John French of Gargrave     

     The father of Harriet French, John French, was born in Brooksbottom, Lancashire in June 1848, the eldest son of Abraham French and Mary Howarth [1] . John may have been born prematurely as his parents Abraham and Mary were married in February 1848. Alternatively, Mary may have been at least four months pregnant when she married Abraham French [2] .

     Brooksbottom is a small area of Summerseat village near Bury, which lies on the River Irwell by the mouth of Gollinrod Gorge. The village of Summerseat had four distinct areas. It included Higher Summerseat, to the west with grand residences such as Summerseat House, built by Richard Hamer in 1836 and Peel Hall and Lower Summerseat to the north-east on the River Irwell, as well as the hamlet of Rowlands. Brooksbottoms lies on the River Irwell by the mouth of Gollinrod Gorge.

Early Life

     John's father Abraham is recorded as a spinner on his marriage to Mary Howarth. As a spinner Abraham would have worked in extremely warm conditions. The temperature would have been about 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit and this would have been very onerous work [3] . It is highly probable that John's father Abraham and his mother Mary both worked in Brooksbottom Mill.

     John and his parents lived in Brooksbottom close to his paternal grandparents James and Elizabeth French, his French uncles and his aunt Harriet. It is possible that three month old baby John and his parents Mary and Abraham would have attended the wedding of John's uncle Samuel French to Mary Eastwood in September 1848 [4] . Life may have been a little confusing for the French family with two Mary French's!

     The autumn of 1849 would have been a difficult time for John's uncle David French whose wife Nancy passed away in September, leaving her three year old son James [5] . John's grandparents James and Elizabeth may have taken their grandson into their household ease the pressure on David. John would not have been aware of these tragic events as he was only a year old. However, he would have been very aware of the birth of his baby brother George in December 1849 [6] . Baby George may only have been a few weeks old when John French was christened in Bury on 29 December 1849 [7] . In 1850 John would have been aware of two more happy events In His uncle Samuel had a little girl Sarah, another playmate for the two-year-old John [8] . John, his brother and his parents would also have attended John's uncle David French's marriage to his second wife Sarah in March 1850 [9] .

     Between 1849 and 1851 John, his brother George and his parents Mary and Abraham, moved to Elton, two miles south of Brooksbottom. His mother Mary French nee Howarth had been living in Summerseat in Elton district in 1841 with her widowed mother Mary and her siblings John, Nancy, and James [10] . The move may have been made to be nearer Mary's family. In 1851 three-year-old John, his two year old brother George, and their parents lived at 22, Bolton Road, Elton, Bury in the Parish of Walmersley [11] .John's uncle Charles French and his grandmother Mary Howarth also lived with the family. As John's father Abraham worked as a cotton spinner and his mother Mary was a Power Loom Weaver, John and George were probably cared for by Mary's mother Mary Howarth.

     It is possible that Abraham may have moved to take up a new job at one of the cotton spinners in Elton. This may have been with Calrow and Brancker, cotton spinners, at Albion Mills, Tho. Calrow and sons, cotton spinners and dye wood grinders, at Wood Hill Mills and Hind Mills, or Hutcheson and Openshaw, at Daisyfield Mills [12] . Daisyfield Mills lie on Bolton Road, and it is probable that Abraham worked there.

     John's grandfather James, and his uncles David and Samuel all lived in Brooksbottoms in 1851. John's grandparents James and Elizabeth French lived with his uncle George, a cotton spinner, and his aunt, Harriet, a Back-Tenter [13] . James was fifty-four years old and a cotton labourer, and he and Elizabeth had taken in a lodger, Robert Denner to help eke out their wages. A couple of doors down the street lived John's uncle David French, with his second wife Sarah and his five year old son, James [14] . Samuel French also lived a few doors away with his wife Mary and their daughter, Sarah, aged one [15] . Samuel's wife Mary worked as a cotton weaver, so it is highly probable that their young daughter Sarah was cared for by John's grandmother Elizabeth French.

The Move to Embsay

     March 1854 would have been a very difficult time for six-year-old John and his five-year-old brother George. Their mother Mary French nee Howarth, died, probably in childbirth. John and George would have been too young to really understand what had happened, but they would have had to watch their mother's coffin being lowered into the parish churchyard, in cold spring conditions. Their aunt Mary, Samuel French's wife also died in this month [16] . John and George and their cousins Sarah, aged four, and Alice aged one, may all have been taken in by their grandparents James and Elizabeth in Brooksbottoms [17] .

