James Bernard Aughney

James was the son of James A. & Bridget Aughney. James A. was the brother of Luke Aughney. James A. and Luke were the sons of Patrick Aughney. Either James A. or Luke was the father of my grandfather Smith, Nide. TBD.

James Bernard, listed as “Bernie” in the 1940 census, was drafted into WW2 as well.

James B. Aughney VVeteran
Birth: 18 Oct 1895
Death: 18 Mar 1977 (aged 81)
Burial: Saint Mary’s Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum, Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, USA
Memorial #: 193768848
Created by: Little Orange in the Big Apple (46817308)
Added: 2018-10-05T20:47:51.000Z
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193768848/james-b.-aughney?showinfopanel=true
Citation: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193768848/james_b-aughney: accessed January 22, 2025), memorial page for James B. Aughney (18 Oct 1895–18 Mar 1977), Find a Grave Memorial ID 193768848, citing Saint Mary’s Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum, Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, USA; Maintained by Little Orange in the Big Apple (contributor 46817308).

Aughney

My sister Carol’s DNA with 23andMe showed a biological 3rd or 4th cousin connection to a Linda Munroe who reached out to Carol to make a connection. Linda’s grandfather was Patrick O’Reilly and great-grandparents were Mary Jane & Hugh O’Reilly.  The O’Reilly’s lived in Osceola, Ontario.  Patrick was born in Cobden, Ontario.  These communities are within 20 miles of Haley Station where Grampa Smith was born.

Mary Jane Aughney and Hugh O’Reilly’s son, Patrick has an uncanny resemblance to my Grampa Smith.
DNA shows that the common ancestor between Carol and Linda Munroe is 3 to 4 generations, or 3.5 generations once removed.  This fits well with either Mary Jane Aughney or Hugh O’Reilly being Carol’s great-grandparent, while they are Linda’s great-great-grandparents which they are.

Below are pictures of possible brothers (cousins), Adoniram Smith and Patrick O’Reilly

Was Hugh O’Reilly Grampa’s biological father?  No. Further DNA matches to Aughney’s who are only related to the O’Reilly through marriage attest to this.  

This left two candidates who could be the biological father of Grampa:  one of Mary Jane’s brothers, either Luke Aughney (b. 1854) or James Aughney (b. 1856).  There’s also William Aughney (b. 1858), but since Leah was born in 1848, the 10-year gap didn’t seem plausible.  Luke and James eventually married sisters, Mary and Bridget Reynolds. Within two years of Grampa’s birth, the whole Aughney family dispersed to the USA. Late 1860’s, there’s evidence that a Patrick Aughney was applying for U.S. Naturalization. If this is our Patrick but he must have returned, as the “Oughney” family can be found in the 1871 Bromley Co., Ontario census.

Even if I had access to the Y-DNA of my paternal male cousins, I would not be able to tell which Aughney brother is my great-grandfather, as the Y-DNAs would be exactly the same as it gets passed down unchanged from father to son. The only possible way to find the correct Aughney brother would be finding descendants of both and comparing which descendants have more atDNA in common with me, although I’m not sure if this would even be a definite.

Luke Aughney

Luke’s children were (according to his obituary): Edward Mathew Aughney (Spokane)
Michael John Aughney (Manhattan, Mont.)
Mrs. M. S. Watson (Wenatchee, WA) (Margaret Jane in census)
(where is Daniel age 12 in 1900 census)

According to Luke’s death record, he fell out of bed on February 9, 1937 at St. Joseph’s Home, broke his left hip and died on March 25, 1937. He was 80 years old. The informant was an Aughney, 935 Nora Ave., Spokane, Washington. He’d been a farmer for 40 years before retiring and was a widower at death.

Luke married Mary Reynolds, the sister of Bridget Reynolds who was the wife of James A. Aughney, Luke’s brother. Mary Reynolds died sometime between 1889-1900.

In January 2025, I made a connection with Kelly Little on Ancestry.ca. She is the Great-great-granddaughter of Luke Aughney and the great-granddaughter of Mike Aughney (see M. J. Aughney above). We are DNA connected and we’re a half-3rd-cousin-once-removed related. This, on the surface, shows that Luke is NOT Grampa’s father. If he was, Kelly would be my half-2nd-cousin-once-removed.

