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St. Margaret’s, Rutherglen was built around 1855. In 1891, St. Margaret’s was entirely rebuilt after being blown down in a storm. The church was consecrated by Bishop Charles Hamilton on October 30, 1896. In 1951, construction of a new St. Margaret’s began and the church was consecrated by Bishop Robert Jefferson on July 6, 1952. The log frame of the old church was torn down and removed. St. Margaret’s is part of the parish of Mattawa.

Source: http://archeion-aao.fis.utoronto.ca/ , March 9, 2009

St. Margaret’s Cemetery

I tried to find out the full list of burials at St. Margaret’s Church. I was told that there were way more than the head stones showed. So I wrote to the Anglican Church Diocese. Since it cost (at the time) $40/hr for them to do a search for all burials at the cemetery, I gave them a date range of when I thought the church was built to when I was told burials there had ceased and asked only for the surnames of Pennell and James. The following is what they were able to find.

“D” are Deaths/Burials; “B” is Baptisms; “M” is Marriages

The following is extracted from my book STIGMA (V3), so some of the content may feel out of content.

Phillip John Gallson was born in Zolpho Spring, Florida on March 18, 1926.  Part of Uncle Phill’s story is pivotal to GG’s story even though he was only three and a half years old when he last saw her.   

Uncle Phill also related his memories of abuse which Sharlene put to paper.  The following is an excerpt:

[When my Dad’s father] went into the bush, food was rationed and the children were fed very little.  Maw would even put marks on the food containers so she could tell if one of the children snuck something.  If she found food missing she would ask who took it and this child would receive a beating with a cat-of-nine-tails which was a leather strap with nine smaller strips attached.  If no one would confess, they would all be beaten.  My Dad and his sisters resorted to sneaking and eating raw eggs from the hen house or raw potatoes from the ground.  They were clever enough to put the tops of the potatoes back in the ground so the area appeared undisturbed.  Beatings were frequent for all sorts of reasons.  To avoid such a beating, my Dad once stitched a small chick together after accidentally squashing it with a cellar door.  Amazingly, the chick survived!  Maw refused to call my Dad, Phillip, his given name, saying that he would never be “filled up”.

This is likely the reason why Uncle Phill was called “Bobby” as a child.

Both my mother and Uncle Phill were accelerated by a grade or two when they entered public school after being home schooled by Mary. That alone is cause for pause. Mom graduated from Mattawa Public School with honours. When Uncle Phil graduated from grade 8, called “Senior fourth grade” at that time, he was also exempt from writing the high school entrance exam because of his high marks, but like her, he never attended. 

Being an American citizen by birth, the US Army came looking for him in Canada in 1946. By the end of 1947, he had completed basic training, surgical tech school in Denver, Colorado, served at the 172nd Station Hospital in Sendai, Japan, then honourably discharged. As exhausting as this sounds, upon his discharge, he enrolled himself into a 6-month photography course in Memphis, Tennessee after which he returned to Mattawa to open his own photography studio in the summer of 1948.

Pardon the military pun, but why the about-face? Why then? In November 1947, his father had disappeared and by the summer of 1948, had not been found. 

Earlier letters from Grampa’s siblings in Estonia were addressed to merely “John Gallson, Mattawa, Ontario” but by 1956, Box 306 had been added. It may be possible that Grampa arranged for certain mail to be delivered to the box while other mail was delivered to merely “Mattawa, Ontario”. Was Grampa secretly sending money to St. Thomas Hospital and corresponding with his Estonian siblings?

Uncle Phill was an honourable man, who would do the right thing for his family.  Grampa’s disappearance meant that Mary, who Uncle Phill still thought of as being his mother, and his younger half siblings had no one to look after them. Mary’s son Jackie would have been 18-19 at the time and his whereabouts were unknown to me.  It is not unreasonable to assume that Uncle Phill came back to Canada and opened a photography studio in Mattawa, to be close to his family and help out.  