     John's father Abraham may have found it difficult after the death of his wife Mary. He was working full-time with two young sons, John aged seven and George, aged five, and they may have gone to live with his parents in Brooksbottom for a while. He may have found it very difficult working in Brooksbottoms and Elton area after her death, and may have wanted to make a clean break with the past. This may explain his move to Embsay in 1854.

     Between March and November 1854 Abraham French and his two young sons moved from Elton, Bury to Embsay near Skipton, in Yorkshire. This would probably have been a journey by rail as the Summerseat rail station had opened in 1846 [18] . They would have traveled along the East Lancashire Railway, north through Accrington to Burnley, and then to Colne [19] . At Colne they would have joined the Leeds Bradford Extension section of the Midland Railway to Skipton [20] . At Skipton they would have had to take a carrier two miles to Embsay [21] . The cost of the journey would have been about a penny a mile per person, which would have been a total of about three shillings per person. This would not have been a journey lightly made. Abraham and his boys would have avoided by only one year the fatal accident on the East Lancashire Railway which took place in 1855. Twenty-eight wagons loaded with stone had stopped at the south end of Brooksbottom tunnel to shunt two of the wagons to the works of John Robinson Kay. Whilst they were uncoupling and coupling the wagons, a passenger train from Accrington to Bury suddenly came out of the tunnel and hit the goods train. Forty people were injured and only one fatality from the guard on the passenger train. This incident could so easily have happened whilst Abraham and his children were traveling, and it was a very lucky miss.

     John's father Abraham would certainly have had the offer of a job to move at this time to Embsay, although how he made the connection is as yet unknown. There were plenty of mills in Brooksbottom, Elton and surrounding areas where Abraham could have been employed, and it is difficult to understand the break with his family. Abraham is the only one of his family to move such a distance. There may have been family links with his in-laws, the Howarths, that encouraged the move. It is also difficult to envisage Abraham taking his two young boys with him initially, and he may have traveled alone in search of work, his boys staying with their grandparents until they were called.

John's First Step-mother Agnes

     Abraham married for the second time to Agnes Hyde in November 1854 [22] . Abraham may have met Agnes working in the mills in Brooksbottoms area. This may explain his move to Embsay and the relatively quick marriage for a widower. If this were the case he may have traveled to Embsay with the intention of marrying her, or with the promise of a job from her father. Agnes was the daughter of an Overlooker, William Hyde, in Eastby and this may be the connection Abraham needed to move [23] . However they met Abraham was probably trying to find a mother for his two young sons John and George. Whether his sons moved to Embsay before or after his marriage to Agnes Hyde is unknown, but Abraham would have found it very difficult to care for them, and work full-time, without extended family support. It is highly likely that his sons joined him later.

     Abraham could have worked in one of five cotton factories in Embsay and Eastby in 1855. If he joined his father-in-law in Eastby he may have worked at George Chamberlain and Co. at Eastby Cotton Mills [24] . However, this firm may not have survived many years [25] . It is doubtful that he worked in Sandbanks Mill in Embsay run by Richard Shackleton and Sons, as that business was mainly involved in making spindles for other factories rather than spinning cotton [26] . There were three other cotton spinners in Embsay in 1857; William Bland at Millholme, Chambers and Leach, and Robinson and Wilkinson at Primrose Mills [27] . Good Intent Mill in Embsay had been run by Thomas Bramley and Sons, calico manufacturers in the 1840s. This was still spinning cotton until 1857. The collapse of this mill may have led to Abraham's move to Gargrave, but the matter is not yet clear. Whitfield Syke Mill in Embsay mainly span weft on mules [28] . As the Calder Valley had also been heavily dependent on mule spinning this may have been the factory that Abraham worked at in the 1850s.

     In 1861 John was living in Embsay, North Yorkshire with his father Abraham and his step-mother Agnes. John and his brother George were cotton factory operatives and worked alongside their father Abraham who was also a cotton factory operative [29] . Abraham and Agnes also had three more children, Caleb, aged six, William, aged five, and Ann Elizabeth, who was only fourteen days old when the census was taken in 1861 [30] . Whilst John and his family were in Embsay his grandmother Elizabeth and grandfather James died in 1866, within six months of each other [31] . It is not known whether the family made the journey back to Brooksbottom for their funerals.

