Seumas O’Kelly was most likely born sometime between 1875 and 1878 in Loughrea in County Galway, Ireland. The youngest of seven or eight children, O’Kelly’s family was successful in the milling and corn transportation industries. O’Kelly received a minimal education at John Furry’s Hedge School, and served as an Acolyte in the Abbey Church of the local Carmelite Monastery.

O’Kelly worked as an editor and journalist for a variety of publications throughout his career and became editor of The Southern Star in 1903. His journalistic and creative work brought him into the same circles as men with whom he formed lifelong friendships, including the writer James O’Sullivan, and Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Fein. O’Kelly joined the Sinn Fein chapter in Naas, Ireland around 1907, and brought his father, sister, and nephew, Alphonsus Sweeney, to live with him.

O’Kelly’s creative work included plays, short stories, prose, and verse. His first play The Matchmakers, was produced by the Theater of Ireland in 1907 and other well-known works include The Weaver’s Grave, The Leprechaun of Kilmeen, The Shuiler's Child and The Bribe. On November 14, 1918, he was found unconscious in his office at the Sinn Fein newspaper Nationality where he was then rushed to the hospital and later died.

Sources:

Saul, George B. Seumas O’Kelly. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Press, 1971 “Seumas O’Kelly.” Dictionary of Irish Literature