James A. Aughney

James was born in Ontario in 1856, making him 24 when Grampa Smith was born. Leah Eady would have been 32 – an 8-year age gap.

In the 1910 US Census, James A. is listed with his family, stating that he immigrated to the U.S. in 1880. His obituary says he arrived in the US in 1879. The 1881 Ontario Cencus says he was still in Bromley, Ontario. The 1900 US Cencus says he arrived in 1882.

In April 1882, James crossed the border at Port Huron into Michigan, then travelled to Morton County, North Dakota. On November 3, 1882 his Naturalization papers were filed.

When James was 32, in 1888, he married Mary Reynolds’ sister, Bridget Reynolds in Bromley Co., Ontario.

Its thought provoking that James Aughney made an exit out of Ontario to the US in the same year Leah Eady would have been pregnant with Grampa and seemed to returned only to marry Bridget Reynolds before going back to the US. Was this an arrange marriage? Is it possible that Leah and James may have fallen into a relationship that the Aughney’s outrightly rejected? She wasn’t Catholic and she wasn’t Irish.

James and Bridget’s children were:

Mary Agnes m. Cantwell (Montana)
Ellen Jane m. Regan (Sacramento, CA)
Anna m. Carney
James Burnard m. Onah (first name) (see WW1)
Stella m. John H. Osborne (dau. Dorothy Connor of Diamond Springs and son Donald N. b. 1925)

On March 29, 1895, James Aughney shows up in the newspaper as a member of a Grand Jury.

Bridget died in 1899 in North Dakota.

In the 1900 US Census, James is living in Morton, North Dakota, widowed, claiming to have been in the U.S.A. 18 years. All the children were born in North Dakota. He has a farm hand whose wife is the housekeeper and they have two small children.

In the 1915 Mandon, Morton Co. census, James is with Anna, James B. and Stella. There’s no indication of farm hands or housekeepers. And below is a map of the farms at that time.

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Marian Grace Gallson (nee Gamble)

January 31, 1932-August 15, 1999
Written by Sharlene Buszka (nee Gallson)

Our mother, a woman of grace, beauty, and kindness could always fill a room with the sparkle of her joyful, optimistic personality.   What a remarkable conversationalist she was with an easy, open manner that could put the shyest person at ease.  Even without these skills she charmed all she met with her beautiful English accent.

A good part of her girlhood was spent outside of London, England during World War II. Though living through air raids, blackouts and bombings had to have been a frightful experience, her stories to us reflected her ever-positive nature.  One of our favorites was when she used all her ration coupons to buy a stash of Mars bars to last through the war, only to eat them all within a day.  She also described how happy she was when during the more intense periods of bombings; school was cancelled, much like our “snow days” today.  Her family, as most in the London area, had their own bomb shelter in the backyard.  These weren’t the roomiest and her brother Fred, who was quite tall, could only fit by sticking his legs out of the shelter. A doodlebug dropped a time bomb in their backyard. Yet, as typical men, her Dad and the other men of the neighborhood investigated by poking at it with a stick.  Not wanting to separate the family, her Dad decided they would simply live in the front of the house until the bomb went off.  His calculations proved correct. No one was injured and only the back of their home was damaged when the explosion occurred.  Perhaps this was one of the reasons she said she always felt safe during the war when her Dad was around.

Another favorite memory of her girlhood in England included being picked up by her Mum on Friday afternoons after school with her sister Helen to go to the movie theatre.  She was selected “games captain” at school because of her athletic ability.  She especially enjoyed basketball and tennis. She loved going out dancing with her friends on the weekends.  She and her best chum Marjorie enjoyed dancing with each other so much they often would not even allow boys to cut in. Their family lived a modest life, yet they enjoyed their holidays at the seaside and rides on Sunday afternoons.

