I think it's often interesting to learn the history of people's names. And for the people in the stories on this site, it's especially true. Many of them still carry the names of places practically within walking distance of Leigh. Surnames had been in widespread use for many hundreds of years by the time these folks were living, so when you see a name like that it seems reasonable to imagine the person's ancestors had lived in the area for 10 or 20 generations or more. Gallagher Gallagher is a very old Irish clan name from County Donegal, the northernmost county in the Republic of Ireland. It goes back 1000 years to the clan founder Gallchobhair mac Rorcan ( wikipedia ). The modern Irish version is Ó Gallachóir . The Anglicized form Gallagher is apparently pronounced goll-a-her in County Donegal, and gal-a-her elsewhere in Ireland. In Britain and the US it's usually pronounced gal-a-ger , with a hard G sound. In Old Irish the name has the elements gall (fore
Agnes Baxter Farrington's parents were Jesse and Sarah Alice Baxter. This is what I know about them. Jesse Jesse Baxter with daughters Florrie and Agnes, about 1910 Jesse Baxter was born in 1873. He was the son and grandson of boatmen, captains of barges that carried freight on the canals that connect Liverpool and Manchester, through the coal country of Leigh and Wigan. Canal freight was not only a job but also a lifestyle; the whole family lived on the barge, and for much of the 1800s it was common for children to take up the lifestyle and marry children of other canal families. That was the case for Jesse's parents, both of whom were raised on barges. Birth registration for Jesse Baxter in Astley Green ( map ) The 1881 Census shows David and Catherine Marlowe Baxter, Jesse's parents, living on the barge Winnifred with their seven children. By the next census in 1891, Catherine was a widower living with those seven children on Trafalgar Street, near St. Joseph's chur