Bill Teschek's Genealogy Pages

Harry Joseph Aaron

M, b. 17 July 1897, d. 17 June 1986

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Joseph Aaron b. 6 Feb 1866, d. 6 Jan 1951

Mother

Carrie Elizabeth Schmelzer b. 15 or 25 April 1869, d. 6 Nov 1949

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Harry Joseph Aaron was born on 17 July 1897 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G. The name on his birth record was Joseph H. Aaron, but this was reportedly a mistake of the doctor who evidently was a bit of a "lush". Harry later had a rough time getting his birth certificate straightened out. The "middle" initial H. stood for Henry, but he was always called Harry and had it legally changed to that later in life.¹

Marriage*

He married Mabel Viola Barbera, daughter of Charles L. Barbera and Polly Durb, on 12 March 1919 at 160 Florence Street, the minister's residence in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.²

Death*

Harry died of lung cancer on 17 June 1986 at home, 37 East Prescott Street in Forge Village, Westford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.³

Burial*

He was buried on 19 June 1986 in Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aaron-842.

During World War I Harry was a wagoner in the U.S. Army Ammunition Train, having entered the Army on October 22, 1918. When he married in 1919 Harry was a handy man employed at the Navy Yard living at 295 W. Wyoming Avenue in Melrose and Mabel was a rubberworker living at 306 Washington Street. in Melrose. The 1920 census found them living at 198 Washington Street in Melrose and Harry was working as a blacksmith at the Navy Yard. When their son Harry Jr. was born in 1922 Harry Sr. was a produce merchant and they were living at 306 Washington Street in Melrose. When their daughter Barbara was born in 1924 they were at 233 Washington Street in Melrose and Harry gave his occupation as "trucking". In 1930 and 1940 censuses find the family living at 251 West Wyoming Avenue in Melrose. In 1930 Harry worked as a trucker in the coal industry, and in 1940 he was a chauffeur for the city. When the 1950 census was taken they were living at 11 Field's Court in Melrose, neighbors to their nephews Donald and Erland Teschek, who lived at 6 and 12 Field's Court respectively. Harry was working as a truck driver for the municipal highway department at the time.

When Mabel died in 1975 they were living at 180 Linwood Avenue in Melrose. The occupation stated on her death certificate was as a nurse's aid at the Elmhurst Nursing Home. Harry was still at the same address in Aug 1967. When his sister Martha died in Mar 1976 he was living in Westford, Mass. When Harry died in 1986 he had been living with his son Harry Jr. at 37 East Prescott Street in Forge Village, Westford, Mass. for 11 years, although he spent his winters living with his daughter Barbara in North Carolina. He had worked for the Melrose Department of Public Works since June 1930, retiring in Aug 1967 as a foreman in the highways division. He was also a member of the American Legion Posts in Melrose and Westford and the Odd Fellows of Wakefield.

Children of Harry Joseph Aaron and Mabel Viola Barbera

Harry Joseph Aaron Jr.+ b. 15 Dec 1922, d. 3 Jun 1997
Barbara Jean Aaron b. 21 Oct 1924, d. 10 Dec 2003

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1897, v.467, p.281, no.462.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1919, v.51, p.60.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1986, no.34933.

Chester Lewis Aaron

M, b. 13 October 1899, d. 22 December 1969

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Joseph Aaron b. 6 Feb 1866, d. 6 Jan 1951

Mother

Carrie Elizabeth Schmelzer b. 15 or 25 April 1869, d. 6 Nov 1949

Last Edited

25 Apr 2023

Birth*

Chester Lewis Aaron was born on 13 October 1899 at 205 Adams Street in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Carmen N. Cole, daughter of Berton Augustine Cole and Carrie May Nelson, on 2 February 1924 in Mechanic Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine^G.^2,3

Death*

Chester died of a heart attack on 22 December 1969 at home on North Street in Mechanic Falls.⁴

Burial*

He was buried the following spring in Maple Grove Cemetery in Mechanic Falls.⁵

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aaron-843.

Chester grew up in Malden, Mass. where he attended schools and later graduated from a Boston trade school. He moved to Mechanic Falls, Maine with his parents and when the 1930 census was taken there on April 22nd he and his wife Carmen were living on North Street very close to his parents. Chester was employed as a "case maker" in the paper mill at the time. This was the Waterfalls Paper Co. in Mechanic Falls, Maine. They were still living there at the time of the 1940 census, and Chester worked as a carpenter in the mill. Prior to his retirement he worked for the Paris Manufacturing Co. in South Paris, Maine. He was living in Mechanic Falls in June 1947 and was still there, on North St., when he died in 1969. They lived their entire married lives on this farm, which was originally Carmen's family home.

Child of Chester Lewis Aaron and Carmen N. Cole

Patricia Anne Aaron+ b. 24 Dec 1942, d. 7 Jul 2023

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1899, v.485, p.499, no.637.
Maine State Archives, 1892-1966, 1976-1996 Indexes of Maine Marriages, http://thor.dafs.state.me.us/pls/archives/
Family information stated 22 Feb so date is unsure. Index to Maine Marriages does not give place of marriage, rather residence of bride and groom, which, in this case, was Mechanic Falls for both of them so that is assumed to be the place of marriage.
MyHeritage, http://www.MyHeritage.com, (Maine Deaths database, <https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10073-104484/chester-l-aaron-in-maine-deaths>. Cause and exact place of death from family info).
Gravestone, and family info on when he was buried.

Gladys Amelia Aaron

F, b. 16 July 1901, d. 21 January 1992

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Wedding photo of Kenneth and Gladys (Aaron) Hawes.

Father

Joseph Aaron b. 6 Feb 1866, d. 6 Jan 1951

Mother

Carrie Elizabeth Schmelzer b. 15 or 25 April 1869, d. 6 Nov 1949

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Gladys Amelia Aaron was born on 16 July 1901 at home, 205 Adams Street in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married Kenneth Webster Hawes, son of Frank B. Hawes and Iva Lord, on 25 August 1928 at her parents' home on North Street in Mechanic Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine^G.²

Death*

Gladys died on 21 January 1992 at Clover Manor in Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine^G.³

Burial*

She was buried on 25 January 1992 in Maple Grove Cemetery in Mechanic Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine^G.⁴

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aaron-844.

Gladys attended school in Malden and Melrose, Mass. She moved to Mechanic Falls, Maine with her parents about 1920. At the time of her marriage in 1928 she was living with her parents and employed at the Waterfalls Paper Co. in Mechanic Falls. Kenneth lived at 70 Pleasant Street in Mechanic Falls and was employed as a machinist, also at Waterfalls Co. When the 1930 census was taken on April 22nd they were living with her parents on North St. in Mechanic Falls. They were both employed in the local paper mill, Kenneth as a machinist and Gladys as a "sealer". This was the Waterfalls Paper Company in Mechanic Falls. They were still living with her parents on North Street when the 1940 census was taken. Ken worked as a machinist in a shipyard - probably Bath Iron Works - while Gladys was a "counter girl" at the paper mill. They continued to live with her parents until about 1942. During World War II he worked as a welder at Bath Iron Works. He was later employed as a machinist for 17 years at the J. W. Penney machine shop in Mechanic Falls.

Her mother Carrie was living with them at 84 Pleasant St. in Mechanic Falls when she died in November 1949. They were still there in December 1956 when Kenneth died.

For 20 years Gladys was employed at Goss Hardware in Mechanic Falls, retiring in 1973. She was a member of the First Congregational Church of Melrose, and later of the Pleasant Street Baptist Church in Mechanic Falls, had been a Sunday school teacher for many years and served as a deaconess of the church. She was also a member of the Church Mission Circle.

Their marriage announcement appeared in the 28 August 1928 Lewiston Daily Sun and read as follows:

The wedding of Miss Gladys Amelia Aaron, and Kenneth Webster Hawes, both popular young people of this village took place at the home of the bride's parents on North street at eight o'clock on Saturday evening, the double ring service being performed by Rev. Frank M. Lamb, pastor of the Baptist Church here. The bride was given in marriage by her father, Joseph Aaron. The best man was Joseph Clayton Aaron, a brother to the bride, while the bridesmaid was Ruth Carolyn Sutherland, the bride's niece, of Melrose, Mass. The bride wore white georgette over white satin and carried white roses, while the bridesmaid's gown was of blue georgette over pale pink satin and her flowers were sweet peas. For traveling the bride wore dark blue georgette with hat to match. The home was decorated with cut flowers in a color scheme of pink and yellow. The bridegroom's gift to his best man was solid gold cuff links, while the bride presented her bridesmaid with a cameo ring. Miss Helen Goodale, Main street, was in charge of the guest book. A reception followed at 8:15 attended by about 40 guests. The bride was born in Malden, Mass., and received her education at Melrose, Mass., she has been with the Waterfalls Paper Co. She belongs to the First Congregational church of Melrose, Mass. The bridegroom is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Hawes of Pittsburg, N.H. He was born in that city and there received his education. He is a machinist with the Waterfalls Paper Co. Many beautiful gifts were received. A beautiful floral basket was presented the bride by W. N. Allen, her employer at the Colonial mill. Among the out of town guests were Miss Mae Barry; and Herman Drakelein of Dorchester, Mass., Mr. and Mrs. Harry Aaron and two children, Mr. and Mrs. James Sutherland and three children, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Teschek and two children, all of Melrose, Mass., and Ralph Richardson of Stoneham, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Hawes are on a motor trip through Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Canada. They will be at home in Mechanic Falls after Sept. 10.²

Child of Gladys Amelia Aaron and Kenneth Webster Hawes

Carolyn Helen Hawes b. 9 Jun 1933, d. 3 Feb 2016

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1901, v.509, p.508, no.434 [The date on the birth record was stated incorrectly as July 10th, according to her daughter, who says that the doctor who delivered her was a 'lush' who sometimes listed wrong birth dates, names and even genders].
MyHeritage, http://www.MyHeritage.com, (Wedding announcement in the Lewiston Daily Sun, 28 Aug 1928, p.5).
Personal knowledge of William H. Teschek, 164 High St., Exeter, NH 03833,.
Obituary of Robert Wallingford in the Cape Cod Times, 19 Aug 2004.

Joseph Clayton Aaron

M, b. 16 December 1903, d. 27 April 1968

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Joseph Aaron b. 6 Feb 1866, d. 6 Jan 1951

Mother

Carrie Elizabeth Schmelzer b. 15 or 25 April 1869, d. 6 Nov 1949

Last Edited

30 Aug 2024

Birth*

Joseph Clayton Aaron was born on 16 December 1903 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Helen Edith Goodall, daughter of John Cyrus Goodall and Jeannette Gertrude Wiggin, on 14 July 1929 at the home of the bride's parents in Mechanic Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine^G. This marriage ended in divorce while they were living in Caribou, Maine.^2³

Death*

Joseph died of a heart attack on 27 April 1968 at his sister Martha's home, 308 Washington Street in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.⁴

Burial*

He was buried on 1 May 1968 at Maple Grove Cemetery in Mechanic Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine^G.⁴

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aaron-845.

At the time of his marriage Joseph was employed at the Waterfalls Paper Co. in Mechanic Falls, Maine. Later he lived in Winthrop, Maine where he served as the Railway Express Agent.² He was living in Caribou, Maine between at least 1946 and 1952. While there he was employed by Railway Express and Helen taught at the high school. He also worked for them in Lewiston and Presque Isle, Maine. At the time of his death he was working for the Melrose Public Works Dept. According to his death certificate he was not a veteran. He had been living in his sister Martha Sutherland's home at 308 Washington St. in Melrose for seven years before he died.

They only had the one child that died as an infant.

Child of Joseph Clayton Aaron and Helen Edith Goodall

Joseph Clayton Aaron Jr. b. 8 Jan 1946, d. 8 Jan 1946

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1903, v.533, p.516, no.809.
Correspondence from Carol Willard of Redding, Calif., email dated 31 Jan 2003.
Maine State Archives, 1892-1966, 1976-1996 Indexes of Maine Marriages, http://thor.dafs.state.me.us/pls/archives/, (date viewed 1 Feb 2003 (also an undated newspaper clipping)).
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1968, v.73, p.45.