Gallson Studio was a busy business between 1948 and 1950 in Mattawa.  Phill Gallson or Gallson Studio were credited with many photos in the North Bay Nugget during those years. But Uncle Phill had become a man of the world and once you leave your small hometown, as they say, you can never go back. After Christmas of 1948, Uncle Phill took a few months away from his business to be with his father in the bush. In November 1948, Grampa wrote to Mom that he thought Bobby (Uncle Phill) was not going to do well in his job after Christmas and that he’d be wise to go “to work for 3 months” so he’d be “making something”.  I believe this meant that Uncle Phill would be joining Grampa in the bush which he did, returning in March 1949.

The story relayed to me from Mom was that an invoice addressed to Grampa from St. Thomas Mental Hospital was mistakenly delivered to Uncle Phill.  It requested money to pay for night gowns for a patient by the name of Flora Gallson.  It seems very plausible that the mail sorter could have easily mixed up the Gallson boxes at the post office – after all they would have been the only two Gallson boxes around 1948. 

Was this when Grampa told Uncle Phill about how the couple who wanted to adopt him separately from the girls when GG was institutionalized? 

I can only imagine the shock and disbelief that Uncle Phill felt upon reading that letter from St. Thomas Hospital.  He called the hospital and tried to arrange a visit with his mother but was discouraged by someone who said she was “too far gone” and visiting would only upset her and him. He made the decision not to go.

When Grampa returned to Mattawa, Uncle Phill headed back to the U.S. to reenlist in the army. In 1953, after serving in Korea and Japan and while on leave, he returned to Mattawa and met the most beautiful woman in town and a recent England emigrant, Marian Gamble. 

If Grampa and Uncle Phill bonded during the several months they were in the bush together, something happened after this that led to Grampa not being invited or not attending Uncle Phill’s marriage to Marian in 1953. Barbara confirmed that they (Mary and the half-siblings) were not invited to this wedding. Uncle Phill’s wedding announcement says he is the son of “Mr. J. Gallson and THE LATE MRS. GALLSON of Mattawa.” Mattawa residents who knew the Gallsons must have thought Mary had died.  This announcement made a very clear statement.

Uncle Phill’s sister-in-law, Helen Gamble, was 15 years old when she was Marian’s maid of honour.  Helen revealed to Sharlene on a 2024 visit that the only family members that were welcome at the wedding were Mom and Aunt Jean under no uncertain terms.  The wedding was held in Mattawa, a small enough village that everyone knew everyone. Mary, Grampa and all her children lived in Mattawa, but were not invited.

When Uncle Phill and his family came to our farm for visits, Sharlene and Phillip (Jr.) addressed their parents with “Yes, Sir” and “No, Ma’am”.  Also, “May I be excused from the table?” caused Wayne and I, who had already left the table, to pause with “What’s happened?” looks on our faces.

Did Uncle Phill have any signs of childhood trauma?  He, like my mother, suffered from the need to be perfect.  He dressed impeccably at all times.  Even in his pictures of horseback riding and tricks, he’s in a suit jacket.  Sharlene said his closet was filled with many suits, meticulously rotated according to use.  His house was immaculate, a strong compulsion from him that thankfully equalled the desires of Aunt Marian. When he was in the hospital just before he died, the nurses commented on how handsome he was, and how soft and well manicured his hands were!  Uncle Phill never had a hair out of place.

Thus, the reason why the story of Mary sending him upstairs to put on a decent pair of pants when the minister came to visit, knowing he only had the ones he was wearing, was such a memorable event for him.

Sharlene Buszka wrote an amazing memorial to her mother, Aunt Marian, which contains a lot of information about Uncle Phill. Click the button below to see that memorial.

Alexander Pennell, b. 1892, son of George Matthew Pennell (Gramma Smith’s brother) and Charlotte Edmunds.  This Alex served 4 years in WW1 as a gunner.  He was severely wounded twice and sent to England where he met his future wife, Dorothy Rhodes, a nurse.  Alex worked as a Game Warden in Gravenhurst.  He had one child, Gabriel Pennell.  Alexander’s brother was Herb Pennell, who also served in WW1.

