James Hone – Wendy's Family History

Throughout my childhood, I had no idea I was related to the Hones, much the same as I was totally naive to the fact I was related to Alice McLaren and her family. Yet I knew I was related to Alice’s sisters out west because I didn’t clue in that they were all siblings. Stupid. Alice and Kenny McLaren were always at all the family functions and I always wondered why.

HOWEVER, the Hones were never at family functions. I guess once relatives get too many times removed, they stop being invited or an imaginary line is drawn. I seem to remember Jim Hone telling me at some community function that we were cousins. In my mind, it was so distant that it was a gossamer relationship.

James Hone’s wife, Eliza Crew, was Rachel Crew’s (my great-grandmother) sister. The Hones and the Pennells came together to Canada on the S. S. Niger in 1871. They opened a brickmaking business in Carlton Place, but it didn’t work out. So they applied for land grants in Nipissing District and moved to the Rutherglen area to farm and built log homes. They were from London, England and could not have had any idea how to farm, as I suppose was the case with most British pioneers.

1. Bill Hatton 2.James Hone, young 3. Sarah Hone Wallace, 4.Maria Hone Carpenter, 5. Susan Hone Hatton, 6. Dick Carpenter and the 7. other – not sure. 8. Effie, Euphemia Hatton Scott (Frank Scott’s Mother)

Gathered at Pinelake to build the newer Hatton/Hone farmstead. The old log house where George Hone was born is in the background. George, son of James and Florence Gooderham Hone.
They built the new cedar farmhouse that we all visited and which is still standing at Pinelake.
Word document text sent with the photo

Effie is the original source of the deFawcett story and the Rutland story. http://nide.ca/2023/03/08/crew-history-tales-truths/(opens in a new tab)

I just watched a series on TV call 1883 – it was one of the most depressing depictions of pioneers trying to settle in American that I’ve ever seen. The Europeans who had such dreams and hopes for freedom and land ownership, so few actually made it to their destinations. They just didn’t have a clue what they were doing. I would hope that my pioneer ancestors didn’t have to deal with cold hearted bandits who would shoot you dead for your supplies and horses. At least I like to think Canada was a better place – naive?

One of my good friends in primary school in Rutherglen was Susie Hone. She was a petite little thing and super sweet. How I wish I’d realized she was my cousin! I remember my parents talking about George Hone, but really it was never “H”one, it was always George ‘Own – the H was always silent to my ears – funny to think that with an thick English accent, the H would be dropped and the phonetics was handed down for future generations outside of England.

Its only when I began the huge task of laying out the Hone family and their descendants that it is evident that the Hones are interwoven within the fabric of Rutherglen more so than the Crews or the Pennells. Their children’s, children’s, children’s, children still live in Rutherglen.

James and Eliza Hone are buried in St. Margaret’s Anglican Church cemetery in Rutherglen. When they immigrated to Canada, leaving their oldest, Elizabeth, behind, but bringing with them: Sarah, Susan, Job and Maria, then they had 4 more children in Canada: George, Elizabeth, Annie and James. My notes (from Myrtle Connolly) say that James “had a brickyard at Greenwich before moving to Estney Street, London”. Their oldest, Elizabeth married William Charles Higgs Owen on April 23, 1871, about 2 weeks before the S. S. Niger set sail. Myrtle’s notes say that Elizabeth moved into the Hone home (77 Estney Street?) when they left for Canada.

James and Eliza Hone’s children were:

Elizabeth b. 1849 m. William Owen
Sarah b. 1854 m. Edwin Nolan
- James Hone (not a Nolan) (father: Best)
Susan b. 1856 m. William Hatton
- Eliza “Effie” b. 1896 m. Henry Scott (lived on Hwy. 17 next to Aunt Sadie “Sarah”)
- Sarah “Sadie” m. Frank Wallace 1905 Andover, Maine
  - Robert Wesley b. 1920 m. Stella Sawchuck
  - James b. 1922 m. Edith Hone (cousins)
    - Stanley b, 1947 m. Sharon McClellan
  - Lois m. Wayne Graham
  - Dawn b. 1957
- Frank b. 1935
Job b. 1860
Maria b. 1862 m. Richard Carpentor
George
Annie d. infancy
James d. infancy

Sarah Hone had an illegitimate son in 1883 – James William Hone. Sarah then married Edwin Nolan, but Edwin Nolan refused to raise young James, so Eliza and James Sr. continued to keep him.¹ Kaye Edmonds found out from Iva Hone that the biological father of James Hones was Best who could have been from the Perth area.

¹ Kaye Edmonds, Email, January 13, 2001 “I know that they tell me in England that he was referred to as ‘a boy they where raising’. You know how it was in those days.”

George’s dad had no father, his mother was Sarah who married Noland after. He was raised by is grandfather James Hone and his grandmother Eliza Crew.
September 1994 Letter from Irene Hone

James married Florence Gooderham and they had the following children:

George b. 1913 m. Irene Tyler
- James Harvey m. Dorothy Oglestone
- Ruth m. Wesley Sullivan
Reuben b. 1914 m. Iva Livingston
- Joyce m. George Cook
- Judy
- Linda m. Wayne Green (son of Andy Green)
- Danny w. Patsy Backer
- Susan (Susie) m. Randy Furlani
Edith b. 1920 m. James Scott (her cousin)
- Stan m. Sharon McLellan
- Lois m. Wayne Graham
- Dawn never married
- Valerie (Edith’s obit says Valerie was her daughter)
Florence b. 1916 m. Gordon Donaldson
- Ann
- Lynn
Irene b. 1922 m. Kenneth Prescott
- Richard m. Anna Foley
- Valerie m. Warren James (son of Christy James, so distance cousins)
- Ken
- Kaye m. William Edmonds**

** Kaye is a brilliant amateur photographer and an avid genealogist. She’s done and shared a lot of research into the Hones, Prescotts and Edmonds. You can find Kaye on Facebook (20+) Kaye Edmonds | Facebook

Below are some memories of Jim and Dorothy’s wedding. As of this year (2023), they will have been married 60 years. Beautiful couple – beautiful people.

Below are memories of George and Irene Hone’s 60th Anniversary. Irene provided a lot of genealogy data to me.

Below is an article about Danny Hone from 2003. Danny is the son of Reuben Hone, nephew of George Hone above, and great-great-grandson of James and Eliza Hone.