Carolyn Katherine Aaron

F, b. 31 August 1905, d. 6 November 1905

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Joseph Aaron b. 6 Feb 1866, d. 6 Jan 1951

Mother

Carrie Elizabeth Schmelzer b. 15 or 25 April 1869, d. 6 Nov 1949

Last Edited

10 Mar 2012

Birth*

Carolyn Katherine Aaron was born on 31 August 1905 at 208 Adams St. in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Death*

Carolyn died of tubercular meningitis, on 6 November 1905, at home, 205 Adams Street, in Malden, at a little more than two months of age.²

Burial*

She was buried on 7 November 1905 in Forestdale Cemetery in Malden.²

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1905, v.551, p.520, no.589.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1905, v.63, p.202.

Barney Aaron

M, b. June 1833, d. 30 May 1907

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Copy of a newspaper clipping of Barney Aaron during his referee years. The caption read: "The veteran champion light-weight pugilist of America, appointed referree of the Smith-Walcott boxing bout in Boston, March 1." Dated probably in the period 1880-1900.

Father

Barney Aaron b. 21 Nov 1800, d. 11 Jul 1859

Mother

Phoebe Lee b. circa 1803-1806, d. 27 Feb 1873

Last Edited

10 Mar 2023

Birth*

Barney Aaron was born in June 1833 in St. Botolph's Aldgate, London, England^G.¹

Marriage*

He married first Mary Ann Enwright on 19 January 1863 at the Allen Street Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church in New York, New York^G.²

Marriage*

Barney Aaron married second Louisa Jordan, daughter of William Jordan and Louisa Johnson, on 11 October 1875 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois^G.^3,4

Marriage*

Barney Aaron married third Catherine Agnes Harris, daughter of William Harris and Mary Moloney, circa 1880.⁵

Death*

Barney died of senile dementia on 30 May 1907 at River Crest, a sanitarium for nervous and mental diseases in Astoria, Queens, New York^G.^6,7,8,9

Burial*

He was buried on 2 June 1907 in Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York^G.^6,10

The following is an extensive biographical account of the life of Barney Aaron. Most of the information included comes from contemporary newspaper reports of the day. Using online newspaper databases Newspapers.com, NewspaperArchive.com, and the Illinois Library Digital Collections index to the New York Clipper, year-by-year searches of newspapers around the U.S., Canada and England were made to discover as many details of his life as is possible. Most everything of interest is included, although not every anecdotal story of Barney's life in sport is included here. Conflicting reports were often published in the papers, and there is no doubt that there are lots of falsehoods and bias in many of the stories. Nevertheless they give us a fairly good view of the man's life and times, and at the very least make for interesting reading.

Who was Young Barney Aaron?

Barney was a bare-knuckle prize fighter like his father, and once held the U.S. lightweight boxing title. He was called "Young" Barney Aaron to distinguish him from his father. No Barney or Barnett Aaron can be found as a son of Barney and Phoebe (Lee) Aaron in the early records, so it seems that "Barney" was a nickname and he was originally born with a different name. At present the most likely identification is that he was originally Abraham, based on the fact that Abraham is the only son of old Barney who isn't accounted for after the 1851 census. "Young" Barney's age later in life also supports the argument, although coming up with a birthdate for Young Barney Aaron is very confusing. Abraham was 9 in the 1841 census (suggesting 1831-2 as a birth year) and 18 in 1851 (1832-3). The 1900 census in New York City states that Barney was born in June of 1833, and the 1870 census says he was age 36 (1833-4). His obituary, on the other hand, says he was 77 when he died in 1907 (1830-1). His death certificate gives an age of 76 years, 11 months, suggesting a birth date in June of 1830. To muddle things more, the 1863 marriage (that might or might not be him - more below) says he was age 26 (1836), and his 1875 marriage says he was 39 (1836). When arriving back from a trip to England in Apr 1906 he gave his age as 69 (1836-7). More evidence for an 1836 birth comes from newspaper articles and Internet sources that give him an exact birth date of 27 Jul 1836. This date is widely published in old newspaper articles and contemporary Internet accounts, yet may very likely be false. Articles citing his age in his first few years in America consistently call him 19 to 21 years of age and comport with a birth date in 1836. The problem with an 1836 year of birth is that his brother Moss was apparently born in 1836, and the 1841 and 1851 censuses show Abraham as being two years older than Moss. Moss is accounted for later in life so we know he didn't become "Young" Barney Aaron. Internet sources like Wikipedia use the 27 Jul 1836 date for him, but we will use the 1900 census date of June 1833 until such time as a better date is located. Perhaps when Barney got to America he wanted to make himself appear to be a few years younger for the sake of his professional boxing career. The other possibility is that the 27 Jul 1836 date is correct and Barney is actually an adopted member of the Aaron family not recorded in the two early censuses - or even someone who is unrelated but chose to say he is related for professional reasons. If true, this may never be provable, but if a death record for young Abraham after 1851 was to ever turn up, that would make this more likely.

Early Life

Abraham/Barney grew up in the city of London, and the family lived in Cobbs Yard, Borough of Tower Hamlets, Parish of ChristChurch Spitalfields, which was a largely Jewish area of the city. When he was born his father had been a well-known pugilist for more than ten years and his last fight was less than a year in the future. The elder Barney worked as a clothing dealer after his retirement from the ring, but also acted as a ringside attendent for some fights. Young Barney, as Abraham, was still living with his parents and siblings in London in 1851, at which time his occupation was given as "Dealer."

When, exactly, Barney emigrated to America is unknown, but it was at some point in the 1850s. His name can't be located yet on a passenger list during that time period. The 1900 census said he had been in America for 50 years, while five years later the 1905 New York State census said he had been here for 53. Another article, quoted below, has him saying that he was 'about 20' when he first came to this country. A newspaper account of one of Barney's fights in 1867 recounts some history that might be relevant. "In the year 1853, the old man, in company with his son, paid a visit to America..." [Evening Star, Washington, D.C., 14 Jun 1867, p.1] The assumption here is that the son was young Barney, but on 2 Oct 1854 three Aarons - Barney, age 40, Lewis, age 20, and Solomon, age 25 - all arrived in New York from England on board the ship Henrik Hudson. This is probably the trip old Barney took to America. Other newspaper accounts from December of 1854 talk about Old Barney's visit to America, so the earlier article quoting a trip to America in 1853 was off by one year. The ages are all off, but that isn't unusual for a passenger list. We know that Barney's brothers Lewis and Solomon came to this country around that time, so odds are good that this is our old Barney and two of his sons. Given the fact that young Barney was a nickname and we're not 100% sure that he was born as Abraham, one might wonder whether Barney was actually Lewis or Solomon. But both Lewis and Solomon are accounted for later in their lives. Lewis's death record names his parents, and while there is no concrete evidence that the Solomon reported in this genealogy living in America with family is the correct one, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that supports it. What seems more probable is that young Abraham/Barney came to America at a later date on his own. Secondary web sources like his International Boxing Hall of Fame entry say he came to this country in 1855, which is probably very close to being correct, although strong evidence for that can not currently be located.

The Fighting Years, late 1850s

There are no records of young Barney participating in professional fights while he lived in England, and in fact in an interview published in the Cincinnati Enquirer of 5 May 1895 he said "it was only natural that I should have a liking for boxing, though I never fought until I came to this country." He continued, "I never had a boxing lesson in my life, but I picked up a knowledge of sparring kind of naturally, and long before I thought of coming here I had the gloves on with Joe Hodes, the Spider, and many other crack light weight boxers of London, and none of them made a monkey of me, either. I was about 20 when I came to this country, and the first work I did was tending bar down by South Ferry for a man named George Culmer. A good many young fellows used to patronize the place who thought they could box. The boss kept a set of boxing gloves for them, but I never let on that I had had a glove on my hand. There was one young fellow who could best all the others. His name was Latham. 'Why, he'll go all around you like a cooper round a barrel,' said he. I didn't think he would, so when Latham came in again he made us put them on. Well, it was me that did the cooper act. And Culmer was so surprised that his eyes stuck out like lobsters. Not long after that there was a boxing exhibition at Kerrigan's Hall, on White street, right off Broadway. They gave cheap prizes for the best heavy, middle and light-weight boxers. Culmer took me there and pitted me against Harry Lazarus, who was then in his prime. We had to undress downstairs and box up above. As I was going upstairs I heard a fellow say: 'Let's go up and see Lazarus murder this little Englishman.' Well, we went at it. Old Bill Tovee was the master of ceremonies, and he was kind to me because he knew my father. 'Don't be afraid, boy,' he sez. 'The worst he can do is to black your eye or bloody your nose.' Well, he didn't do either. I had far and away the best of it, and I got the prize. Oh, my, but I was proud. Harry's father, Izzy Lazarus, who weighed over 300 pounds, had a seat right in front of the ring, and when the bout was over, he jumped up and hallooed: 'Gentlemen, this ain't no novice. This 'ere is the son of Barney Aaron, the Star of the East. It's no wonder 'e knows 'ow to box.' After that I didn't tend bar anymore, but I became a fighter..."

He fought in Dominick Bradley's Exhibition against Dan Dougherty on 22 Apr 1856 at Franklin Hall in Philadelphia. Speaking of Aaron, the article states: The latter was unexpected, and his appearance took those present by surprise--he sparred well, and Dan remarked that it was rather '"tight papers," for him. [New York Clipper, 3 May 1856, p.11.] On the same page is this notice: Young Barney Aaron's 1st of May Benefit in Philadelphia. Young Barney Aaron takes a benefit at Franklin Hall, Philadelphia, on Thursday evening, May 1st. He has gained a host of hearty friends and patrons during his short stay there, and is ensured a rousing house. He is to be assisted by all the fistic talent there, by Warren the New York break down dancer, and the wind-up, between himself and Mike Trainor, will be worth twice the admission money. A report of the benefit appeared in the 10 May paper and said that owing to bad weather the house was not full. Barney opened the exhibition with a fight against Bendigo, and closed it with his match against Trainor.

Exhibition fights differed from the big money prize fights in that the boxers wore gloves and only sparred for a few rounds. The effort was not to defeat your opponent but to put on a good show for the crowd and exhibit your boxing skills without anyone getting seriously hurt. For every prize fight that someone like Barney took part in over the course of his career there were many, many more exhibit bouts, often taking place at benefits for himself or another fighter.

His first professional fight was on 9 Jul 1856 on Riker's Island against a mulatto named Johnny Robinson. In the 1895 Cincinnati Enquirer article referenced above Barney remembers that it wasn't the first time he faced Robinson. The Riker's Island fight was a rematch: My first regular fight was with John Robinson, a brother of the Phenomenon [James Robinson]. It took place in a rat pit at No. 49 Madison street in this city, I had the best of it, but the other chap had the reputation and the crowd, and so it was made a draw. I wasn't satisfied, so I got after him, and we made a match to fight it out in a regular ring. We met in a twenty-four-footer on Riker's Island, at the mouth of the sound, and I won in 84 [actually 80 or 81]rounds, 2 hours and 19 minutes. An historical article in the 9 Nov 1906 Winnipeg, Manitoba Tribune, in talking about this fight, says "The month of July 1856 brought to the notice of pugilistic followers Barney Aaron, son of old Barney, the 'Star of the East,' who made a flying trip to this country from England three years previous." In those days unlicensed prize fighting in the city and the gambling that went with it was illegal. One report of this fight concludes by saying "Both men were shockingly beaten. The parties then forthwith returned to the city, and succeeded in escaping the eye of the police, who had turned out a full force to receive them on their arrival." [Baltimore Sun, 11 Jul 1856, p.1] It was one of the more popular fights of its day, having encouraged 300 spectators and gamblers to take a ferry out to the island in the middle of the night for the fight that began at daybreak.