The Move to Gargrave

     Within four years John, his parents and siblings had moved from Embsay to Gargrave. The reasons for the move are not clear, but they may have found that there were better prospects in Gargrave. In 1857 there were three Cotton Factories in Gargrave, High Mill run by the Mason brothers, Low Mill or Goffa Mill, and Airebank Mill run by Christopher Bracewell and Brothers [32] . As the French's lived in River Place in Gargrave they could have worked any of the mills, as they were all within walking distance.

     In 1871 John lived at 9, River Place, Gargrave and was a spinner in a cotton factory [33] . His step-brothers, Caleb and William, were both Pickers in the local cotton factory. His step-sister Ann Elizabeth was still a scholar at age ten, indicating that the family had enough to feed and clothe their offspring. John was twenty-three years old when his father Abraham and his step-mother Agnes had a daughter Margaret Jane born in Gargrave in 1871 [34] . It is difficult to know how John would have felt, as he was old enough to marry himself.

     John's twenty-one year old brother George French was not in Gargrave in 1871. He was boarding with his aunt Harriet Mellowdew in Mount Pleasant, Walmersley, near Bury [35] . Perhaps he had wanted to return to the place where he had fond memories of his mother Mary, or simply because there were better employment prospects. It is difficult to be certain. However, later that year George married Mary Ann Hall in December 1871. George may have met Mary Ann on a visit to his aunt Harriet, and this may have been the occasion when George and Mary Ann had first met. They set up home in Bury and by 1873 had their first daughter Mary Alice [36] .

Early Married Life

     During 1873 John had probably met and started to court Sarah Ann Abbott, daughter of Richard and Jane Abbott [37] . Sarah Ann Abbott was living at 12, River Place in 1871, just a few doors down from John French's family [38] .

     John and Sarah Ann's first daughter was Mary Jane Abbott was born out of wedlock on 14 December 1874 [39] . Two months later on 13 February 1875 John married Sarah Ann Abbott in Gargrave [40] . John and Sarah Ann settled in 41 River Place, Gargrave with their young daughter, just a few doors down the road from his father Abraham French. A year later in July 1876 their second daughter Harriet arrived [41] . John and Sarah would have had their work cut out for them caring for two young girls. They may have been dependent on John's father Abraham for help, or Richard and Jane Abbott, who lived at 12 River Place, Gargrave [42] .

     In the summer of 1878 John and his seven-month pregnant wife Sarah Ann would have attended the wedding of his half-brother Caleb. On 31 August 1878 Caleb French married Elizabeth Whittaker [43] . They set up home in Gargrave at 17 East Street in Gargrave [44] . Soon after the wedding on 19 October 1878 John's eldest son George arrived [45] . Caleb and Elizabeth French's first son, John's nephew, William, arrived in August 1879 [46] .

     At Caleb's wedding John may also have had a chance to catch up with his brother George who had moved back to Brooksbottom and was a mule spinner in a cotton mill. In 1881 George and his wife Mary Ann had set up home at 5, Irwell Street in Brooksbottom. They had two daughters Mary Alice aged eight and Sarah Ellen aged six [47] .

     On 4 March 1881 John and Sarah Ann were still living at 41, River Place when their youngest son David was born [48] . He was recorded aged only one month in the 1881 census. In 1881 John French, aged thirty-three, was a cotton spinner, probably working in the Cotton Mill owned by Bracewell Brothers [49] . Cotton Spinners may have earned sufficient to support the family. In 1870, a Warper, working at Mills in Bradford and Leeds, earned between 15 and 20 shillings a week [50] . This was a substantial wage. It is highly probable that John would have been earning a similar wage in Gargrave. The summer of 1881 cannot have been a very happy time for John and Sarah Ann as their two year old son George died in July 1881 [51] . This would have been a very difficult time for John and his family, especially his youngest daughter Harriet, whose fifth birthday was only three weeks later in July.

     John and Sarah Ann probably made great use of their extended family in Gargrave during these difficult times. Only John's youngest brother George, lived in Lancashire, in Brooksbottom in 1881. His half-brother William French lived nearby and was working as a farm labourer in Snaygill [52] . The rest of the family lived in Gargrave and would have rallied round the young family to help them cope with the grief of burying an infant.

