Carlow's contribution to politics, science, religion and other fields is to be documented in a book due to be published later this year.
Carlow's International Achievers is the working title for the book, by Jimmy O'Toole, which will record the stories of people from the county who made their mark outside Ireland.
It's about men like Myles Keogh, who was a captain in the 7th US Cavalry Regiment led by Gen Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. It is said that Keogh's horse and servant were the army's only survivors.
Keogh, who was just 36 when he died, was born in 1840 in Leighlinbridge, where his relatives still live. His life seems to have been lived on the battlefield. At the age of 20 he joined the Papal Brigade and distinguished himself in the Battle of Ancona.
Afterwards he emigrated to America, where he took part in 80 battles and was wounded only once before Gen Custer made his great tactical mistake. Others to be featured in O'Toole's book include Pierce Butler, who was born in Ballintemple, near Tullow, in 1744. Butler went to America as an officer in the British army and later represented South Carolina in the US Senate.
Myshall-born Peter Fenelon Collier, who arrived in the US penniless at the age of 16, went on to found a publishing empire and was a multi-millionaire when he died in 1909.
Not all of those in the book were Carlow-born. Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York, for example, had a grandmother from Kildavin.
The cardinal did not support John F. Kennedy for the presidency in 1960 possibly because, says O'Toole, he knew a Kennedy victory would make him only the second most powerful Catholic leader in the US.
The criteria for inclusion in the book are simply that those featured must have strong Carlow connections and must have achieved something on the international stage. But they don't have to be dead, the author stresses. The dancer Michael Flatley, for example, is featured. His mother, Eilish Ryan, is from the county and he is a regular visitor.
Others, though, are long since gone, and might be said to have helped a few others along the way - like Samuel Haughton, a Leighlinbridge man who calculated the drop needed to cause instantaneous death by hanging. This was, despite the sound of it, a humanitarian advance in the 19th century.
O'Toole, who will publish the volume himself, is inviting suggestions for inclusions in the book, lest he leave anyone out. He can be contacted at Borlum House, Kilkenny Road, Carlow, or at 0503-41747.