HURLEY, PATRICK (1842-1912)

HURLEY, PATRICK, folk poet; b. North Esk parish, Oct 1842, s/o Patrick Hurley Sr and Mary Furlong, natives of Ireland; m. 1884, Ellen Lawlor, d/o James Lawlor and Ellen Dolan, of Red Bank; d. Trout Brook, 20 Mar 1912.

Patrick Hurley's existence was that of a typical lumberman-farmer in North Esk parish except that, unlike most of his contemporaries, he was addicted to writing verse. Two of his more popular lyrics appear in Manny and Wilson's Songs of Miramichi, and a number of others survive in manuscript. The following stanza is from an unpublished verse about a fight which took place on "the Queen's Highway" in the later years of the 19th century between Jack Curtis and Joe Norton of the Northwest:

Come all ye jolly bold of pugilistic fame,

I tell you of two champions, Jack and Joe by name,

Who met the other evening not far from their abode,

And fought a heavy battle at the end of Hosford Road.

Most of Hurley's verse is similarly lighthearted.