     In 1881 John's father Abraham and his step-mother Agnes were still living in 9, River Place, with John's half-sisters Ann Elizabeth and Margaret Jane [53] . Caleb's eldest son, John's nephew, William, aged one also lived with them. It is highly probable that he was staying with his grandparents to give his parents, Caleb and Elizabeth, a rest for at least one evening! Caleb's wife Elizabeth was heavily pregnant with their second son James who was born on 26 April 1881 [54] .

     John's step-mother Agnes died and was buried on 14 August 1882 [55] . Agnes appears to have had a heart attack. This must have hit John's father Abraham very hard. Her children Caleb, William, Margaret Jane and Anne Elizabeth, must also have found this very difficult to cope with. However, December 1882 was a much happier time for the French family. John's brother Caleb's' third child, Agnes, was born on 3 December 1882 [56] .  Then on 25 December 1882 John's half-sister Anne Elizabeth French married John Thomas Ayrton [57] .

     June 1883 would have been a time of celebration as John's father Abraham French married his third wife Rebecca Hartley nee Edmondson ^[58] . Rebecca had married Henry Hartley, widower in Skipton in 1874 [59] . This Henry Slater Hartley had previously married Jane Tillotson in 1847 and died in March 1882 [60] . Both Abraham and Rebecca had not been widowed long before they remarried. They may have known each other before their respective widowhoods.

     John’s youngest daughter Maude was born on 8 December 1883, and joined her three siblings in 41 River Place [61] . However, Maude died in July 1885, aged only eighteen months old [62] . John, Sarah Ann and their three surviving children,eleven year old Mary Jane, nine year old Harriet and four year old David, would have felt this second loss very greatly.

Widowerhood

     Four years later John's youngest half-sister Margaret Jane, married Thomas William Brown in Burnley in December 1889 [63] . This would have been a difficult time for John as he also lost his wife Sarah Ann in December 1889, and was left to bring up his son eight-year-old David and his daughters fifteen-year-old Mary Jane and thirteen-year-old Harriet on his own [64] . Sarah Ann French was buried on Christmas day 1889. This must have made the bereavement doubly difficult, as each Christmas John would be reminded of her death. By 1891, John still lived at 41 River Place and was still working as a cotton spinner at the age of forty-three [65] . Mary Jane aged sixteen, Harriet aged fourteen and David, aged ten all worked as cotton spinners. John may have taken his children into the factory to enable him to keep an eye on them initially [66] . He taught reading and writing either as a teacher, or in his own time.

     John may have felt the loss of his wife more keenly as by 1891 his father Abraham French had moved back to Bury. Abraham lived at 73, Spring Street, Bury with his third wife Rebecca Edmondson, daughter of Christopher and Jane Edmondson. Abraham had set himself up as a Barber, probably supported by the work of his wife Rebecca as a cotton spinner [67] . By 1891 John's half-brother William had also moved to Bury and was living at 6, North Street, Bury, a couple of miles North of Brooksbottom, with his wife Mary Jane and their three children. William was working as a carter [68] . John's brother George had meanwhile moved from Bury to Crompton near Oldham. In 1891 George was living at 20 Cheetham Street, Crompton, Oldham, with his wife, their two daughters and his father-in-law [69] .

Later Life in Gargrave

           John's half-sister Margaret Jane had also moved to Colne. In 1891 she was living in 2 Green Street Colne, with her husband, Thomas and two lodgers, Elizabeth Ann Horner, and Lily Horner [70] . These Horner girls were related to John French being his wife Sarah Ann Abbott's nieces. This may explain why the two Horner girls had moved to Colne, or they may have been close school friends of Margaret Jane's. Most of Sarah Jane's nieces and nephews by her sister Elizabeth Horner nee Abbott were also settled in Colne [71] . Her sister Elizabeth Edmundson nee Abbott settled in Keighley [72] .

           Many of his siblings were moving away from Gargrave and John may have felt very lonely! However, John's half-sister, Ann Elizabeth, and his half-brother Caleb had stayed in Gargrave. In 1891 Annie Elizabeth Ayrton nee French was living at 15 River Place, Gargrave, with her husband John with their two-year-old daughter Agnes [73] . In 1891 Caleb and Elizabeth lived at Wray Bridge in Gargrave and had a house with four rooms. Caleb was a labourer and five children, but only one, William worked as a doffer in a cotton mill [74] . If John had needed family support his two half-siblings would have been there to extend a helping hand. However, he may have found life very hard and it is rumoured that he tried to cut his throat once [75] . If this is true it would have been on this occasion.