On September 18th of the same year he seconded the fighter Andy Kellly in a bout against Charles Lynch at the Palisades on the New Jersey shore in which Kelly died of injuries. [The 'second' in a fight is a coach or trainer assisting a fighter during a bout. Also called a cornerman, he is forbidden to instruct and must remain outside the combat area during the round. In the break, they are permitted to enter the ring and minister to their fighter if necessary.] Kelly was taken by his handlers, presumably including Barney, to Bellevue Hospital where he was dropped off under a false name. Barney was one of Kelly's trainers, and they had fought an exhibition fight on August 19th. After an inquest [New York Times, 25 Sep 1856, p.1; New York Clipper, 4 Oct 1856, p.189] warrants of arrest were issued to everyone involved in the fight, including Barney, which caused him to flee to New Orleans to avoid arrest. After this tragedy the popularity of the sport of prize fighting took a nose dive for a short time, and the authorities were more vigorous in trying to suppress it.

While Barney was evading arrest in New Orleans he fought his next significant fight against Bill Evans near the Metairie Race Course in New Orleans on 12 Apr 1857 for a purse of $500. Evans had a reputation among the New Orleans sports fans as being invincible. A group of nearly a thousand spectators, 200 of whom were women, attended the fight. Despite Evans' popularity Barney's reputation preceded him and the betting odds were stacked in his favor before the fight by two to one. At the conclusion of round one, even ten to one odds in Barney's favor went begging as he completedly dominated Evans. In fifteen minutes the six [or eleven, reports vary] round fight was over with Barney being declared the victor, with barely a mark on him. [New York Clipper, 2 May 1857, p.11]

Shortly after his fight with Evans he returned to New York where he was eventually arrested: "Barney Aaron, the same individual who fought a prize fight near this city a few weeks ago, was arrested in New York on the 10th inst., as accessory to the murder of Andy Kelly. He seconded Kelly in a fight with Charley Lynch, about a year ago, and in the encounter the former was so severely punished that he died a few hours afterwards. The charge is a serious one, and Barney, who is a splendid boxer, is in a very bad box." [The New Orleans Crescent, 18 May 1857, p.1] What became of these charges is unknown at present, but he apparently did not go to prison for long, if at all, as within a few weeks after his arrest the papers mention him planning to fight Patrick "Scotty" Brannigan, seconding another fighter in a match, and giving a boxing exhibition. The papers also make mention at this time that Barney was offering an open challenge to fight any man in the United States within four pounds or so of 120 pounds for $300 or $500.

His next big fight took place on 28 Sep 1857, twelve miles outside of Providence, Rhode Island against Johnny Monaghan, a 26-year-old Bostonian and native of Liverpool, England. There were only about 80 spectators in attendance as the match was kept very quiet to keep law enforcement away, and in fact, the police were onto them early and were led astray by a diversion so that the fight could go on. Barney fully dominated the fight winning over a bloodied Monaghan in 80 rounds that took 3 hours and 20 minutes, which at the time was the longest prize fight ever to have taken place in America. A full description of the fight appears in the New York Clipper of 10 Oct 1857, p.195. Although the newspaper articles at the time did not mention it, this fight was later regarded as being for the lightweight championship of America, a title which Barney took from Moneghan in this fight. As a result, he is now regarded as the first Jewish fighter to hold a ring championship in America, and was sometimes referred to as "The Star of the West" after this fight. [Wikipedia] Barney recounted this fight several years later and said: Why, I lay in bed for six weeks after that fight. He spiked me from my toes to my knees, and the rust off the spikes poisoned my blood. I swelled up like a poisoned pup, and I thought I never would get well, but I did. [Cincinnati Enquirer, 5 May 1895, p.23]

When Barney wasn't engaged in big fights with large purses he was often found giving exhibitions or seconding other fighters. On 17 Apr 1858 he was at an exhibition in Cincinnati, Ohio that featured a rematch with Johnny Moneghan, although it being an exhibition it was not a real prize fight rematch. He also battled Dan Collins, and the newspaper said of this: Upon the appearance of this couple, everyone stood breathless and waiting for them to commence their bout. During this set-to, Barney was repeatedly cheered, and plainly showed that he was worthy of the praise bestowed upon him. He was exceedingly quick in all his actions, and repeatedly tickled Collins' ribs with a one-two, and sometimes three, and then escaped without getting a return. He proved worthy of the title "Star of the West," and the subscriber would suggest that he should be dubbed with that title. After the fight he once again offered to fight any man in America of his weight class, this time for $500 or $1000. [New York Clipper, 1 May 1858, p.11]

For a while Barney couldn't find anyone willing to fight him, but upon his return from Cincinnati a match between he and Patrick "Scotty" Brannigan of Brooklyn was proposed and accepted. On 18 Oct 1858 the two met just over the border on Point Abino in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, about twenty miles from Buffalo, N.Y. Barney was in excellent condition while Scotty was said to be less fit and less experienced, so the odds highly favored Barney. But everyone was surprised when Scotty turned out to be far more capable than expected. Barney, surprised himself, was thrown off his game and fought in a manner unlike his usual style that ended up with him being called for an early pair of fouls, and then a third and final foul in the 10th round that caused the referee to call the fight for Scotty. The commentators believe that the fouls were unintentional. The fight, billed as the "Fight for the Championship of the Light Weights," lasted only thirteen minutes. The newspaper account said: Our own opinion is, that he had underrated his opponent too much, and he found that he had a far better and abler man to contend against than he had calculated upon. The heavy hitting he received on the head the first round appeared to have confused him, and he fought without judgment... Throughout the fight, Barney did not display that judgment and science which his backers and friends had been led to expect, and this may be attributed to the too great confidence he felt in his own abilities, and his low estimate of his opponent....Barney, of course, was deeply affected at his defeat, and cried bitterly ; he was desirous of fighting Scotty again on the Wednesday, in the same ring...for $500 a side, but the offer was not accepted... [New York Clipper, 30 Oct 1858, p.223, which recounts the fight in full detail] Tentative agreements were later made for a rematch with a purse between $500 and $1,000, however a date could not be agreed upon, and while the two met for a number of exhibitions in 1859, they never fought a formal prize match again. Brannigan won the lightweight title with this fight, but never made an attempt to defend it, so in time he was no longer recognized as champion.

Johnny Aaron

May of Barney's exhibition fights included another Aaron named Johnny. One such exhibition referred to them as "two shining lights among the lightweights of the P.R." [Prize Ring] There were a number of other fighters at this exhibition, and Barney is said to have taken tickets at the door and announced each of the fights. The two Aarons were the final exhibition: "The finale was a set-to between the beneficiaries, the noble sons of Aaron, Barney and Johnny. This par nobile fratrum having a personal and pecuniary interest in the entertainment, did their best to give it a brilliant finish. Johnny exhibited a desperate desire to carry off the honors of the family, and sent in some very heavy compliments to Barney's frontispiece, before Barney had collected himself. Being about of a size, and equally skilled in the science, the fight was pretty even. Barney acting on the defensive, took Johnny off his guard occasionally and paid his fraternal regards to Johnny's mug and they wound up for some rattling exchanges. Johnny, intending to finish up with a brilliant coup, swung round with the intention of delivering a tremendous right upper cut which must have knocked Barney to the other end of the room had it hit him, but as Barney's head didn't happen to be in the right spot, the force was expended in the atmosphere, and the impulse nearly carried Johnny off his pins, to the intense delight of the appreciative audience. This last affair was the only decent display of the evening, and it sent the audience home in a very good humor." [Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 15 Apr 1863, p.2]

Despite the phrase referring to them as being "noble sons of Aaron" it never specifies a relationship between the two, but a month later there is this newspaper account of a New York City sparring exhibition between a number of fighters: "Fifth Set-To.--Johnny and Barney Aaron, the well known brothers, and experts in the science of boxing, then put on the gloves and put on some beautiful exhibitions of their skill. Barney's double shots and Johnny's hard hits were warmly applauded. Barney offers to fight any man of his own weight for $1,000." [New York Daily Herald, 28 May 1863, p.8] Searches of old newspaper articles referencing both Johnny and Barney Aaron have them sparring and appearing together multiple times over the years, but this is the only one that mentions a relationship. Young Barney is frequently referred to as son of the elder Barney Aaron, but no such relationship is ever mentioned for Johnny. Young Barney's older brother John lived in London all his life and there is no evidence he was a boxer. His brother Solomon did occasionally box in this country, but did so under his own name and is even occasionally referenced in the newspaper accounts along with both Barney and Johnny, such as the notice titled "Sol Aaron's Benefit" from page two of the Boston Globe on 5 Jun 1880: "The attendance last evening at the Howard Athenaeum, to witness Sol Aaron's benefit, was all that could be desired by the beneficiary. In fact, 'twas more than so, as there were fully 500 present. The evening's entertainment was opened with a set-to between Sol Aaron and Johnny Walker, which was followed by Murphy and Desmond (the kids), Barney Aaron and Patsey Sheppard, Sam Blake and John Springer, John Aaron and S. Busnach, Patsey O'Hara and Loring. The evening's entertainment concluded with a grand wind-up between the beneficiary and Marcellus Baker. Among the sporting men present who were desirous of putting on the 'mittens' were J. Gallagher, who was matched to the box with Thomas Drohan, and John Sullivan (the Boston boy), who was to meet Rooke. Both men kept away, for reasons unknown." This apparently wasn't the first "benefit" fight that was organized by Sol Aaron. A fighter named Billy Edwards, in an interview published on 8 Sep 1874 in the National Republican of Washington, D.C. (p.4), when asked when he first fought in this country said "It was at Sol Aaron's benefit, a brother of the celebrated Barney Aaron."

Johnny Aaron is probably the same John Aaron who married Margaret/Ann the widow of Cornelius Donovan, who brought her son Timothy Francis Donovan to the marriage. Timothy changed his last name to Aaron, perhaps having been adopted by his step-father. Descendants of Timothy have reported a family photo of a boxer in fighting pose that they were told was their ancestor Barney Aaron. There was a lot of confusion as to exactly how he was related. Some believed he was a child of old Barney, while others believed his mother married young Barney. But Timothy Francis Aaron has been located in the 1870 census of Manhattan in the home of John and Anna Aaron, so it seems very likely that the step-father of Timothy Donovan Aaron was the Johnny Aaron who occasionally fought Barney. While there is no evidence to indicate that they were really brothers, it would explain a family tradition that they are related to Barney. Johnny's parentage is uncertain at this point. An 1858 article calls him "Johnny Aaron of London" and says of him: "Johnny Aaron came to New York unheralded; no body appeared to know who he was." [New York Clipper, 19 Jun 1858]. In 1882 a story appears telling of his trip back to London to see his 87-year-old mother and his five brothers and three sisters, who, the article says, all resided in London. [New York Clipper, 24 Jun 1882] Johnny died on 23 Sep 1895 at his home in Manhattan at the age of 63. [New York Clipper, 5 Oct 1895] This obituary mentioned no family, so as yet there is no conclusive evidence that the fighter Johnny Aaron is the one who married Margaret Donovan and adopted Timothy.