Alexander Pennell’s brother, Richard William Pennell married Carrie Sullivan (Melvin’s sister). He was a Fireman. Their children were Walter Pennell and Austin Pennell. Then Richard married Mary Ellen Farmer (Aunt Hazel’s sister).  One of their children was Alex Cecil Pennell who would be the Alex Pennell who is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. 

Squatters in Bonfield in the register of “Free Grants” under “The Free Grants + Homestead Act” Dated November 22, 1882

Richard Pennell (SR) (lot-26)(Conc 8&9) took claim 200 acres with 16 cleared, length of occupation 2 years, value at $400

Richard Pennell (JR) (lot-25)(Con-9) took claim 100 acres with 8 acres cleared, length occupation 2 years, valued at $200

The Railroad came through Rutherglen in fall 1879, Bonfield – January 1, 1879. First train to arrive in North Bay August 1882… I believe it would be safe to say the Pennells worked their way to Rutherglen by rail and took up land by these grants. James & Andrew Rose held the 1st squatters of these parcels were long gone ahead searching for more land for rail construction by 1881-82, North Bay, Ontario.

From the collection of Mike Brophy passed onto Elmer Rose – December 5, 2020.

Here is a Lot and Concession map from MY memory. Amazing since I was 11 when we moved from Rutherglen. I think Wayne helped me fill in some blanks, but that Hwy. 17 here looks weird. 🙂

A. W. Smith moved the road because it ran between his two 100 acre lots so he had two fences to fix where he could have one or none. This fencing was no simple chore once you got into the bush at the back of the lots.

Main reason – the old road ran up the granite mountain that is beneath Carl Sullivan’s hill beside the red brick school house. It was almost impossible for the horses to get any traction on this polished granite so they would slip and get hurt, along with their passengers and/or cargo. Also hard to dig post holes in granite.

