"[2] Faragher was born into a large family of twelve children in Cregneash, a fishing village at the south of the Isle of Man.

At this time Manx was the only language spoken in Cregneash, and so his mother stood out as "the only person who could converse with strangers"[2] due to her grasp of English.

[2][4] This started the greatest period of creative output in Faragher's life, as he would go on to write some 4,000 hymns or poems in Manx and English.

Roeder recognised the importance of Faragher, particularly as a source of folklore and cultural knowledge, and as a speaker of Manx Gaelic, ranking him as "one of the best vernacular conversationalists extant in the Island.

"[8] However, the local community grew to resent and even shun Faragher for these visitors and correspondences, as they felt that "he was drawing undue attention both unto himself and the village.

A poem he wrote on this subject features the following stanza:[12] In response to Faragher's struggle to earn enough to live on, Roeder tried to create an interest in him as a literary and cultural figure, so that a public fund might be raised to support him.

In 1898 he wrote to the Manx novelist Hall Caine, at that time perhaps the British isles' most popular and successful writer[citation needed], to ask him to write about Faragher so as to raise his profile and the public's awareness of him.

However, Caine responded with a letter that reflected the lack of understanding or interest in Faragher at that time:[11] "I have read the poems with pleasure; but while I think they show a good deal of sensibility & poetic feeling, to certain homely states of emotion, I do not think they are sufficiently remarkable as literature to warrant any special attention.

[13] Realising the value of the work, despite the lack of interest at that time, Roeder deposited Faragher's full manuscript in the library of the Manx Museum for safekeeping, where it still remains today.

Amongst the poems was Verses Composed at Sea Some Twenty Years Ago, with lines that had perhaps become more pertinent with time:[6] Faragher also published a number of recollections in prose of folk beliefs, stories and traditions.

Much to Roeder's chagrin, the book suffered the same fate as Skeealyn Aesop, with poor sales resulting from the lack of interest from the Manx public.

"[2] Although Roeder and the others of the Manx cultural revival never doubted Faragher's importance, they came to despair of ever rousing sufficient interest in his work during his lifetime.

Roeder was to write in a personal letter after Faragher's death that, "he was a very disappointed man & was very shabbily served by the Manx people who ignored him.

Faragher was very sad to leave the island, but he tried to keep up to date with it as best as he could through letters and by reading The Isle of Man Examiner, sent to him each week courtesy of Roeder.

"[17] One of the most striking poems of this period comments on his sorrow at the decline of Manx culture: Within 18 months of leaving the island, he had succumbed to a painful illness from which he died between 8 and 10 o'clock on Friday 5 June 1908.

[18] In the obituary notice for Faragher in The Manx Quarterly, Roeder wrote that:[2] "There was no man who loved his Mona so much as he, and every fibre of his heart was intertwined with her traditions and memories of the soil.

[...] It is entirely due to him that so much traditional folklore has been preserved; he had a fine memory, and his knowledge of things Manx seemed to be inexhaustible, which he would communicate with unreserved readiness and liberality to those who enjoyed his friendship."