The 1860s

No record has yet been found of Barney in the 1860 census, but he was apparently in prison in Columbus, Ohio at the time. The New York Clipper newspaper had this account on 14 Apr 1860 (p.411): We have already referred to the arrest of Young Barney Aaron, with some others in whose company he was, in Columbus, Ohio, on the charge of robbery. Barney was found in bad company, and though it was the general opinion that he was innocent of any participation in the offence committed, yet the fact of his being a "fighting character" told against him, and on the trial a week or two since, he was convicted, and sentenced to three years imprisonment! The following year his brother Solomon issued an appeal for help that was published in the New York Clipper on 16 Feb 1861, p.346: An Appeal in Behalf of Young Barney Aaron.--Some months ago we recorded the fact that Young Barney Aaron had been sentenced to imprisonment for an alleged offence against the laws. Barney's friends expressed their confidence in his innocence, and his brother is endeavoring to affect his release, and asks for assistance of the members of the P.R. The following is a letter on the subject, just received by us. We shall be happy to aid in the proposed exhibition:-- Glen Village, Montgomery County, Feb. 5, 1861. Frank Queen:--Dear Sir--Knowing you to be a friend of all honest patrons of the ring, I take the liberty of addressing you a few lines on a subject which, I hope, may meet your approbation. Some time ago, my brother, young Barney Aaron, had the misfortune to get into bad company in the State of Ohio, for which he is now suffering the penalty of three years' imprisonment, on a charge of which he is as innocent as a newborn babe. I recently heard through a friend that a few dollars might be instrumental in bringing about his release. I therefore appeal to you, as a friend to the unfortunate, to assist in getting up an exhibition on his behalf. I will go to New York, and use my utmost endeavors to induce his old friends to set to for him. I have no doubt they will respond to the call. Had he not the misfortune of losing his father, who now sleeps in his grave, Young Barney would not be in his present position. Hoping you will assist in getting up an exhibition for his benefit, I subscribe myself, Yours Truly, Solomon Aaron.

It is not known what became of this appeal, or when Barney was finally released from prison, but there is a record of a Barney Aaron marrying Mary Ann Enwright in Jan 1863 at the Allen Street Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. This church was known for trying to attract Jews and convert them, although reportedly without much success. There is no proof that this is our Barney who married Mary Ann, but we know of no other Barney Aarons living in the city at this time. We do know that he was married and living in New York as of Dec 1868 when a short piece in the New York Clipper gave a few biographical facts about him. [New York Clipper, 5 Dec 1868, p.274] Later that year, on 17 April, he fought an exhibition against Johnny Aaron in Brooklyn. [New York Clipper, 18 Apr 1863, p.2] But only a few weeks later, on May 4th, he was once again arrested: Young Barney Aaron was brought up at the Tombs Police Court, on the 4th inst., charged with an attempt to steal a gold watch and chain valued at $100 from Charles J. Arborg, master of the brig Rapid, lying at the foot of 20th street, N.R. The complainant alleges that he was at the starting point of the Eighth Avenue Railroad, at the corner of Canal street and Broadway, the previous evening, when there was quite a crowd attempting to get aboard the cars. He felt someone pulling at his watch chain, and at the same time says he saw one of the prisoner's hands under the breast of his (the complainant's) coat, near his vest pocket where his watch was. He then discovered that his wallet had been stolen from his pantaloons pocket. The wallet is said to have contained $117 in Treasury notes. The prisoner was arrested by officer Parsons of the Fourteenth Precinct, and held to answer. [New York Clipper, 16 May 1863, p.34] Again it is not known what became of these charges, but they were apparently dropped as on May 13th he seconded a fight in New Jersey. [New York Clipper, 23 May 1863, p.48]

From the New York Clipper, 13 Feb 1864, p.346, we learn that Young Barney Aaron has bought out Hughy Riley's interest in the "Star of the West," No. 202 Centre street, where he will be always happy to see his friends and the sporting public. He is having a room furnished to give private lessons in sparring, and we know of very few more capable to teach than Barney. In the April 30th issue of the paper is published an ad with both Barney's name and Hugh Riley's attached to it that read: THE "STAR OF THE WEST," 202 CENTRE STREET. WINES, LIQUORS, ALES, AND CIGARS OF THE FINEST QUALITY. CANINE SPORTS EVERY MONDAY EVENING. The use of the pit gratis for gentlemen to try their dogs. -- The same ad appears several times in subsequent papers.

In February 1864 Barney was again in trouble with the law. "Barney Aaron, the light weight pugilist, was arrested yesterday by Deputy Marshals S.S. Jones and Lewis on a charge of defrauding a recruit, named John Sheridan, of one hundred and fifty dollars. The capture was adroitly effected. Officer Jones called on Aaron at his porter house. Aaron at first was not to be seen; but, learning that a couple of recruits wanted to patronize him as a substitute broker, he showed himself and was ready to accompany his captor. On nearing the Marshal's office he was informed that the Marshal wished to talk with him, which intimation at once informed him that he had been overreached. He evinced decided hostility; but, officer Jervis closing up as a reinforcement, he was fain to accept the invitation to the Marshal's presence, where such cogent reasons were brought to bear upon him that, despite his unwillingness to the act, he deemed it better to disgorge the money. He was then discharged." [New York Daily Herald, 11 Feb 1864, p.4]

Over the next couple of years Barney fought in a few exhibitions or seconded other fighters, and at least twice had proposed matches for prize fights fall through. But finally in May of 1866 a match was set up with Sam Collyer, a French-born Scottish-American from Baltimore who had won a Congressional Medal of Honor during the Civil War. The battle was to determine who would hold the presently vacant title of American lightweight champion. Barney's appearance before his fight with Sam Collyer was described in the New York Daily Herald of 21 Jun 1866, p.5: "Aaron stood five foot six inches; his weight was one hundred and twenty-two pounds. The well known long reach of his powerful arms allowed itself almost palpably, with an ending of bronzed fists that spoke out hard and dangerous hitting. He seemed only lacking in breadth of chest, with too great delicacy of general outline; but this may have been from the absence of anything like superfluous flesh. He wore a most confident air; but somehow the snake like glitter of his small black eyes, his Jewish cast of countenance, and diminutive head, with hair closely cut, and a peculiar sarcastic smile playing continually about his mouth, gave him a disagreeable expression." The two met on the shore of Gunston Point, near Pohick and Dumfries, Virginia on 20 Jul 1866 in a 47-round bout that lasted just over two hours, and Barney was unfortunately the loser. He came into the fight the heavy favorite in the betting odds. In the first ten rounds he dominated Collyer, hitting him repeatedly in the left eye to the point where Collyer was unable to see out of that side. But Collyer, who outweight Barney but a number of pounds, was seemingly in better shape and better able to withstand the repeated punishment of a long bout. He quite simply was able to outlast Barney by taking an incredible amount of punishment but still keep fighting until by the end of the fight Barney was worn down. Collyer had managed to blind him in both eyes to the point where Barney could no longer see to fight and the victor was crowned. A detailed accounting of the fight appears in the New York Clipper of 30 Jun 1866, p.92, as well as many other newspapers. After the fight both men were so badly injured that they had to be carried off in stretchers. A police raid followed in which several men were arrested, including the fighters, but they were so badly injured that they were left where they were and an officer was stationed to guard them. The next day the Clipper reporter visited both men and found Collyer to be in far worse shape than Barney, who he said "did not bear any extraordinary marks of punishment, was comparatively comfortable, and alleged his intention of again summoning the Baltimore pugilist to another fistic encounter. He claims he lost the fight solely on account of his friends' advice, who cautioned him against fighting rapidly and to worry out his antagonist." And finally this: It is announced that Barney Aaron, instead of being dead, is now tending bar in Baltimore. Neither Aaron nor Collyer are much hurt." [National Republican, Washington, D.C., 18 Jun 1867, p.2]

In March of 1867 a rematch with Sam Collyer was arranged and the two men began their training and preparations. Barney was not going to come in as cocky and confident as he did in the last fight, and took his training more seriously. Barney trained for weeks in Weehawken, New Jersey. This interesting newspaper account describes the scene: We paid another visit to Barney Aaron, at Ned Wilson's, Weehawken, on the 19th, and were astonished to see the difference two short weeks under the surveillance of the irrepressible Professor Judd have made in his appearance for the better. We doubt if he ever felt in better health in his life than he does to day. It is computed that no less than fifteen thousand people crossed the Weehawken ferry last Sunday, nine tenths of whom were attracted thither by the fact of Barney Aaron being over there, and it is a real curiosity to see the crowds watching his every move. In the midst of all the hubbub and excitement, it is quite amusing, and much to Judd's credit, to observe the Professor watching Barney's every move, and never allowing him to be further off than to be within the sound of his footsteps. To enumerate all the celebs we met, from old Bill Tovee to Young Berrigan, would be naming nearly every man of note in the upper districts. Johnny Aaron, who is wrapped up in Barney's success, was quite enthusiastic over his condition. [New York Clipper, 25 May 1867, p.50]

This fight was highly anticipated by the sporting crowd, and the papers talked about it constantly. There is even this long description of the two fighters: Two handsomer men, writes a Norfolk, Va., correspondent never entered the ring than Barney and Sam. Consider the remark as applied to all the points that go to make up a perfect man, physically. Barney is about 31, Sam about 25. Collyer is the least mite the tallest. Put them together in fighting trim, and Aaron looks much the taller man, however. Barney has a dark complexion, and has dark hair; Sam is light and ruddy. Both have large noses and keen eyes. Shut one up, and the other becomes a diamond that resists to the last degree the cutter's attempts to reduce it; but Barney's are black and dancing, while Sam's are grey and steady. Cheek bones are prominent in both--evidence, great firmness. Barney's mouth is laughing; Sam's is determined. Barney's chin recedes, rather, whilst Sam's is a marked feature, and helps to give great length to a face that betokens strong will. Barney's arms are long, and hang loose beside his body, like two unnecessary appendages; his body is spare; he carries no guard, and is, taking him all in all, the most careless looking man I ever saw enter the ring; but there is a smile on his face and a firmness in his tread that mark his greatness as a pugilist and give him an air of confidence to which he is justly entitled. On the other hand, Sam is closely and compactly put together. His arms are long, but do not appear out of proportion to his body as much as Barney's do. He is quick on his feet, also, but lacks the activity of his opponent. Better wind was never drawn by two humans than these possess, and, barring accident, the next fight, in my estimation, will be a terribly long one. Barney hits the quicker; but Sam puts in the heavier blow. Barney avoids punishment, and brings to his aid a nimbleness that is truly surprising. His head sits well forward, inviting attack seemingly, and with no guard be appears a willing subject for punishment; but give him a left-hander, his head falls suddenly to one side, your blow passes harmlessly by, while his two fists are drumming into your face with a rapidity and precision that are truly astonishing. Lunge out towards his body and his feet answer where his head did before, his arms hanging carelessly, as it were, by his side. Give him a downward cut (a favorite blow Of Collyer's), and he is under your arm and playing the devil's tatoo on your back before you can recover from the effect of your own effort. I've seen many quick men, but never one who raised an arm as quick as Barney Aaron. On the other hand, Collyer's head sits well back, and he looks business from beginning to end. His face wears a solemness that means more forcibly than words that he is going to do what he has to do, and means to make quick work of it if he can. Sam, unlike Barney, courts punishment, and accepts three, aye, five blows from even such a man as Aaron for the sake of getting one in. His blows are the united force of every bone and muscle within him, propelled by strong will, and fall with great force. Barney makes as many rounds as possible, especially if there be much in-fighting--Sam would have but one from beginning to end. in their last effort Barney closed every round but one by slipping down, when they clinched, to avoid fibbing. In the exception he floored Sam nicely. Had it been left to Sam, the flooring would have ended the first round, and the sponge would have ended the second. Sam is as confident as Barney, and has a pretty good idea of his powers of endurance, but carries less of it in his face than Barney does. Had Sam the skill that Barney possesses, he would be the smartest light weight fighter living. It is doubtful if he will ever acquire it. I don't believe that his disposition is adapted to the kind of fighting that Barney does. So easy, so free, so careless, so full of mischief--a mischief blended with carelessness--that it is impossible to guard against, for none know where it lurks. All the more dangerous for that, men who are not willing to take a great deal of punishment have no business to fight with Barney Aaron, for he gives it, and, with his cat-like agility, gets away from it. Both men are well matched, for Sam can take what Barney can give, and not feel greatly incommoded. Their powers of endurance will be tested to their utmost limit next time, and, in my opinion, the best man will win. Both are immense favorites among their respective admirers; both have good social qualities and great control of themselves; both are cool in the ring, but it is so strongly contrasted, being different styles of coolness, that, when looking at them, it seems absurd to apply the same term to them. All who want to see a fight ought to see this one. [New York Clipper, 1 Jun 1867, p.61]

The New York Clipper of 22 June takes most of two pages of its issue to describe the fight, including fascinating descriptions of the trip to the fighting ground, the crowd of 3000-or-so spectators, and the preparations of the fighters and their entourages. It is too long to include here, but is well worth reading for anyone interested. The fight took place on June 13th in a typical outdoor amphitheater that was on the banks of Aquia Creek in Virginia, opposite Simm's Point. A southern mansion destroyed by Federal troops during the Civil War stood nearby. The battle was fought under a hot and blazing sun that sent scores of spectators away with heat stroke, but the combatants managed to fight furiously for an hour and 55 minutes. The bout went 67 rounds with Barney ending up the victor after Collyer was blind in both eyes due to his injuries and couldn't come out for a 68th rouind. Afterwards Collyer had to be carried away in a stretcher, but Barney was able to walk away. Rumors flew in the papers that Barney had three broken ribs and heart damage and had died from his injuries, but they were obviously not true. There were serious claims that Barney had gouged Collyer's one remaining good eye at the end of the 67th round, which should have been called as a foul giving the fight to Collyer, but that did not happen. Barney's side vigorously denied that this had taken place - one describing it as "one of the blackest falsehoods ever put together for the public to read" - while Collyer's side described in vivid detail all the things they felt Aaron had done to earn a foul. The truth of the matter will likely never be known, but Barney was awarded with the lightweight championship of America for the second time in his career. The two opponents both wanted a rematch, but despite efforts to make that happen it never did. In later years they became good friends. Barney acted as Collyer's trainer and seconded him at times. They even participated in a theater production together.