Our Grandfather decided there were more opportunities in Canada so when our mother was 21, her Mum, Dad and sister Helen left for Mattawa, Ontario. Her brother Fred remained behind with his wife Bettie, only to join them several years later.  Our parents enjoyed sharing how they were destined to be together. During the same month and year (April 1953), while Mum was crossing the Atlantic Ocean from England, Dad was crossing the Pacific Ocean from Japan, only for them to later meet in the very small, nondescript village of Mattawa.  As a soldier in the U.S. Army, Dad was home on a 30-day leave when a local storekeeper insisted he meet this girl from England.  Apparently, he had been working on Mum as well but neither was interested as both had many other prospects.  (Mum had actually been engaged twice before). Yet somehow he finally got them together and our Dad was as charmed by our mother’s beauty and English accent, as most were.  Mum thought Dad was so handsome in his uniform and after dating for only two weeks, Dad had decided Mum was the one for him. Their first date was in July and by September, Dad was back visiting from his assignment in Minneapolis, Minnesota and he asked for Marian’s hand. Her father gave his answer stating  “You seem like a nice enough chap” and they were married on December 5, 1953. They honeymooned in Niagara Falls coincidentally only 30 miles from where they eventually made their permanent home.

Because Dad was in the Army our family moved often. The first stop was Minneapolis, Minn. where Phillip was born. Shortly thereafter they moved to Washington DC where I was born. We weren’t there long. While Phillip was only 15 months and I was 1 month old, Mum drove our house trailer through the Great Smokey Mountains to Fort Campbell, Ky.  There, Christopher arrived. Fort Campbell was the longest assignment for our family. It was also when Mum became a Christian and was baptized. Though over 700 miles from their families, who had by that time moved to North Bay, Ontario, some of our happiest memories were the trips up North once or twice a year to visit our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Our childhood was filled with love, cuddles on the couch, stories, songs, and wonderful themed birthday parties complete with beautifully decorated, homemade cakes. Knowing our parents lived on a tight budget in those early years, we were always amazed at how well dressed we were and how comfortable and homey my mother made the many different government quarters we lived in.  She sewed much of our family’s clothing, including muu muus and matching aloha shirts when we lived in Hawaii. She was a wonderful cook, some of her specialties were roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, fish-n-chips and English trifle. In later years, she managed family finances in such a way that there was always money for family vacations, her many home projects and finally her dream home, an English Tudor. 

While living in Hawaii she met one of her dearest friends, Jose at an English wives club. They discovered they had lived within miles of each other growing up in England.  Jose was a creative person and opened our mother to this side of herself.  They spent every Tuesday morning beach glass hunting with our younger brother Christopher in tow.  They took their brown bag lunches and visited various beaches around the island of Oahu looking for multicolored pieces of beach glass rubbed smooth into interesting shapes. They would be used later to make beach glass lamps. They even had a ranking system for the colors of glass.  Brown and green were quite common but how exciting to find purple or a pink! Driftwood and shells would also be gathered to be added to oriental flower arrangements they would  design.

As teenagers and young adults our cups of tea and talks became a haven during the years we all began to spread our wings.  She never tried to force her opinions on us but instead gently prodded with loving advice.  Over the years her many loving words of wisdom come back to me as I share them with my own children. I would not have found and married the person I did without my mom’s advice to go to the library at school to meet someone new. She welcomed all our friends as we were growing up, having my father finish off a game room so we would always have a place to hang out.  Often, however, friends spent more time talking upstairs in the kitchen to Mum. She became well known for her heaping plates of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, commonly known as Mrs. Gallson’s specials, with Christopher and his friends. And during the “Saturday Night Fever” days it wouldn’t be unusual to find Mum with a group of us practicing the latest disco steps in our living room. She also shared her dancing skills by teaching us all to waltz and foxtrot before our weddings.

Our Dad came home daily to an immaculate home, well cared for children and dinner on the table exactly at six o’clock. When asked what she had wanted to be when she grew up, she replied “a wife and a mother.” Today many may say, “that’s all?” but Mum did it with a passion and love that all would admire and respect. Our home was her pride and joy.  Each room had a theme; the hunt room, the game room, the craft room, the antique room.  Every picture, every item in these rooms was carefully planned and selected to create a warm and welcoming home.

The year Dad was in Viet Nam Mum exhibited the strength of her character, running our household smoothly in my father’s absence.  She was so proud that she was able to drive us all safely up to North Bay in a blinding snowstorm.  In addition to letters, she would send Dad frequent cassette tapes, filling him in on all the family happenings.

During our father’s assignment at West Point she decided they should take up the game of golf.  This, too, ended up a wise decision as golfing filled our parents last twenty years with much enjoyment.  Mum’s athletic abilities served her well on the links as well. She will always be remembered by those she golfed with her for her fluid swing and her “two putts please”.  

