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Thomas used the surname "Croghan" in England and for several years after arriving in America. The Irish pronounciation would be much closer to his father's spelling of "Crohan". The Irish pronounce the "h" whenever there is a "gh" combination. Located here is an historical map of Stockport. This was home from before 1853 to 1885. A modern map with an aerial view is available. Check "Local Info" to find where all the current Public Houses are located and then "electronically" drop in for a pint (or two).
I hope to get us back to Ireland someday, until then some interesting reading on the folklore of East Mayo.
Did you know that the very roots of the communist ideology sprang from circumstances confronting the Irish in greater Manchester? "Friedrich Engels espouses his opinion on the influx of Irish in the English labour market and the competition that results;
'To this competition of the worker there is but one limit; no worker will work for less than he needs to subsist. If he must starve, he will prefer to starve in idleness rather than in toil. True, this limit is relative; one needs more than another, one is accustomed to more comfort than another; the Englishman who is still somewhat civilized, needs more than the Irishman who goes in rags, eats potatoes, and sleeps in a pigsty. But that does not hinder the Irishman's competing with the Englishman, and gradually forcing the rate of wages, and with it the Englishman's level of civilization, down to the Irishman's level'."
Even the very founder of the working man's movement himself had little respect for the Irish of the late 1840's and early 1850's. More
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