It was not all that uncommon for prize fights to be announced, planned for, and eagerly anticipated by the sporting crowd only to fall through at the last minute due to some kind of irreconcilable differences between the parties or their agents. Such was the case in early 1868 when an arranged match with Patsy Sheppard fell through. After it was announced Barney had the following notice published in the newspaper: Allow me to state through your columns that the shameful treatment which I received in the late match with Patsy Sheppard--which I have been compelled to abandon, after having spent nine weeks in training, for which I have not been recompensed in any way--has decided me to give up fighting altogether, and I now publicly announce my retirement from the ring, and that it will be useless for anybody to challenge me, as I shall pay no attention whatever to such challenges, no matter from what quarter they may emanate. I have lost a great deal of time in preparing for the fight with Sheppard, and I shall never be caught in such a predicament again. This declaration is final, and I wish all to understand it so. Respectfully yours, Barney Aaron [New York Clippter, 23 May 1868, p.50] This decision lasted nearly a year before he had another note published in which he stated that while he had no desire to enter the prize ring again and was content to retire upon his current reputation, he nevertheless wasn't afraid to face another opponent so long as the purse was at least $1500. [New York Clipper, 1 May 1869, p.27] In the meantime he did continue to participate in boxing exhibitions and was still often mentioned in the newspapers. Very quickly a fighter named Tim Collins wrote the paper to say he would fight Barney, but being new to the country he couldn't raise the full $1500 but would do it for $1000. The following week Barney accepted these terms, so long as the fight took place in Virginia, where he said there was less danger of interference from the authorities. [New York Clipper, 8 May 1868, p.34; 15 May 1868, p.43] Unfortunately the two never were able to come to terms so this fight also fell through. The coming years saw other proposed and advertised matches fall through as well, and as it turned out his second bout with Sam Collyer was his last appearance as a figther in the prize ring, and he resigned his lightweight title as a result.

When the 1870 census was taken Barney was living with his wife - called Mary A. Aaron in the census - on Allen Street between Delancy and Rivington in New York City. His occupation was stated as "agent." He was probably involved in organizing fights and exhibitions at this time. Living with them is a George 'Henright, a 16-year-old chemist who is probably a relation to Barney's wife Mary. Whether the name should be Enwright or Henright is unknown at present. About mid-year in1870 a number of advertisements and news shippets told that Barney, in company with his old nemesis Sam Collyer, along with "The Boys" were performing at theaters as part of some kind of travelling troupe, where Sam and Barney did sparring exhibitions, and there was clog danging and other variety performances. One even mentioned Barney appearing in a minstrel scene at DeBar's Opera in St. Louis. Many of the advertisements said they would "appear in their pieces of 'Joe Kidd' and the 'Dead Boxer,' which sound like some kind of skits or plays. This news snippet appeared in 1872: The Hon. Barney Aaron, well known in pugilistic circles, having become infatuated with dramatic aspirations, will make his debut at the Theatre Comique next week in New York. [National Republican, Washington, D.C., 10 May 1872, p.1] Several advertisements for the show can be found in local papers advertising Barney in the dramatic play "Dan Donnelly," depicting the life of a well-known Irish prize fighter of former days.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871

Between the 8th and 10th of October, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire raged and burned a large portion of that city, and Barney Aaron might have been there for it. Folklore says that it started when Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern, but the true cause is unknown. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, folklore also had a lot to say about Barney Aaron that ultimately turned out to be untrue. Judging by these news accounts he was well-known as a notorious local criminal and gang leader and was not well-regarded by its citizenry, so must have been living, or at least spending a fair amount of time, in Chicago by this point. But it was the New York papers that broke this story. The first that people in Chicago knew of it was when the Tribune published this notice on page one of their October 17th issue: "The New York papers announce that four members of the Aaron gang of thieves -- Barney Aaron, Bill Tracey, Jim Munday, and Jim Brown -- have been shot by Sheridan's soldiers in this city." [This refers to the Civil War Union General Philip Sheridan, who was present in Chicago during the fire and coordinated military relief efforts.] It was the New York Sun that broke - perhaps it should be said, made up - the story in their 16 Oct issue:

"BARNEY AARON. Three New York Thieves Strung up to Lamp Posts in Chicago. From the New York Sun, 16th. Among those who arrived from the City of Ruins yesterday evening, was George W. Smith, who, with his brother-in-law, kept a cigar store at 135 Van Buren Street. Mr. Smith was a special policeman during the great conflagration, and describes his experience as follows: On Tuesday afternoon Mr. Smith was sworn in as a special policeman. He stood at Randolph and Clark streets with forty others. Mayor Mason took up his position opposite them and read the oath of office. When he had finished, he asked: 'Do you swear to this, gentlemen?' Each man answered "Aye." A gentleman who stood close by the Mayor suggested that they should shoot down any one whom they caught pillaging. Tbe suggestion was enthusiastically received. Then a gentleman who was said to be a member of the City Council, and who subsequently acted as a leader of the special police, passed through the line and gave a revolver to each man. Mr. Smith with four others was detailed to do duty at Clark and Randolph streets. On this corner was the palatial jewelry store of Miller & Co. Early on Tuesday afternoon Mr. Smith was talking with Mr. Miller, the senior partner of the jewelry firm, and saw Barney Aaron standing on the sidewalk about twenty feet from him. 'Mr. Miller,' said Smith, 'there's a notorious New York thief, Barney Aaron. I've seen him at sparring exhibitions, and know him well. Better keep an eye on him. Mr. Smith had seen Barney Aaron at a sparring exhibition in New York. He had also seen him in a saloon on La Salle street, in Chicago. Five minutes after this the roof of Miller's store took fire, and Barney Aaron attempted to force his way into the establishment through the side door on Clark Street. A number of gentlemen were standing near the door, and demanded Aaron's authority for entering the store. The New York politician replied that he was employed by Miller & Co. and was endeavoring to save some of the stock. He was pushed back and was soon lost in the crowd. Twenty minutes afterward Miller's store was in full blaze. In the confusion which ensued Aaron and a companion made their way into the store. For a short time Mr. Smith's attention was diverted from Miller's establishment. When he looked in that direction again, he saw Barney Aaron in the bands of four citizens, who were taking him from the store. Behind him were three men dragging an unknown ruffian, who was said by some to be Joe Butts, of New York. They were hauled to a lamp-post at Clark and Randolph streets, and a halt was called. No one had a rope. Soon an old gray-haired man, who wore the badge of a special, stepped forward with ten yards of twisted yarn wound around his arm. In one hand he carried a horse pistol. He cut the rope into two pieces, and handed one portion to each of the committee that had charge of Aaron and his companion. In a few minutes more the tragedy was over. A nimble citizen climbed the lamp-post and slipped the rope over the projecting rail. The special police attempted to interfere, but were repulsed by the great crowd which had assembled. Barney Aaron died demanding a trial by jury and begging for his life. His companion cursed and consigned his executioners to perdition with his last breath. The lives of the two men would have been spared had it not been for the violence of Aaron's companion. Before the men were dead Mr. Smith was called away. When be returned, half an hour afterward, the bodies had disappeared, but the rope was still hanging. In La Salle street Mr. Smith saw the body of a man whom he thought he recognized an a New York thief called Jack Dowd, who once kept a saloon in Water street, in New York." [Published in The Daily Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Missouri, 21 Oct 1871, p.3]

This story, or a version of it, appeared in newspapers all over the country. Some were even published long after the story had been proven false. But it wasn't always the same story. The New York World newspaper apparently felt that it needed to embellish the tale, and the following was sent out on the wires:

THE EXECUTED THIEVES. A Good Riddance for New York — Sheridan's Soldiers Destroy the Aaron Gang in Chicago — Barney Aaron and Bill Tracy Hung — Jim Munday and Jim Brown Shot — Dutch Heinrichs and Joe Butts Still Living. From the New York World. With the terrible news ef disaster and calamity flashed across the electric wires from Chicago yesterday came the cheering intelligence that by the stern rigor of the martial law of General Sheridan this city had been released for ever from the depredations of as vile a gang of lawless scoundrels as ever picked a pocket or cut a throat. The dispatches stated that James Munday, Barney Aaron, Bill Tracey, Jim Brown, Edward Newman, famous under the alias of Dutch Heinrich, and Joe Butts the bank robber were shot and hung by the United States soldiers, having been caught red-handed in the midst of their robberies. The receipt of this news brought a feeling of joy to tbe heart of every respectable man acquainted with the evil character of these ruffians and a corresponding feeling of regret and fear among the roughs and thieves of Houston street and Broadway with whom they associated... [The story profiles several of the parties but only the section on Barney will be included here.] Barney Aaron was a cockney, having been born in London, England. He was a son of old Barney Aaron, the English pugilist. His age up to a week ago was about thirty-seven years. He came to this country over twenty years ago and boarded in William street with a family named Sickles. He soon became a pickpocket and varied his occupation with prize-fighting. He fought Billy Edwards and Sam Collyer and beat them. He was what is known as a feather weight, or the light weight pugilist. But as be grew old Barney found thieving the most profitable, and organizing a mob or gang of pickpockets, who worked the Southern cotton fairs in the fall, and the Western cities in the winter of the year. When Jerry Dunn shot Jim Logan in Houston Street and escaped from the city he made for New Orleans, and there joined Barney and the mob. And when Detectives Irving and Dusenbury captured Dunn, near St Louis they found that Barney and the gang were ubiquitous over the West. This summer while in Cincinnati and Cleveland the writer heard of Barney and the gang having been there, and so on all over. Aaron is about five feet six and a half inches, prominent nose, steel-gray eyes, and light brown hair and mustache. He was a dapper, well-dressed man and so disguised his age that, though thirty-seven years of age, he looked to a casual observer only twenty-five. He was a 'pal' or companion of Tracy... The manner of the removal of the precious quartette who have been removed is just this. Aaron and Tracy went to Chicago and put up in the hostelry of Tom Foley on Fourth avenue where all the Western mob of thieves stayed while in Chicago. During the progress of the fire they, with Munday and Brown, who had joined them, went out to rob. They struck through the burning streets at the Sherman House. This was before that magnificent hotel caught fire, but the flames were rapidly sweeping toward it. There was a large jewelry store further down and a bank nearly opposite. The fire had touched these and the doors had been broken open to let the firemen run their hose through the buildings. Tracy and Aaron went for the jewelry store while Brown and Munday struck for the bank. Both parties were captured. Two lamp-posts were convenient, and some of the citizens’ special police elevated Tracy and Aaron thereon, but a sweeter fate befell Messrs. Munday and Brown. They were captured by some of the infantry from Omaha, men who speak to a thief with the butts of their muskets, and ask him where he is going with the muzzle. The consequence was natural. Munday and Brown were stood up with their backs against the wall of a house and the rifles of the soldiers did the rest. So ended the Chicago career of the Aaron gang of thieves. [Published in the Public Ledger of Memphis, Tennessee, 20 Oct 1871, p.1]