As her children grew and married she was so thankful we all stayed in the Buffalo area. She warmly welcomed her two daughter-in-laws and son-in-law into the family, insisting they call her “Mum.” Each grandchild’s birth was eagerly anticipated.  She was so proud to share that she had twelve grandchildren.

At church she will be remembered for her smile, warmth and friendliness.  She was an organized church librarian and board secretary. Her love of music was shared as a choir member and even in recent years through her enthusiastic congregational singing. She was a teacher and helper at vacation bible school, patient, kind and accepting of all. Of course, the children of the church will more than likely remember Mum as the Tick-Tac lady who would eagerly offer any child their favorite flavor of tick -tacs.

The children of her neighborhood will also remember my mother’s friendly, sharing ways.  She would let them come into her home and fill baggies with whatever they could find in her candy cupboard. Although we had no cats of our own, she even had cat treats on hand to feed any neighborhood cat that wandered by.

As most of you well know our mother was struggling with the mental deterioration brought on by Alzheimer’s disease.  But even this, she handled with grace and a positive attitude.  She continued to push herself to do all she was capable of.  She would give herself pep talks by counting on her fingers the things she could still do instead of lamenting what she couldn’t. Though it was becoming difficult for her to cook, she continued to make Apple-pies and brownies for Sunday afternoon lunches.  Over the last year, her life revolved largely around Dad; taking walks, playing cards every evening at 8:30, golfing, doing her daily “Wonderword” in the paper and completing simple puzzles. Her grandchildren will remember how she would pay them each a dollar to weigh themselves at her house.  Those who lived close by would often stop for a quick weigh-in when they were short of cash. Music still brought her much pleasure.  She loved Roger Whitikar and listening to WECK on 1230 AM.  When I accompanied Mum on walks, we would sing the same songs she taught me as a child: Daisy, K-K-K Katie, On the Mountain Stands a Lady, Always, Frere Jacque, A-You’re Adorable, You Are my Sunshine, and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. Though her speech was becoming more and more limited, she loved to tell others they were “smashing” and then tell them not to say good-bye but to say “Cheerio”. When talking about her disease she would say, “I always want to be kind”, and that she was until the very last.

Our Mum was a joy to all!!! The light that was slowly fading and has flickered out in this life is again shining brightly as she waits with her Heavenly Father to be reunited with us one day.  If she could speak to us now, I’m sure she would say that it’s “smashing” in Heaven”, and that this “Cheerio” is for only a brief time while she waits to welcome us to our heavenly home with a lovely “cuppa” tea. 

Alexander Cecil Pennell

Family rumor was that Alexander Cecil Pennell was gassed during the war and this was the cause of his death, so its with no surprize there’s no mention of “gassed” in his death certificate..  It says coma due to diabetes. Included in his military records is how they were treating him with insulin and watching his diet.

He is buried in Mount Pleasant cemetery at Ogleston’s Corners in Rutherglen.

Joseph Philip Peters

Joseph Philip Peters was born in 1838 in Newry, Armagh, Ireland.  He was Florence Maud Gallson’s grandfather.

Joseph signed up with the Royal Navy and served on the HMS Hastings in 1859 as a Seaman 2nd Class.

However, in the 1861 census, Joseph was onboard the HMS Topaze “a 51-gun Liffey-class wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy” in the Esquimalt Harbour – yes, in British Columbia, Canada.

The crew of the HMS Topaze built the Race Rocks Lighthouse:

Race Rocks Light is one of the first two lighthouses that were built on the west coast of Canada, financed by the British Government and illuminated in 1860. It is the only lighthouse on that coast built of rock, (granite) purportedly quarried in Scotland, and topped with sandstone quarried on Gabriola Island. The Islands of Race Rocks are located just off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, about 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Victoria, British Columbia

And another interesting little jaunt that the HMS Topaze made  was going to Easter Island and digging up one of the moai statues, dragging it onboard the Topaze and offering it as a gift to Queen Victoria.  The lieutenant on the ship made a sketch of the moai (see above) after it was dragged onto the Topaze.

Joseph Henry Peters

WW1 – Volunteered in 1915 and was sent to the Eastern Front where he took part in heavy fighting in the Dardanelles. On the evacution of the Gallipoli Peninsula he was draftered to Egypt and served in the important operations in that theatre of war, but contract malaria. He was in hospital for some time, and was eventually demobilised in 1919. He holds the 1914-15 Star and the General Service and Victory Medals.