W. L. Smith – December 8, 2020, email

• Thunderstorms and Lightning
  (from Wayne’s Storyworth memories) These events happened a lot on our farm in the 60’s. Mom was terrified of them. She would get us all out of bed and down to the living room. Often the power was out so we all sat in the dark till it has over. In the dark you could look out the window and watch the lightning racing across the sky. You would often see Beatrice, Melvin and Randy Sullivan driving around in the middle of the night. Beatrice was so afraid she wouldn’t even stay in the house. The belief was that… Read more: Thunderstorms and Lightning
• Making Butter
  (Wayne’s Storyworth) Before the government decided that only their supporters could sell milk , farmers had a way of making a few dollars by selling milk, cream and butter.(More on this in a future story about Chester). We had many chores on the farm in the 60’s . I was six years old in 1960 and was expected to contribute to the vast enterprise of dads farm when I was able to walk and carry something. Often what I had gladly done to be more like dad quickly turned into something that I wished I had never learned how… Read more: Making Butter
• Higher Education (Wayne’s Storyworth)
  Answering the question, “What motivated you to go to graduate school?” Well it is the 60’s . It’s Christmas. I wake up and wait for dad to light the fire in the wood stoves. There was one in the kitchen and one in the living room . An annex and a box stove. After the down stairs warmed up a bit we were allowed down stairs to see what Santa had brought. Dad had to wait for Santa to come down the chimney before he lit the stoves or Santa wouldn’t come. There it was – an electric train… Read more: Higher Education (Wayne’s Storyworth)
• Flying Emmett (Wayne’s Storyworth)
  Answering the question “Have you ver feared for your life?” Dads tractor had no brakes among other broken stuff . Learning to drive this way was truly dangerous. Its funny how it became normal to expect things to suddenly go from boring to near death in a few seconds on the farm.  We were haying in the back field which required going over a hill to get to and from the field.  The normal setup was Dad on the tractor pulling the baler with Emmett on the wagon behind the baler stacking the bales. The second tractor sat idle.… Read more: Flying Emmett (Wayne’s Storyworth)
• Favourite Childhood Memories
  Lets see. Getting my Electric Train. Getting my Mold Master. Using Wendy’s Easy Bake Oven. Getting my Red Tractor when I was two(That I still have) Christmas in General Phillip coming for a visit in the summer (we built the tree house together) The sound of rain on the roof (I could sleep in, didn’t have to work) Hiding in my tree house (having a smoke). Building the tree house. Learning to drive the tractor ( I was about 5 ) Going swimming at Joe and Jake’s Going swimming at Edna and Cliff’s Going swimming at Champlain park and… Read more: Favourite Childhood Memories
• My Childhood Bedroom
  My bedroom from when I can remember till we moved away from Rutherglen when I was 13 in 1967. It was on the second floor north-east corner of the old farm house. Part of the ceiling was slanted to match the roof of the house. It had one window facing east. Had bunk beds with wagon wheels on them on the North side. Had a tall dresser on the south-west corner. Book shelf on north-east corner. Closet with a door north-west corner.  I can remember catching fire flies and letting them go in my room at night. I could… Read more: My Childhood Bedroom
• My Hospital Adventures
  Oh yes . I was there several times. I can remember four.  It was a 20 mile drive from Rutherglen to the Civic Hospital in North Bay Ontario. Once for stitches on my right knee. Caused by a peace of glass on the ground and wearing short pants .  Once to get a sliver ( it was very large ) removed from beside my right eye. Caused by following Buster under a spruce tree without paying attention. Once to get a burn on my back bandaged up. Caused by reaching across the kitchen table and bumping moms arm that… Read more: My Hospital Adventures
• Music in My Life
  In the beginning I tried to take piano lessons from Aunt Edna. This didn’t work out. I couldn’t sit still long enough. Music was all around me however when I was little.  Uncle Emmett was an excellent fiddle player . He competed in fiddle contests in Mattawa and won a few. He also played at square dances . Its a shame he didn’t make use of this skill when he retired. I think he tried giving some lessons .I guess living in Rutherglen wasn’t a great place for a music teacher. Elmo’s wife Marie was a fiddle player too.… Read more: Music in My Life
• Childhood Moves
  Yes we moved in 1968. I Was 13 and living in Rutherglen ,Ontario GPS co-ordinates 46.256409, -79.080538. Dad and his brother Emmett ran 400 acres as partners . Dad also drove school bus to make ends meet. Dad slipped a disk in his back throwing hay ,around the summer of 1966. The building they where putting the hay into was an old brick school house. It was never intended to store hay in . The windows where too small and too high off the ground. They should have knocked a bigger hole in the school house. It was difficult… Read more: Childhood Moves
• Christmases
  The best Christmas we had was when I rented the chalet on Sylvan Lake in Alberta. But I already told that story. Most Christmas’s we managed to get together some where. Red Deer , Bentwood Bay, Saskatoon . It depends a lot on the weather . Last year 2023 was great there was no snow believe it or not. We drove to Red Deer no problem. I can remember when we lived in Blind River we would load the kids into the car and head for Timmins then load them up again and head from Timmins to North Bay.… Read more: Christmases
• Pets I Had
  I grew up on a farm so my world was full of animals. Not many were considered pets however ,even my dog Buster had a job to do . We had 1 dog, 13 cats , 20 cows , 1 bull, 2 horses , 50 chickens , 1 rooster, 20 sheep and  1 pig. Busters was the same age as me and was sort of my brother. He was a white and orange border coley(Heinz 57) .His job was to bark like crazy if any wild animals came around . He saved my life once by attacking the bull… Read more: Pets I Had
• Favourite Scouting Memory