The story even made it across the pond to Barney's old stomping grounds: "HANGING A PRIZE-FIGHTER. It may be interesting to those who follow the fortunes of pugilists in America to know,that a distinguished member of the transatlantic prize-ring has just eclipsed all previous notoriety achieved by either himself or his collaborateurs. Mr. Bainey Aaron has risen to a height never-before attained by fistic professor, so far as our recollection carries us; but even fame has its drawbacks, and doubtless Mr. Aaron would have preferred remaining the hero of that lesser world he so recently adorned. For Mr. Barney Aaron's present wide celebrity arises from the fact that he has been hanged for confounding his own property with that of others during the late great fires at Chicago; and though neither fact may surprise those who were acquainted with the hero of this simple narmUve, there is every reason to believe that the hanging more than surprised Mr. Barney -- it, to use a phrase well known at the ring side, completely settled him. By the New York sporting papers we are informed that the deceased possessed a jovial disposition, which often led him to mistake the goods of others for his own; he was also given, out of sheer high spirits, to the alteration of peaceful people's features; but this in a high-class fighting man was simply condescension; he was voted a thoroughly good fellow, and the Chicago lynchers are considered to have been unnecessarily rough with him. From the same source we find that Aaron was the best 8st. 8lb. man in the States, that he 'was always neatly and stylishly dressed, temperate in his habits, and of good address; that he was very often referee or ringkeeper in big fights, and he was Mace's umpire in his recent great match with Coburn,' Alas for the vanity of human greatness! -- even these qualifications could not save him from the inevitable long rope and short shrift so epidemic in Chicago lately." [Liverpool Mercury, 3 Nov 1871, p.6]

Eventually people began to discover that many of the stories that came out of the Chicago fire were untruths and exaggerations. But the truth came out gradually. "The calamity was bad enough without having recourse to exaggeration. Instead of 200 charred bodies, as reported a week ago, only 92 have been discovered, and instead of the numerous hangings and shootings of plunderers that we heard of, it appears that the only executions that took place were those of Barney Aaron, an English pugilist, and three notorious burglars, his companions, who left this city for Chicago with intent to plunder, were caught in the act, and summarily hanged." [Birmingham Daily Post, Birminghamm, England, 4 Nov 1871] Published sooner, but published in America, was this: "If Barney Aaron the noted New York thief and pugilist was hanged at Chicago or not is a matter of some controversy between several Chicago correspondents. Some say he was and some say be wasn't. The latest account is that he is now in that city alive endeavoring to assist his friend Billy Tracy who is in prison in Peoria." [Norfolk Virginian, Norfolk, Va., 26 Oct 1871, p.1]

Was Barney even in the city of Chicago during the fire? There were conflicting reports of this as well. There are even two separate statements supposedly by Barney himself, one stating that he was there and one saying that he wasn't. It's entirely possible that he made both statements and just wasn't all that interested in telling the truth.

It appears that Barney Aaron is alive and at prison in Chicago. [The Daily State Journal. Richmond, Virginia, 17 Oct 1871, p.1]

Barney Aaron, the pugilist, whom some enterprising people hanged by telegraph during the Chicago fire excitement, arrived in New York on Saturday. He declares it to be explicitly understood that he was not in Chicago at the time, and furthermore he is not a thief, but merely a boxer. [Middletown Evening Press, Middletown, N.Y. 24 Oct 1871, p.1]

And finally there is this interview by a reporter who sought Barney out to learn the truth:

COL. BARNEY AARON. An Interview With the Man Who Was Not Hanged in Chicago. [From the New York Sun] The reporter made his way into the Houston-street gambling den and tapped one of the dealers on the shoulder. "Is Mr. Barney Aaron here?" "He's just gone out. I guess you'll find him on the stoop." The reporter did not find him on the stoop. He searched the Waverly Saloon, and the establishments of the Hon. Reddy the Blacksmith, Patsy Eagan and the Hon. Harry Hill, but failed to find Mr. Aaron, and returned to the gambling hall in Houston street. On entering the front room of the house he found about fifty persons congregated around a faro table. Barney Aaron was standing on one side of the ring, looking at the game. The reporter accosted Mr. Aaron and the two adjourned to the stoop. "I've called to ask you a few questions about your stay in Chicago, said the reporter. "There have been some strange stories afloat about you, and I want to know the truth." "Well," said Barney, perching himself on a rail on the stoop of the house wherein the faro bank was situated, "what can I do for you?" "I see that you were not hanged, Mr. Aaron." "Hung, the devil! That was a damned lie got up by the papers here. When the fire broke out I was dealing in a nice little faro game on Clark street in Chicago. I had an interest in the place. Those stories about 'pillaging were all lies. I was staying up town with a sporting man named Smith, who is one of Mace's backers in the big fight that's coming off. He has a place near the post-office. I can't remember where he lives. I was staying with him. When the fire broke out we took a carriage and drove about the outskirts of the conflagration until we were tired out." Mr. Aaron describes it as a fearful spectacle. He adds that the representation of ruins which he has seen in old oil paintings are nothing to it. He can't find words to express his amazement at the ravages of the fire. On Monday, the 10th instant, Mr. Aaron started for Cleveland, where he first heard of the rumors in circulation concerning his untimely end. After a few days spent in recruiting, the distinguished politician came on to New York, arriving on Saturday. He declares that he did not come to this city in company with Bill Tracey. "Bill Tracey was two hundred miles from me all the time," said Barney Aaron. "I believe he's in New York now; in fact I saw him last night in a saloon here." "You haven't come home with your pockets full of diamonds, Barney," inquired the reporter. "Not much," said Aaron. "I never was arrested in my life anywhere, and I don't believe I ever will be. These damned sensational reports have cost me a lot of money. Why, I had to pay $45 to telegraph to my sisters in Europe that I wasn't hanged. I've been a prize-fighter, but I retired from that business long ago." [The San Francisco Examiner, 3 Nov 1871, p.1]

It wouldn't be surprising if the above interview was entirely made up, especially since other reports state that he was not even in the city at the time.

Still there were those who weren't gladdened by the news of Barney's survival: "The world regrets even more deeply than Mr. Barney Aaron himself that he had to spend $45 in assuring his sister in England that he had not been hung up to air on a lamp-post in Chicago." [Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov 1871, p.1]

But when the news reached England we learned of people who were happy to hear of his survival. On November 11th, Bells Life in London and Sporting Chronicle published the following on page two:

BARNEY AARON ALIVE. On Oct 21 a sensational paragraph, headed 'Hanging of Barney Aaron,' appeared in the New York Clipper, but it is only just to state that the editor wisely doubted the correctness of the statement, and at the conclusion of the account said, 'Perhaps we shall have further particulars next week.' This last was of course overlooked and omitted by one or two London so-called sporting journals, who savagely exult at traducing pugilists. When, however, boxers distinguish themselves by rushing into a burning house in which gunpowder is stored and bringing out a helpless victim, as Jack Hicks did recently, or when Bendigo and the late Jerry Noon rescued children from a watery grave, no mention is made of such occurrences. The Jews have to endure sufficient persecution without being accused falsely of crimes for which none of their sect have yet been executed. Aaron has an aged mother and brothers residing in London, one of the latter being a licensed victualler. His family have endured great agony of mind, and it has put them to great expense in order to disprove this heartless and cruel statement. So much excitement has been caused among the 'chosen people' at the East End that they intend sending one of his brothers to fetch Barney to London. We feel great pleasure in giving the subjoined contradiction, which appeared in the New York Clipper of Oct. 28: A Cruel Hoax.--Aaron and Tracy Alive.--The friends of Barney Aaron and Billy Tracey will be gratified to learn that the statement made in last week's issue, upon the authority of an alleged eye-witness of the tragedy, to the effect that they had been hung for pillaging during the recent disastrous conflagration at Chicago, is totally without foundation. This we learned from reliable sources during the latter part of the past week, and on Saturday all doubt was set at rest by the arrival of the parties in this city, and their appearance shortly afterwards in our sanctum, so that the assertions made by G. W. Smith, of 135, Van Buren street, Chicago, were a batch of deliberate falsehoods. What could have induced him to perpetrate so cruel a hoax, plunging into the blackness of despair those to whom they were most dear, we cannot conceive, unless he was actuated by malice, and did it for the sole purpose of injuring them, without giving a thought to the feelings of relatives and friends. Aaron and Tracy informed us that at the time mentioned they were not within a hundred miles of Chicago, and did not visit the city until after the fire. They feel most keenly the unpleasantness of the position in which they have been placed by the damaging statement made thus falsely, more on account of its sad effect upon relatives than their own. The author of the statement should be held to be accountable, and we are very much mistaken if he is not, in case Barney or Billy succeed in ferreting him out. A gentleman writing from Chicago, on the 20th inst., says:-- 'Miller and Co's jewellery establishment, burnt at 2 a.m. on Monday morning. Barney Aaron was not within a block of the building, if he was in the city at all. I was the last man who ever passed the block. I know Aaron well by sight, and did not see him during the fire. There was only one man killed in the city during the fire; that was on the west side, and he was probably innocent.

Return to England

Barney returned to England for a visit in the fall of 1872: Barney Aaron's Farewell Testimonial. After a residence of nearly twenty-one years in the United States, Barney Aaron, the brilliant ex-champion lightweight, has concluded to make a visit across the seas to see the old folks at home once more, ere the opportunity is lost forever. Hearing of this, a few of his numerous friends got together and proposed giving him a sendoff in the shape of a grand benefit. To this end the lessee of the Theatre Comique, No. 514 Broadway, Mr. Josh Hart, has tendered his theatre for Thursday afternoon, May 23d. This is a big thing for Barney. The list of attractions will comprise some of the leading variety performers of the city, in addition to the talented company engaged at the theatre. James Mace is to be there and do his statues, and Barney is to appear, in conjunction with Johnny Aaron, in the piece entitled "Dan Donnelly; or, the champion of Ireland," Johnny enacting the part of Cooper, and Barney Aaron that of Dan Donnelly. There will be a few other choice sets to, and, by the way the tickets are selling amongst the politicians and big sports, we think that the theatre will be put to a good test of its capacity on that afternoon. Barney Aaron sails on Saturday, the 1st of June, and calculates to be gone about two months. [New York Clipper, 18 May 1872] An announcement in the Clipper on 26 Oct states that a London paper announced their arrival in Liverpool on September 30th, and that he and his fellow boxers who came with him from America - Jim and Pooley Mace, Billy Edwards, and Billy Treacy, would be giving boxing exhibitions, which they did, multiple times in multiple locations. Billy Edwards, in an interview on his life published in 1874, recalls: "In 1872 I went again to England, this time with Jim Mace, Pooley Mace, and Barney Aaron." [National Republican, Washington, D.C., 8 Sep 1874, p.4] Edwards says he remained in England until Christmas of 1874, but Barney is recorded returning to America on board the ship Spirit of St. Louis that arrived in New York from Liverpool on 8 Apr 1873.