           John may also have had support bringing up his motherless family from his wife Sarah Ann's siblings. By 1891 Sarah Ann's sister Mary Banks nee Abbott and her husband Henry Mary Banks were living in 14 River Place, Gargrave, only a few doors away, with their children Richard, Hannah and Jane [76] . In fact they lived next door to John French's married half-sister Annie Ayrton nee French [77] . Sarah Ann's mother Jane had moved to Colne, perhaps to care for her Horner grandchildren. Jane Abbott died on 11 March and was buried on 14 March 1891 aged sixty-five of Blucher Street Colne [78] .

           John's father Abraham French died in Bury in March 1892 aged sixty-three [79] . John and his siblings would have probably made their way to Bury to pay their respects. This event seems to have broken the Bury link for John and his siblings.

           In 1901 John French was still living at 41 River Place Gargrave, with his three children Mary Ann, David and Harriet [80] .He was aged fifty-three, a cotton spinner as was his eldest daughter Mary Ann. His son David also worked in the cotton factory as a piecer. John had also been joined by two grandchildren, Archibald and George Leonard French, the children of his youngest daughter Harriet French. By at least 1897 John's youngest daughter Harriet had found herself a young man, but was left to give birth to her son Archibald alone in 1898 [81] . Deserted by the father of her young child Harriet must have found life at the age of twenty-three to be less than perfect. She continued to live at home with her father and siblings and had great family support to bring her young son up. By June 1900, when her son Archibald was only two-years old, Harriet had found anther beau, George Horner of Skipton.

           In 1901 John's half-sister, Annie Ayrton nee French, was still living at 15, River Place in Gargrave with her husband and their four children [82] . Ten years later in 1911 Annie was living at Airebank Terrace, Gargrave with her husband and their five children [83] . Annie was the only sibling to remain in the Gargrave area, the others had moved back to Lancashire, although not necessarily to the Brooksbottoms area.

           John's brother George French had moved initially to Brooksbottoms, Lancashire in 1871, but on the move of their father, Abraham, back to Bury, in 1891, George had moved to Crompton. In 1901 George French was living at 45, High Street, Crompton in Oldham district, with his wife Mary Ann [84] . George had changed occupation and is described as a hairdresser. He may have been following in their father Abraham French's footsteps. By 1911 George had passed away and his widow Mary Ann was living with her married daughter Mary Alice Taylor, nee French in Royston, Oldham [85] .

           John's half-brother William had moved to Colne and in 1901 was living at 33 Clayton Street, Colne with his family [86] . Their sister Margaret Jane was living at 9, Duerden Yard, Colne, with her husband and their four children in 1901 [87] . In 1911 Margaret Jane and her husband Thomas William Brown were living in 23 Elm Street, Colne with her husband and their family [88] . By 1901 John's half-brother Caleb and his family had moved to 128 Alpha Street, Salterforth near Barnoldswick [89] . In 1911 Caleb and his family had moved to Trawden [90] .

           John's youngest daughter Harriet gave birth to her second son George Leonard French in February 1901, which may have come as a shock to her father ^[91] . She already had one child at home, and he may have thought that the father of the child would abandon his daughter yet again. However, this time she was not deserted. George Horner was unemployed in April 1901 and it may have been difficult for the two to set up home together. In April 1901 Harriet was recorded as the housekeeper at her father's home and probably looked after her two children, and the home.

          Harriet French finally married George Horner on the 12th April 1902 in St Andrews Parish Church in Gargrave. Although resident in Skipton at the time of his marriage George soon moved to Gargrave to set up home with his new wife [92] . George may not have been on good terms with his family in Skipton as both of the witnesses to his marriage are his bride Harriet’s siblings, David French and Mary Jane Abbott.

          John's grandsons Archibald and George Leonard French did not share their mothers home when Harriet married George Horner. They continued to lived in John's household, with his elder daughter Mary Jane Abbott caring for them.

          John French lived to see his two granddaughters Lillian, born in 1903, and Mary Elizabeth, born about 1906 [93] .However, he did not live to see the birth of his youngest grandson John Stanley Horner on 9th February 1913 [94] . John French died in January 1911 and was buried on 12 January 1911 aged sixty-two in Gargrave, near Skipton [95] .