  With out a doubt it was CJ97. Thanks to the support from companies like Esso , Flint , etc. in Whitecourt we raised $30,000 selling sand bags to the oil patch. We rented a grey hound bus and sold the empty seats to other scout troops (Kitscotty , Marthorp ) . We took 30 kids from Whitecourt. The Jamboree went off without a hitch thanks to the premium planning by scouters and Thunder Bay city officials, and countless helping citizens. Over 13,000 scouts, parents, volunteers, and leaders made this event into one that is still remembered fondly today, and… Read more: Favourite Scouting Memory
• My Children
  Start with Amy .. watching her  and her friends jumping around in the wreck room dancing to “Girls Just Want to have Fun”. Joey .. Having the doctor wrap his whole head in a bandage after he burned his face with gun powder in Powell River. Thank god he had his glasses on. He went trick or treating with the bandage on that night. He didn’t really need the bandage. It was a joke between me and the doctor.  Darren .. tracking him down at CJ93 in Kananaskis Alberta. It took me a while to find him. He was… Read more: My Children
• Admiration for My Dad (by Wayne Smith)
  Dad was a farmer who quit farming when he was 50 because he hurt his back. To go from farming to being an hourly paid employee took a lot of courage. With some help from his friends he pulled it off.  One of dads sayings was “If you can’t say anything good about somebody don’t say anything at all” . Dad was a past master of the Mattawa Masonic Lodge 268. Much of what dad did was because he was a Mason. I know they helped many people that were in trouble. Dad was a supporter of the United… Read more: Admiration for My Dad (by Wayne Smith)
• Most Beautiful Places
  Helmcken Falls, in Wells Grey Provincial Park in BC.  Desolation Sound Marine Park , Lund , BC. I’ve been to Europe , Australia , Arizona  all over Canada but the two above are pretty unbelievable. To see Wells Grey properly you need a canoe and tent . You can see the falls with a car but not the volcanoes and true wilderness of the park .  Candle Lake Sask .. Northern Lights Candle Lake Sask .. 50 teenage Canada Geese with 5 mothers all in one flock on the beach. The mothers were watching me very carefully but they… Read more: Most Beautiful Places
• What was Mom like (from Wayne)
  What was my mom like? My mom was awesome. She always had my back . Even made my sisters angry because she spoiled me so much.  She was a city girl who had to become a farmers wife and she did most things better than the farm girls like. Knitting , CREWEL EMBROIDERY, CROCHET, QUILTING , SMOCKING , she made shirts and pants too. I learned knitting , embroidery and sewing from her. She was into many crafts too like copper tooling, paint by numbers. Mom was a leader / member of the 4H , UCW(United Church Women) and… Read more: What was Mom like (from Wayne)
• Simple Pleasures
  A drink of iced water. When doing hard work like loading and unloading wagons full of hay-bales on a hot summers day there’s nothing better. Camping . watching the fire burn and tending it. Going for a bike ride through the camp ground. Meeting different people at the camp ground. They all seem to have interesting stories about why they are at the camp ground. Like: just got divorced. Looking for a job in Alberta (They were from New Brunswick). Installing wind turbines in the summer and living in Florida in the winter. Watching the wild life .  The… Read more: Simple Pleasures
• Wayne’s Favourite Childhood Store
  My favorite store was “The Joke Shop” on main street in North Bay , Ontario. Why? You could buy itching powder and little fire crackers to put in cigarettes. The itching powder was sprinkled down my sisters back . The little fire crackers were pushed into the end of a cigarette . When somebody bummed a smoke you would give him the one with a fire cracker in it. When you lit the smoke for him it would blow up. The smoke ended up looking like a peeled banana.  The store had many neat things in it. (Originally written… Read more: Wayne’s Favourite Childhood Store
• Random Memories of Wayne and Wendy
  There’s a few things to point out in this picture. Dad had a push-lawnmower that he obviously hadn’t used in awhile. The tub was our “swimming pool”. My memories of it were very exciting. As you can see by my face I was totally happy. The “playhouse” is behind us. I’m told, it used to be the chicken coop and it was in a different location. But Dad moved it here for us to use as a playhouse. It also was very exciting. And then there’s Buster!! Our fantastic, great dog. Half collie, half husky. The best dog ever.… Read more: Random Memories of Wayne and Wendy
• The Clothes Line Stand
  This picture is one that I had developed from a box of negatives that I found in the old Pennell home in Rutherglen.  This clothesline stand is a big memory for me and was still there beside the porch door when we moved from house in 1968.  Although I can’t make out her face well, I’m assuming this is my grandmother, Alice Pennell. This stand was Buster’s (our family dog) summer home.  Off to the left, you can see someone on a ladder, likely picking apples from the small crab apple tree that was beside the house.  It was… Read more: The Clothes Line Stand
• Our Farm
  We moved from the farm in 1968.  Its hard to believe I was close to being 12 years old – I seemed so much younger. This is my “childhood” memory of the layout of the farm.  Aunt Liza’s (Eliza Pennell) house is no longer there and our house burnt to the ground some years after we moved.  The “Pioneer Baby Graves” (“Indian Baby Graves”) were not graves – that’s just what Dad said they were.  They were just different shaped mounds.   Wayne built a fabulous tree house in the Forest (bottom right).  The “Lamb Pasture Hill” (bottom centre) was… Read more: Our Farm
• Living in Rutherglen
  Introductory Memory from Wayne of the fields in front of the house: I can close my eyes and visualize just about any part of the farm. Its all still there. Getting a little foggy but still in pretty good shape. So let’s take a look at the front fields… On the left I see hay which also called timothy. It blows in the wind like waves on the ocean. In the middle on the field there was a rock with a sharp edge on the top of it. Dad had Fielding McLaren dig it out one year. There is… Read more: Living in Rutherglen