There was at one time another - more nefarious - reason suggested for his time out of the country. The Sun newspaper of New York on 12 Sep 1873, p.2, published an interview with Col. William P. Wood, first Director of the United States Secret Service. The newspaper had heard that he might know something about the infamous murder of wealthy stockbroker and financier Benjamin Nathan, who had been found brutally beaten to death in his Manhattan home on the morning of 29 Jul 1870 after an apparent robbery. While different men were suspected and even arrested, the murder remains unsolved to this day. One of the suspects was Nathan's own son Washington Nathan, and another was a career criminal named Billy Forester, whom had been named by another prisoner being held in Sing Sing prison in March 1871. Forester became a wanted man but wasn't captured until September of 1872. Brought to New York he was not charged with the crime when it was found that he was in prison in New Orleans for most of the year and there was no evidence that he was in New York at the time of the murder. At one point during the wide-ranging discussion of the murder the newspaper asked Col. Wood about Billy Forester:
     Correspondent -- Do you think Billy Forrester had anything to do with the murder?
     Col. Wood -- When they had him in New York they could not find sufficient evidence to hold him.
     Correspondent -- That may or may not be true; but I want your opinion.
     Col. Wood -- I am not in the habit of giving my opinion to newspapermen or of having anything to do with such roosters; but I will tell you something. When Forrester was arrested in Washington and taken to New York his baggage was checked to Barney Aaron. Just before that there was an attempt to crack a bank in Jersey City, and Dego Frank was one of the parties. They were all caught, and Dego Frank's lawyer was paid by Barney Aaron.
     Correspondent -- Do you mean Barney Aaron the prize fighter?
     Col. Wood -- I do. He is a thief by descent. I believe in hereditary genius in his case.
     Correspondent -- You are getting me slightly mystified. What has Barney Aaron to do with the Nathan murder?
     Col. Wood -- Well the first steamer for Liverpool after Forrester's arrest carried Barney Aaron. He skipped.
     Correspondent -- Do you think Washington Nathan had anything to do with the murder of his father?
     Col. Wood -- I would rather not discuss that with you.
     Correspondent -- Is there any reason why you should not give your opinion?
     Col. Wood -- I will say this. Somebody gave the gang that did the job very accurate information about the old man's habits, the house, the servants, and the location of his bedroom and the safe. I don't think young Nathan wanted his father killed, but he put up the job to have him robbed, and Barney Aaron was the man who introduced him to the workmen. I believe that the thieves did not intend to kill the man.

No other news stories can be found associating Barney with the Nathan murder, but it does make for an interesting read. Calling him a 'thief by descent' and it being 'hereditary genius' may be an anti-semitic statement more than it is a comment on the elder Barney Aaron, whom Wood likely never knew. Also, Barney was in England in Sep 1872 when Forester was arrested, so Col. Wood was incorrect when he stated that Barney was on the "first steamer for Liverpool" after the arrest.

Other Roles in the Ring

By 1872 Barney started to be mentioned as a referee at the fights of others, but throughout the 1870s his personal fighting career was over and the only time he got into the ring was when he was acting as a referee, second for another fighter, trainer, or in the occasional exhibition. In an 1895 interview he said: "How many good men have I seconded? God bless your heart, I've seconded more champions than you've got fingers and toes. I was behind John Morrissey when he fought Heenan; I was Johnny Dwyer's squire when he whipped Jimmy Elliott; I was behind Jem Mace, Tom Allen, Jim Dunne, Sam Collyer, Billy Edwards and forty more. Why, you know yourself, Macon, when there was a time when a fight wouldn't be recorded in 'Fistiana' [a boxing publication] unless I had something to do with it." This last was said with a merry twinkle in his eye that was full of fun.

Pickpockets Foiled

Barney wasn't always on the wrong side of the law. The New York Times for 16 Feb 1874, p.8 has the following: "PICKPOCKETS FOILED. Barney Aaron was riding downtown on a Fourth Avenue car yesterday evening. Mr. Aaron is well known in sporting circles as a pugilist of the first class. He is small in stature, but his science is something wonderful. On the rear platform was Rev. Henry Thorpe, of Pittsburg, an elderly clergyman. Barney and the clergyman got into conversation, and after talking a little while separated, one being on the opposite side of the platform to the other. At Eighteenth street two noted pickpockets, James Henry and William Jackson, got on the car. They are residents of the Fifteenth Ward, and knew Mr. Aaron. They did not think he would interfere with them, and so proceeded to rob the clergyman. Jackson crowded the minister against the car-door, and Henry took his gold watch. They had not calculated on any interference, and were sadly disappointed when Mr. Aaron exercised his science on them with startling results. Mr. Jackson received a slight testimonial of Mr. Aaron's esteem in the jaw, which tumbled him over the dashboard into the street. Mr. Henry attempted a feeble resistance, but to no purpose. Mr. Aaron took the watch, which had been wrung from Henry's hand, and by a manual application sent Henry to join Jackson. After arranging his disturbed sealskin coat, Mr. Aaron handed the recovered watch to Rev. Mr. Thorpe remarking, 'Here's your 'super,' old man. Don't you never stand on a car platform again. You're the worst old sucker I've met in a year.' Mr. Aaron was at the corner of Broadway and Houston street last night, and looked refined and virtuous." The pickpockets probably assumed Barney wouldn't interfere with their work because they knew him to have the reputation of being a pickpocket himself.

A few weeks later Barney was having a drink with friends at Harry Hill's saloon on Houston Street in New York when everyone present was astonished by the entrance of sixteen finely dressed women into the saloon. They were members of the local temperance society and had come to ask the owner if he would permit them to use his saloon and concert room on Sunday nights for the purpose of temperance prayer meetings. "What!" cried Barney Aaron, "ask 'Arry to give up 'is Sunday night show for a blarsted prayer meeting! Well ain't it rum? Look out Billy [the bartender], them's the praying band from the West. They're going to sing yer out o' that bar." To everyone's shock Harry Hill agreed to the request and published a note in the paper saying he was all in favor of temperance and would be happy to let the ladies use the presmises on Sunday nights. [The Brooklyn Union, 26 Feb 1874, p.4] Barney reacted to one reporter by saying "So help me, I never heard of such a thing. 'Arry Hill, as I've known so long, to do sich a thing. My eye!" [Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N.Y., 2 Mar 1874, p.2]

Living in Chicago

By late 1874 he was living in Chicago, as several newspaper accounts report on his activities there. The Chicago Tribune of 16 Dec 1874 reports "Barney Aaron was boasting yesterday that he went grand rounds Monday night with a South Side Sergeant of Police, and got him very drunk. Who was this man?" The 1875 Chicago city directory lists him as a 'traveling agent' living at 1453 South Dearborn Street. The New York Clipper newspaper of 13 Mar 1875 says: Barney Aaron is at present permanently residing at Ruhn's European Hotel, No. 153 Dearborn street, Chicago, Ill.

This amusing story comes from the Chicago Tribune of 25 Jan 1875, p.8: THE CITY - A GOOD LESSON. DANGERS OF "KIDDING" PRIZE-FIGHTERS. A pleasing little affair occurred Saturday night at the corner of Madison and Dearborn streets, the publication of which may be of service to gentlemen of a playful turn of mind who are in the habit of making disagreeable remarks to persons who are smaller, and presumably weaker, than themselves. Just about midnight a party of four, two of them rather short and slender, one short and stout, weighing about 170 pounds, and the other stout, tall, and strong, stood on the northeast corner of Madison and Dearborn, waiting for the car, or having a final talk before separating for the night. As they stood there, there passed them, going south on Dearborn, a solitary walker, about 5 feet 8 inches, and of slender build. The four abandoned their private conversation and began addressing jocose remarks to the stranger, the mildest being that he was a pretty fellow to be out alone at that hour, and the strongest that his mother was not a woman at all, but belonged to the animal kingdom. He stopped in the centre of Madison street, and asked them to shut up. This they declined to do, and continued "kidding" him, as the vulgar call it. - This wearied the victim, and he told them that if they did not stop be would go back and thrash all four of them. At this they laughed, of course, and continued to cast doubts upon his parentage. Suddenly be ran up to them, threw his left arm around the neck of the biggest man in the crowd, and gave him four successive and rapid blows in the face with his fist. The sound came sharp, clear, and distinct; the blows were evidently dealt by trained muscle. Then dropping his first victim, he fell upon the lighter weights, scattered them right and left, like autumn leaves, and then wound up the job by punching the short, stout man in the face, blacking his eyes, splitting his nose, cutting his cheek, and making a most effectual wreck of him generally. The four gathered themselves up and started to run away, just as a policeman came up and arrested the victor. Then a by-stander interposed and informed the officer that that was no fair deal. The man he had arrested had not began the fight; the other side had set upon him, and he had fairly beaten all four of them. At this moment the defeated ones came up, showed their bruises, and insisted that the man who had caused them should be run in. They threw the entire blame on him, but the witness stuck to his story, and the officer, concluding the four had gotten what they deserved, let his prisoner go. The latter did so, and continuing his interrupted travels, went into Joe Mackin's, where the person who had witnessed the battle followed him. There be learned that the individual whose exploits he had witnessed was Barney Aaron, ex-champion Light-Weight of America. All young men who are in the habit of making remarks to passers-by, are requested to read the above, and take warning thereby."

But Barney was apparently not always the innocent victim in these days. He was reportedly the boss of a local street gang. "The gang of which Barney Aaron, the pugilist, is the moving spirit, hustled an old gray-haired man on the corner of Dearborn and Madison last night about 9 o'clock, and snatched from him his pocketbook, containing $300. The thieves dodged down McVicker's alley, the old gentleman following, shouting 'Stop, thief,' at the top of his lungs, but the rogues getting through the block by means of the alleyways, got safely down Monroe street with their plunder." [Chicago Tribune, 15 Apr 1875, p.8] The Tribune reports another similar crime on 9 May and says "The job was in all probability affected by Barney Aaron's gang, which ought by this time to have received the attentions of the police." Other stories can be found mentioning Barney's 'gang.'

As we learn more about Barney's time in Chicago some unsavory items can be found. The Tribune, in its 5 Oct 1876 issue, published a special dispatch from Indianapolis on the upcoming Presidential election and how Sam Tilden's supporters would be out and about to stuff the ballot boxes and perform other election mayhem. With a surely sarcastic air they write: "That eminent reformer, Barney Aaron, of Chicago, this evening takes the trouble to correct the impression that has got abroad concerning this extraordinary gathering here of short-haired, pug-nosed gentry with heavy under jaws and low, narrow foreheads. Said Barney, with the plaintive air of a man who asked only that, having been grievously misrepresented, he might be set right: 'I see The Tribune printed a lot of stuff about my coming here with a gang of roughs to carry the State. I only wish we could carry it, that's all; but I can tell you what they are coming here from everywhere for, and that is to stop the imported ni--ers from voting. I tell you there will be a hundred men at every poll to prevent that, and I shouldn't wonder if there were some ni--ers killed here on election day, but that's only my surmise.' There is no mistaking what these distinguished champions of the purity of the ballot are here for." [The N-word was fully spelled out in the article.] An earlier article a few days prior to this one referred to him as "the notorious Barney Aaron."

It's hard to know what to believe in many of these old newspaper accounts. With just the Chicago Fire situation as an example we know that all kinds of lies and fabrications appeared in print. We have no idea for sure whether the negative things that were written about Barney were true, or whether they might have been written by people who differed with the political party he worked for, or whether they might have even stemmed from the anti-Semitism that was rampant in America in those days. As a counter to the above unpleasant article consider this, from 1869, a few years after the Civil War ended: The prize-fighters of this country are beginning to recognize the doctrine of the social equality of all men in single combat. The pugilist, Barney Aaron, has issued a challenge to fight any man in the world, black or white, at 120 pounds, for $1,500 a side. There have been prize fights in England between white men and negroes, as in the case of Molineaux; but this challenge opens up the first prospect, so far as we know, of such an event in this country. [Evening Star, Washington, D.C., 21 Apr 1869, p.1] This story was published in several papers around the country. Other than his very first prize fight against the mulatto Johnny Robinson, it is not known whether he ever did fight a black man, even in an exhibition.

