Frances Cavanagh was my great grandmother.

She was born in Carrihue (Carrowhugh), Co. Donegal about 1841. She was the daughter of Michael Cavanagh, and had two sisters, Mary and Nancy, and a brother John. Her sister Nancy married Hugh McCann.

Frances married Tom Doherty in Moville on 06 October 1864. Tom was a groom working on the Duncreggan Estate in Derry. They had eleven children, of whom eight were still alive in 1911, including Ellen, Thomas (my grandfather), Mickey, William, Mary Anne, John and Josephine.

The three children born up to 1874 were all from Donegal. The four born after this date were all from Derry. By 1901, the family was living at 5 Hawthorn Terrace, Derry.

Frances and Tom first met when she was with a group of her friends on the Wee Loanin' in Carrihue, and said "I'm going to marry the next man who comes round that bend on a horse..."

And she did ....

Frances died at Hawthorn Terrace in January 1925, following a short illness.

The (renovated) cottage in Carrowhugh, where Frances Cavanagh was born about 1841