i suppose a way to explain it is that he was a song writer, for instance the song i mentioned in above thread "John by the caol og side" the following lines are hand written on the original composition - Where the Murphys live in Aghatubrid and its immediate vicinity is called caol og from a riverlet that flows down at the east of Johns. An IRA man sang this song on the eve of his departure for the USA. he sang it at his American wake.- There are 16 verses to this song recalling battles fought with the Tans etc , a battle in Gurrane, an attempt by Republicans to re- take Killorglin Town etc, it does not mean that he was there at these events( maybe he was i dont know)this was his style of writing . with ref to where first my life began , the same could be said for Sigerson , he wasnt born in Cahirciveen. By road to his old home is 8 miles but the way that was most commonly used was over the Beandubh ridge and thru Rehill into the east end of Cahirciveen . this was a far shorter Journey.