Description
This book tells the story of Thomas Buckley’s life in America following his emigration from Saddleworth in 1845 until his death thirty years later. He and his wife were both middle aged when they decided to leave England. Their son Frank and married daughter Sally, both in their twenties, had already settled here when Thomas, his wife, and three other children made what must have been a heart wrenching decision to leave their native country and their friends and eldest son behind. They settled in a small community called Cherry Valley, near the town of Leicester, Massachusetts. Here was already a small group of Saddleworth families working at a textile mill which had been set up by a Saddleworth manufacturer some years before. For thirty years Thomas wrote home to his son Ralph Buckley at Bridgehouse, Dobcross, his newsy letters telling of life in America, family events, visits of other Saddleworth people and sometimes the politics of the day. This first hand account of a Saddleworth emigrant is a gripping read and through his own words tells of Thomas Buckley’s fortunes in a new country, his feelings, and the contrast with his former life in Saddleworth.