Joseph was born in 1895 in London, married Winifred Richards and was the brother of Florence Maud Peters, my grandmother.

Lester William Keech

Lester was born March 13, 1897, Ewen, Michigan. He served in the 228th Regiment.

Lester was the son of William Keech and Jane McNamara. Jane was the daughter of Elizabeth Pennell and John McNamara. Elizabeth was the sister of my grandmother, Alice Smith (nee Pennell).

In the picture below, Lester is in the 2nd row, middle.

The following is from Myrtle Connolly’s book “Growing Up On A Farm”.

How well I remember the day that my brother Lester came home from Camp Borden to bid us goodbye. How smart he looked in his uniform, so tall and handsome. He knew he would have to go so he enlisted in 1916. We didn’t see Lester again until May 1919, the ar ending November 11, 1918. The sick and wounded were sent home first.

Mother sent him a box of goodies every month. He received them all except three. He used to go to Uncle Johnnie’s in London on his long leaves. He also spent some time with his grandmother Mrs. Edwin Keech (Elizabeth Forsey). Lester was her first grandson. It was a real reunion. All she could talk about weas Father who left England at the age of seventeen.

Finally Lester called Mother that he was coming home and would be stopping at the Bay to see his grandparents, the McNamara’s, which was on a Sunday, but instead came home on Sunday, therefore, there was no one to meet him from our family. Mother was preparing a big dinner. I was the one that saw a soldier coming up the road. I called Mother and sure enough it was Lester. Everybody was excited. He had changed. The war had taken away his youth. He bumped his head on the door, then on the stovepipes. He said, “I guess I had forgotten that I am taller than the door and stovepipes.”

He just stay home a short time, then went to North Bay and got a job on the railroad as a baggage man. He decided that was not for him, became a fireman on the railroad, and then an engineer.

He married Eva McChesney, bought a bungalow beside his grandparents that his grandfather had built. During the war he brought supplies by railroad up the the front lines. With bombes dropping all around this was not the most desirable place to be.

Lester died February 21, 1957, sitting in his car on Main Street, North Bay. He was so looking forward to his retirement. He had two sons, William Albert, M. D., a graduate of Western University, and Gerald Lester, PH.D., McMaster University. Bill was in the Air Force during World War II, shot down over Belgium, a prisoner of Stalag III, was in the Great Escape, which was made into a movie, and also took part in the Wooden Horse Escape.

Mrs. Hugh Ferguson, a cousin, told me “that they don’t make men like Lester Keech anymore”. She bought his bungalow after his death.

“Growing Up On A Farm” by Myrtle Connolly, pages 15-16

George Mathew Pennell, Jr.

George Jr. was born March 22, 1883. He was the son of George Mathew Pennell Sr. and Charlotte Edmunds of Rutherglen, Ontario. George Sr. was the brother of my grandmother, Alice Smith (nee Pennell).

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George joined the war effort February 25, 1916 with the 159th Overseas Battalion, 1st Algonquin and had belonged to the 97th Regiment of Active Militia. He sailed on the S. S. Empress on October 31, 1916 to England. On August 31, 1917, he was hospitalized for a schraple wound in his back and he received the Military Medal for bravery.    He later was transferred to the 58th Battalion. He was promoted from Private to Lance Corporal.
On August 27, 1918 George was killed in action with R.F.B. (Retained Foreign Bodies) and the family legacy was that he died at the Battle on Mons. In fact, George’s sister, Emma, who married L.J. Rose, named her 10th child and first child after George’s death, George Mons Rose (although we all knew him in Rutherglen as Jiggs).

However, the Battle of Mons took place in November 1918, months after George was killed. On August 21–30, 1918, the 58th Canadian Infantry Battalion was in Arras and specifically on August 27 they had just moved into Bois du Sart, France.  George was among 30 “other ranks” killed on the 27th.  There were many small battles in the Hundred Days Offensive that eventually lead up to the Battle of Mons, which ended the war on November 11, 1918.

“Whilst taking part in the advance North West of Boiry-Notre Dame, he was hit in the head and instantly killed by an enemy machine gun bullet.” George is buried at the Vimy Ridge Cemetery in France.

Scroll the images below. The “M.M.” beside George’s name means he received a Military Medal.


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