Catalogue

Miscellaneous documents

Return to your search results

Catalogue Index

Use and to reveal/hide the structure of the catalogue index (requires Javascript to be enabled in your internet browser options). Click to jump directly to information at a specific level of the catalogue.

• Miscellaneous documents

Catalogue Description

Francis Harvey was the depositor's maternal great-grandfather. He was born and attended school in Gortnagarn, County Tyrone in 1838 and emigrated to England sometime after the 'Great Famine'. He married Sarah Robson in the Roman Catholic church, Thornley, in July 1857. Together they had five children but Sarah died in 1866. In 1869 Francis was living in Willington with his three surviving children. In 1870 he married Sarah Crich in St. Michael's Roman Catholic church, Esh Laude. Together they had eight children and from 1871 Francis lived in the area of Crook.

Throughout his working life Francis was a coalminer. Francis was a practicing Roman Catholic and his children were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. My grandmother recalls how, on Sundays, he read to them from 'The Life of Christ'. He was greatly loved by his large family and four of his grandsons bore his name. Francis died on 31 October 1908 and he was buried in St. Cuthbert's Roman Catholic cemetery in Crook.

The depositor was given his personal copy book after the death of his last surviving daughter, Ann, in 1971. It contains examples of arithmetic which indicates that he sought to gain promotion in the coal mines. He displays his creativity in his decorative writing and his poetry. There are quotes from Daniel O'Connell which suggests a strong Irish identity. The medical remedies and cooking recipes are evidence of an Irish immigrant in the nineteenth century.

The depositor researched his history in the National Library in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

Catalogue Contents