The Deasy family was mainly concentrated in Waterford

Waterford

Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...

 and West Cork

West Cork

West Cork refers to a geographical area in south-west Ireland, lying within Ireland's largest county, County Cork. Traditionally a popular tourist destination, the area is seen as being distinct from the more populated northern or eastern parts of the county, as well as the more urban area of...

 at the time that James Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

 wrote Ulysses

Ulysses (novel)

Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...

. However, the name was already known as the college friend and political ally of Daniel O'Connell

Daniel O'Connell

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...

, Rickard Deasy, instituted the Deasy Land Act, which was intended to reform tenants' rights. Also Captain Timothy Deasy was one of the prisoners rescued from a prison van in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 by Fenian

Fenian

The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...

s in a famous incident in 1867.

Latter day famous members of the clan include Austin Deasy

Austin Deasy

Austin Deasy is a former Irish Fine Gael politician representing Waterford constituency as Teachta Dála until his retirement at the 2002 general election....

, who became minister for agriculture from 1982 - 1987.

During the great famine many Deasys left Ireland for a better life elsewhere. Five brothers from a faction of the West Cork Deasys settled in Marlborough Massachusetts USA. The brothers, John,Thomas, Timothy, Patrick and William changed the spelling of their name to Dacey. Today they have many descendants living in New England and as far away as California and Hawaii.

Famous Deasys

• Henry Hugh Peter Deasy
  Henry Hugh Peter Deasy
  Henry Hugh Peter Deasy was an army officer, founder of the Deasy Motor Car Company and a writer. He was born in Dublin.He served as a British Army Captain , mostly in India, between 1888 and 1897, when he retired....
  
   - (1866-1947) automotive pioneer.
• Conor Deasy - Irish pop band The Thrills
  The Thrills
  The Thrills are an Irish rock band, formed in 2001 in Dublin, Ireland. The band was founded by lead vocalist Conor Deasy and guitarist Daniel Ryan, guitarist and bass player Padraic McMahon, pianist Kevin Horan and drummer Ben Carrigan. Their big break came with their debut album, So Much for the...
  
   singer
• Austin Deasy
  Austin Deasy
  Austin Deasy is a former Irish Fine Gael politician representing Waterford constituency as Teachta Dála until his retirement at the 2002 general election....
  
   - Irish politician
• Tim Deasy
  Tim Deasy
  Timothy "Tim" Deasy is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He currently plays for Conference National side Gateshead.-Career:...
  
   - English Footballer
• John Deasy - Irish politician
• Liam Deasy
  Liam Deasy
  Liam Deasy was an Irish Republican Army officer in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War of the 1920s.Deasy was born in Bandon in County Cork in 1898....
  
   - Irish Republican Army
  Irish Republican Army
  The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
  
   officer during war of independence
• Bill Deasy
  Bill Deasy
  Bill Deasy is a singer-songwriter, recording artist and author born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the late 1980s Deasy's musical start blossomed at open stages in and around Pittsburgh. Within a few years Deasy and his band, Shiloh, outscored Rusted Root to win the 1991 Graffiti Rock...
  
   - American singer-songwriter, recording artist and author
• Daniel Deasy
  Daniel Deasy
  Daniel Deasy is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He is married to Kelly Skeba Deasy.-External links:* official PA House website* official Party website...
  
   - Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
• Timothy Deasy
  Timothy Deasy
  Timothy Deasy was a Captain in the Irish Republican Brotherhood.He was captured during their abortive uprising in 1867. He was released with a fellow IRB prisoner Colonel Thomas J. Kelly by an attack on a prison van in Manchester. He escaped, but three of his rescuers were executed for their part...
  
   - Captain in the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
• Jeff Deasy - Founder of American Feast.
• Derek Deasy - AKA Delboy Deasy...Legend