Background
He was born in Eskerbuoy, near Carrickmore, County Tyrone, one of five children, to Bernard McCartan, a farmer, and the former Bridget Rafferty.
He was born in Eskerbuoy, near Carrickmore, County Tyrone, one of five children, to Bernard McCartan, a farmer, and the former Bridget Rafferty.
He returned to Ireland some years later and qualified as a doctor. McCartan was to take part in the 1916 Easter Rising with the Tyrone volunteers but did not, owing to Eoin MacNeill"s countermanding order. He was arrested after the Rising and interned in an open prison in England.
In 1917 he took "French leave" to return to Ireland and assist Sinn Féin in the by-elections being held throughout Ireland that year.
He was later elected in a by-election in King"s County Tullamore in 1918. He was re-elected in the 1918 general election, and at the meeting of the First Dáil was appointed Sinn Féin"s representative in the United States of America where he would remain until 1921.
McCartan also assisted with the development of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. He was re-elected for Leix–Offaly at the 1921 elections.
He gave the Anglo-Irish Treaty his support, albeit reluctant, in the Dáil debates, saying he would not "vote for chaos." He blamed the whole cabinet for the situation and said that "The Republic of which Mr. de Valera was President is dead." Disillusioned, he quit politics for the next twenty years.
He contested the 1945 presidential election as an independent candidate and secured 20% of the vote. In 1932 he published a book, With De Valera in America. McCartan"s daughter, Deirdre, was married to Irish folk musician Ronnie Drew.
He also continued working with nationalist politics and worked closely with Bulmer Hobson and Denis McCullough with the Dungannon Clubs and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. McCartan contested the by-election in South Armagh for Sinn Féin but lost out to the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate.
Irish Republican Brotherhood. 30th United Kingdom Parliament. 31st United Kingdom Parliament]
He emigrated to the United States of America as a young man and became a member of Clan na Gael in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and edited the journal Irish Freedom.