Histories

» Show All     «Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next»     » Slide Show

French and Harron story

French Side:

Our great-grandfather James French was born in 1835 and his wife Jane Lynch was born in 1841. Date of marriage is not known but they seem to have lived in Rylands, Bodoney Lower Parish, Gortin, Co. Tyrone until at least 1870 as their son James French was born there in that year.

They then moved to Gallen outside Newtownstewart where James worked in Crosh House.
Our granny Bridget French was born there in 1882 and christened in Glenock Chapel. We’re not sure where her brother Patrick was born but he and she attended school together in Newtownstewart.

By 1901, the family had moved to Grangefoyle between Strabane and Derry where they are recorded on the 1901 census.

Bridget died in 1912 and James died in 1914; they are both buried in Cloughcor.

Harron Side - Grandparents

Our great-grandfather Michael Harron was born in 1844 or 1845 and his wife Jane Carlin was born in 1847 0r 1848 It is through Jane’s parents that we are connected to the Carlin family in Strabane (Willie John and Dominic). The only information that I have at the moment is that they lived in Lisdivin Lower at the time of the 1901 census which includes our grandfather, also called Michael.

Our grandfather married Bridget French on 12 November, 1903 in Cloughcor Chapel.
In the 1911 census, our great-grandparents are shown as living in Drumenny Big which is another townland beside Lisdivin and our grandparents were living in Lisdivin Lower. Perhaps great-granda and great-granny moved house and their old house was taken over by granda and granny?

We know that our father was born in Lisdivin. He showed me where one time but there was no trace of the house and I can’t remember exactly where it was. He talked about walking to school in Cloughcor with Mick.

When my father was still young they moved to Lower Main Street, Strabane for a short while before moving to Drumnaboy. I’m not sure when that was but daddy started attending Barrack Street School so he would have been under 14.

Granda Harron suffered from dementia in his later years and was eventually admitted to Omagh Hospital where he stayed until his death in 1960. During that time, Granny Harron and Aunt Bridget move to Kennedy Street in Strabane where they were joined by Mary Jane when she retired from nursing in England. Granny Harron died there; Bridget and Mary Jane relocated to Springhill Park and Barrack Street in the mid-1970s when Kennedy Street was demolished as part of the area redevelopment.

Harron Side - Parents

My father worked in Andy Gallagher’s shirt factory as a young man and met my mother pushing a pram. He thought she was married but soon discovered that she was visiting her sister Katie and the child was her niece. They got married in 1937 and around 1940 they moved into one of the new council houses in Church View.

For roughly the next 10 years, daddy like many married men of his generation, had to seek work in England, leaving his wife and children at home for lengthy periods, especially during the war years.

In 1951, he got a permanent job as a storeman in Nestle factory in Victoria Bridge where he worked until its closure in 1970, cycling to and from there every day.

When the Nestle factory closed, daddy got a job in the Hoesch factory in Limavady. On 3 November 1970, mammy, daddy and the six youngest children from Brendan down move to 16 Glenmore Gardens in Limavady. They stayed there until 1986 when mammy and daddy move back to Strabane to 3 Magirr Park where they lived the rest of their lives.

» Show All     «Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next»     » Slide Show