Unlike his namesake, Sheamus Cotter, was not particularly ambitious. Sheamus was a rather reserved child. While most people were worrying about where their next meal was coming from, Sheamus was busy watching snails crawl across leaves or counting clouds as they floated past. Most people agreed he was either "slow" or "different." His uncle did his best to encourage him, but it did little good. In the end, Sheamus went into business as a peat cutter. Peat was compressed organic matter that had not quite turned into coal. It burned poorly, but was the main source of fuel for cooking and heating for most of the poor people. Sheamus married an equally different woman named Hannah O'More, and lived out a remarkably happy life in the midst of monstrous suffering.