, judgement will come upon you'.”

Seaton wrote under the pseudonym 'A Donegal Farmer' of how Unionist farmers 'stood shoulder to shoulder against Home Rule'.

In 1894, Seaton noted how 'a great agricultural depression' had left 'loyal farmers in Ulster no longer able to pay their rents'

“The landlords have not even given them a stone,” he wrote.

A 1903 letter to The Northern Week, which also circulated in Donegal, saw Seaton bemoan the 'wanton slaughter of sea birds' and called for the protection of seagulls. Seaton was, Rev Blair told the audience, sympathetic about bird life and animals.

Local stories tell of a man who thought he could fly himself. Legend has it that Seaton once stood at a window ledge of his home and tried to fly only to land in a midden below. 'A little bit odd, a little bit eccentric', Rev Blair mentioned.

A regular contributor to the Strabane Weekly News, a publication still in circulation to this day, Seaton wrote an article Lost In The Mist On The Donegal Mountains in October 1909.

The Strabane Weekly News introduced him: 'The able pen of Samuel Seaton who depicts Donegal scenes in such a delightful and entrancing way that all look forward with keenest anticipations to his next contribution'.

In Sean-Bhean Bhocht, a nationalist monthly, Seaton write about the Irish language and said it 'may well be the language of Heaven'.

He also recounts a meeting with Charles Stewart Parnell in Killygordon and decried the landlord Robert Delap of Monellan: 'It is easier for a mule to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God'.

In Ireland's Own, Seaton wrote a series of articles about the Finn Valley area, commending its beauty and encouraging people to visit.

Seaton's writings went beyond Donegal and Ireland with his work subsequently reaching audiences in Australia and America.

The Irish Packet, described as 'a story newspaper', carried a piece from Seaton called 'A Killygordon Cave' in 1907, while he won a prize for To Be Kept For Doctor B, which was carried in the Irish Times in 1902.

Seaton is said to have derived his material from visiting around the Finn Valley countryside.

Rev Blair said: “Samuel Seaton should not be forgotten.”