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.

Iva Hone (nee Livingston) – wife of Reuben Hone, great-grandson to James Hone and Eliza Crew

Thanks Mom for all the years of always saving the newspaper clippings at first for yourself and then for me.

J. J. C. Bradfield is by far our family history’s “claim to fame”. Its unfortunate that he is not known by the Canadian Crew descendants unless they read any family genealogy about the Australian immigration in the mid to late 1800s.

I’m not going into the history and stories surrounding J. J. C. Bradfield here because you can simply Google his name or buy or borrow a book about him from the library. I’ll only summarize:

John Job Crew Bradfield was the engineer behind the building the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the engineer behind creating the specs for another famous bridge in Australia – Story Bridge.

I will relate how I found out about him.

After my Dad died in 1988, and I began to deep-dive into my family history, I visited my cousin Myrtle Connolly in Ottawa. She was an avid family historian and she shared many documents and pictures with me, including letters she’d received from an Alice MacGregor in Australia. I then began to write to Alice myself. It was very exciting to get mail from Australia and, like Myrtle, Alice was very keen to share her family’s history with me – and the biggest story was John Job Crew Bradfield.

I didn’t dwell on it a lot then. I just thought it was great to have a smart relative who had a high-up job building a big bridge in a far off country.

A few years later my mom is remarried and takes a trip with her new husband overseas. She starts chatting with an Australian guy sitting beside her on the plane. My mom knew my Dad’s family history and knew that his grandmother was Rachel Crew and knew that some of the Crew’s immigrated to Australia. So that began the fateful conversation. This guy was over the moon that he was sitting beside a “relative” of J. J. C. Bradfield. I think he could have been Bradfield Fan Club president if there was one. He insisted on getting my mom’s address and sent her photocopies of information on Bradfield, including one of a book on him. It was then that I realized the J. J. C. Bradfield was somewhat of an Australian hero.

Of course, television has made our world so much smaller and “far away countries” are not so far anymore. I usually try and watch the New Years celebrations every year being broadcast from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and it really is a spectacular bridge.

It has been very difficult to pin down the ancestry of Susan Sheppard. Any documents that I can find that I believe to be associated with Susan, is signed with an X, and this is the same for William Crew her husband. So if neither of them could read or write, I’m not sure who determined the spelling of Sheppard as there are documents that could be related where the spelling is Shepherd.

I believe this is Susan and William’s marriage record of July 6, 1817.

Going back further than this has been a challenge. Especially when looking back attempting to link Susan Sheppard with the Marie deFawcett myth. There’s just nothing there.

Census records:

From the above I can safely conclude that Susan was born somewhere between 1799 and 1801, give or take a year on either side.

A crucial name in identifying which family is which is Hone.

In the 1851 census, in the household of William Crew is James Hone, son-in-law, is married Eliza and eventually they immigrated to Canada. Also living with the Crew family is Samuel Sheppard and his wife Sarah. Samuel is Susan Crew’s brother while Sarah’s maiden name is Hone. James Hone and Sarah Hone are siblings.

In the 1841 MEOT census, Samuel Sheppard and Sarah are with a Mary (age 21) and James Hone age 11. In the 1841 Lewisham census, Charles Sheppard, age 80, with Ann, age 50, with Daniel “Own” (Hone) who eventually married Mary Ann Swallow Sheppard. Also with the Sheppard family is Benjamin age 14 and an Elizabeth Brock age 10. I have no information on Elizabeth.

All information leads me to the conclusion that Susan Sheppard’s parents were Charles and Ann (Charles first wife). Two years after Susan married William Crew, in 1819, Charles (widower) marries Ann Swallow. Census indicates that Ann Swallows was 20 years younger than Charles.

So Susan’s mother is Ann somebody, I’m just not sure who. And NOT Marie deFawcett.

This seems the best candidate for the marriage of Charles Sheppard to Ann. This is Charles of Lewisham, who signs with an X. And the date of marriage is 2 years before Susan’s birth.

Basically what it comes down to is me “choosing” who I believe to be Susan’s mother: I choose Ann West.

Images of Susan and William Crew’s Children

These are basically the only children who lived to “adulthood” and to a time when pictures could be taken.

Bill Keech was born June 5, 1920 in North Bay, Ontario. He was the son of Lester William Keech (WW1) and grandson of Jane McNamara. After he graduated from North Bay Collegiate, he married Iola Grace Berry, December 2, 1939, who became a Registered Nurse.

He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. and received the rank of Flt. Lieut. during World War II. On April 27, 1942, Bill was shot down over Belgium and taken prisoner, spending three years in Stalag Luft-3, near Sagan. He participated in the operation of “The Great Escape”.

The tunnel had been under his bunk, but only a few prisoners made it to freedom. The Germans accidently fell into the escape hole and caught several men, and even though they had swiftly surrendered, they were shot.

After being released, Bill, along with many other former prisoners, were entertained at Windsor Castle by King George, Queen Elizabeth and their daughters. Bill returned home and enrolled at Western University in London, Ontario and graduated in medicine.

Bill practiced medicine in North Bay, Ontario, and after being Chief of Staff at both the Civic Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital, he retired on June 5, 1985. Bill then ran for council, won his seat and became the Deputy Mayor of North Bay.

Dr. Bill Keech, who as a member of North Bay City Council, lobbied hard to have City Hall declared smoke free and bring in non-smoking bylaws, hopes the addictive habit will one day be banned completely.

“As a physician, I realize the staggering number of people killed every year by smoking,” he observed. While he believes adults who are aware of the hazards of lighting up should still have the right to decide, “children are starting to smoke from a very young age” when they don’t even realize those health risks.

North Bay Nugget (newspaper), February 7, 1993

Jane was born in Ottawa September 1, 1875 and was the daughter of Elizabeth Pennell and James McNamara. Jane was a hairdresser. She died May 5, 1961 in Haileybury, Ontario.

Jane married William John Keech, son of Edwin James Keech and Elizabeth Forsey, all of England, on April 22, 1896, in Ewen, Michigan. William was a Butcher. The Keech’s arrived in Quebec City July 1, 1883. The Captain (Molson) had a farm at Sherbrooke and hired William, who stayed with the Molson family for two years. Then he moved to the U.S., meeting up with his brothers, George and Henry. William worked on river drives and lumber camps before finally opening his own business.

I have a lot of detail on Jane because her daughter was Myrtle Connolly who was an avid genealogist and family historian.

Jane was great friends with my grandmother, Alice Pennell (Smith). Even though my grandmother was Jane’s aunt, they were close to the same age.

Jane and William had 11 children:

There is a lot of information in my postings about the Pennells and the Crews where I give credit to Myrtle Connolly. Myrtle is Elizabeth Pennell’s granddaughter and Jane McNamara’s daughter.