Barney's involvement in politics led to this interesting article in 1877: Barney Aaron's Cipher. The champion light-weight patriot of America, Barney Aaron, finds time from his professional engagements to figure on--if not in--politics. When he learned that Florida had been shied into the ring for Hayes by the Electoral Commission he put up his fins artistically and remarked: "I'd like to see 'em inaugurate two Presidents right there in Washington on the 5th of March, and then the strongest mob takes it. Begod, if I wouldn't be in the mob. I reckon we're gone, though. I went out in the Twenty-Fifth New York in the other war, and went as far as good many of them. But I got tired and quit, as I didn't think there was any thing worth fighting for. We've got something worth fighting for now, and I'll go in and carry a musket." [Cincinnati Enquirer, 12 Feb 1877, p.4] Another paper editorializes on this story: Here are two or three points worth noting. This Democratic worthy got tired of fighting in the Union army, because there "wasn't any thing worth fighting for," only the country to save. He now owns up that Hayes is to be President, but wants the pretended inauguration of Tilden attempted, "and then the strongest mob takes it." He only speaks out frankly, what the Sun, Enquirer and Chicago Times more warily are encouraging, a resort to mob violence. [The Summit County Beacon, Akron, Ohio, 21 Feb 1877, p.6] The Presidential election of 1876 between Hayes and Tilden was one of the most contentious in American history, and had to be settled by an appointed Congressional Commission. Barney obviously favored Tilden. But the reference that suggests he participated in the Civil War is interesting, as there is no other evidence to suggest that he participated, and he isn't listed on the roster of the 25th New York. Like many things, Barney just probably made it up on the spur of the moment. Although there is one report in a Mississippi newspaper in 1896 that presents another unusual Civil War tale relating to Barney: BARNEY AARON A CONFEDERATE VETERAN. It may not be generally known, but the C.H. has the authority of an army comrade for the statement, that Barney Aaron, the ex-pugilist, mentioned in the dispatches a day or two ago as being one of the veterans in attendance upon the recent reunion of ex-champions of New York; was a Confederate soldier, serving through the war in a regiment recruited in or near Mobile. He is said to have made a good soldier, and to have given many of his comrades a practical knowledge of the manly art of self-defence. [The Daily Commercial Herald, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 16 Dec 1896, p.5] This story seems highly unlikely to be true.

Another story of the 1876 election illustrates how Barney was often involved in politics. It tells of the shenanigans both parties got up to in Indianapolis, and adds: Barney Aaron came on the field two days before the election. The Democrats had held a caucus and decided that they must resort to physical force to protect themselves from the raids of Republicans at the polls. They at one arranged with Bill McAndless to hire Barney Aaron and 125 men who would stand up to the racket in a fight. Perhaps such a gang of roughs were never collected in one crowd in any city. As soon as these fellows left the East a telegram announcing the fact was sent to Senator Morgan, who gave it to the Republican managers. The Republicans at once selected two hundred special policemen, and in addition they organized a special corps of two hundred more, the object being to kill the roughs, who were marked, and had they presented themselves at the polls they would, no doubt, have been promptly shot. News of these Republican preparations reached the ears of Governor Hendricks, which so alarmed him that he at once proposed a peace meeting, and invited prominent Republicans and Democrats to join him in issuing a proclamation to every body not to start a row. The Barney gang were glad enough of this, and the night after the election, with $3,000 in his pocket which the Democrats had paid him, withdrew to Pittsburg, where his fellows had a free fight and killed one of their own number. [Cincinnati Enquirer, 31 Jan 1879, p.5]

A New Wife

On October 11th of 1875 he married Louisa Farley in Chicago. What became of his first wife Mary Ann is presently unknown. The next day the "Inter Ocean" newspaper of Chicago had this on page five in it's Society Gossip column: "'Barney Aaron, a well-known ex-member of the P.R. [prize ring], who has trained muscular Christianity in many forms for tests of physical prowess, has at length succumbed, having been stricken right in the optics by Cupid. The capitulation was acknowledged yesterday by the issuance of a marriage license to Barney. The partner of his future joys and sorrows will be Miss Louise Farley." The same day the Chicago Tribune ran this: "Barney Aaron, the pugilist, entered into a life battle yesterday. The contract was drawn in the County Clerk's office, the party of the second part being Miss Louise Farley."

Farley might not be her real maiden name. There is good evidence that it was Jordan, as will be discussed below. Lest anyone think that his new wife might tame Barney into a more sedate life-style, the opposite was more likely the case, as Louisa was a bit of a notorious criminal in her own right. For more on Louisa read the section on her below. The marriage wasn't long-lived and produced no children. She apparently divorced him in 1878, claiming abuse, and quickly became the common law wife of another criminal named Tom Bigelow. An article in the 9 Jun 1880 Chicago Tribune (p.11) gives more information. The article is about a local thief named Edward Miller. At one point it states: He is a brother-in-law to the Bigelow-Aaron family,--that is, when Bigelow deserted his wife to take up with the '"Handsome Louise" Jordan, the "Queen of Thieves," and wife of Barney Aaron, Miller took up with Bigelow's castaway wife...

His Later Years

Starting in late 1878 and early 1879 the papers have several stories of Barney's involvement as a trainer in the then-popular sport of pedestrianism, which is the precursor to the modern day sport of racewalking. Contestants often walked hundreds of miles over several days. One article mentioned a pedestrian named Weston who was going to attempted 2000 miles in 1000 hours. The sport was very popular with the gambling crowd, which probably explains Barney's interest. In October of 1879 there is a story of him trying to stab a competitor named Harry Howard in a bar because he was furious at Howard for doing something that caused Barney to lose $2,000 he had gambled on one pedestrian contest. [New York Daily Herald, 15 Oct 1879, p.12] Barney was at one time a trainer for Daniel O'Leary, one of the most popular pedestrians of the age. There is also mention in 1878 of an upcoming pedestrian race between Sam Collyer and Barney Aaron, but no report of the actual race can be found so it might have fallen through. There are also stories of Barney appearing at horse racing events, usually involving gambling. Starting in 1882 there are many race reports of a horse that went by the name of Barney Aaron, and later on a Barney Aaron Jr., but no mention was found that there was any specific relationship between the man and the horses other than a shared name. Other men were mentioned as owners of these horses.

He cannot be located in the 1880 census.

On 6 Aug 1883 Barney acted as referee in the title match between world heavweight champion John L. Sullivan and the Australian Herbert "Maori" Slade before 10,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. Sullivan easily won in three rounds. Barney gave his opinion to the papers after the fight: "Lor' an' weren't it a slosher. Blow me eyes, but did her see 'im? John, I mean; 'ow 'e did go at 'im, 'ammer and tongs. It wus as good a scrap as never I did see; an' many's them I've hattended." [Chicago Tribune, 14 Aug 1883, p.3]

In September of 1883 Barney was on board a train that collided with another train killing a few people and injuring several more. Barney and other sporting friends were returning from the races at Coney Island when it occurred. A fellow passenger reported that after they heard the hissing of escaping air from the brakes, "Barney Aaron jumped up and ran out on the platform, and, after looking on the side of the car, shouted: 'For God's sake, get as far back as you can, for there is going to be a collision!' Those in the rear parlor car and on our car at once left their seats and made their way out of the doors and windows just as the collision occurred." [The Evening Gazette, Monmouth, Ill., 13 Sep 1883, p.2] The same article appeared in several papers around the country.

In 1888 Barney was described as "an elderly, but quite active retired pugilist, who won renown in several hard-fought fights. He has been employed in various capacities on race tracks for many years, and is at present working for the bookmakers at the Gravesend course. Mr. Aaron has enjoyed great popularity in his day, and the old man is still thought well of..." [Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 23 May 1888, p.1] Later that year in a newspaper article titled "Gossip from Gotham: Well-Known Men Who May Be Seen In A Walk Down Broadway" there is a paragraph on Barney: Another man who no longer fills so large a place in the public eye as he once did, is Barney Aaron, the medium-sized, black mustached and keen-eyed man who may be seen sometimes at night in the Hoffman cafe. Some people who know of Barney only as a great memory of the ring, suppose him dead. But he is very much alive, indeed, and has not by any means abandoned sporting pursuits because he has left the ring. Barney is about 60 now, but there is fire in his eyes yet, and the black has the better of the gray in his hair. He is slender and active as ever. The slight twist of his nose was imparted by the carressing "fives" of an opponent in one of his many fistic encounters. Mr. Aaron, who is by no means sensitive about the extra "A" in his name, makes an excellent living nowadays as intermediary between the bookmakers and the judges' stand on the racetracks. He is regularly employed by the book-makers to keep them accurately and promptly informed of all such events as the scratching of a horse and the like. He is as familiar a figure now to the race-goers as he used to be to the frequenters of the ring. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 25 Nov 1888, p.10]

An article in December of 1888 that discusses the financial fortunes of well-known pugilists says of Barney: Perhaps the richest of the old-time champions is Barney Aaron, son of the famous Star of the East, who fought and beat the best light weights of his day. Barney made most of his money after leaving the ring, and is now in the employ of the book-makers on the big Eastern tracks. [The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, 26 Dec 1888, p.5] That same month appeared the following article: WILL FIGHT NO MORE. The Veteran Barney Aaron Willing to be Forgotten as a Boxer. Barney Aaron, the retired pugilist, is well along in years now, but is as active as many men twenty years younger. For three or four years back he has been employed on various race tracks by the Bookmakers' Association. He says he has no desire to emulate the example of aged pugilists who from time to time have announced their willingness to meet younger pugilists of today. Said Aaron: "I've got a family to look after, and I'm doing it outside of the boxing business. I've had my day, and contests between boxers and fighters don't interest me anymore. I'm not getting upon a platform to condemn pugilistic sports. All I've got to say is that I want to make a living for myself and family quietly and in a way that will not make them ashamed of what I'm doing. Keep my name out of the papers, and you'll oblige an old man who can stand anything but notoriety. Aaron's employers say that the old man is seldom out of his house of nights and devotes all of his leisure time to his family. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 30 Dec 1888, p.1]

From an 1889 description of life at the horse races: As soon as the judges hang out the numbers of the winning horses a man is seen to rush down to the bookmakers' pavilion, shouting "Raceland wins! Terra Cotta second!" at the top of his voice. This man is the old-time sport, Barney Aaron, and he receives for this slight service $1 per day from each bookmaker on the line. As there are seventy-five of them, he receives the princely sum of $75 per day, or $1,125 for the fifteen days of the meeting, for performing a service that could be done by a messenger boy. [The Oakdale Graphic, Oakdale, Calif., 9 Oct 1889, p.6] Another 1889 article reads: Every man who has put a dollar on a horse in the past ten years will recall a broad-shouldered, powerfully built man who pushes his way through the crowds ranged in long lines behind the book-makers' boxes and yells out in a voice like a saw-mill whistle: "All right," and follows up with the name of whatever horse happens to have won the race and a horse that came second. This man is Barney Aaron and if you have any desire to punch his head when he pushes by you it would be well to restrain it, for Barney is an old-time prize-fighter, and in his day was about the best man at his weight in England. He is a shrewd, smart fellow, thoroughly reliable and attends to his work better than almost anyone else could. He takes his place beside the judges' stand after the race has been won, and it is his business to announce the official results to the book-makers. Each book-maker pays Barney $1 a day, and, as there are usually between forty and sixty book-makers, Barney has a very good thing of it. Only two things that are required of him--first, absolute honesty in announcing the right horses, for if he gave the wrong ones the book-makers might be out thousands of dollars before they found out their mistake, and, second, good lungs and the ability to get through crowds quickly. [Cincinnati Enquirer, 24 Mar 1890, p.2]

Barney Aaron was a fictional character in the serialized newspaper story "The Convict Ship" by W. Clark Russell, published in many papers in 1893. The character was based very loosely on Barney but his being a convict imprisoned on a ship was entirely fictional. In the story Barney leads a convict uprising.

On 1 Mar 1895 Barney was the referee in a fight that took place in Boston between Joe Walcott and Billy Smith. The fight ended in a draw.

An 1895 news article that interviewed Barney about his life had this to say about his later years up to that point: For 10 years Barney has had very profitable employment on the turf getting advance official information for bookmakers of the jockeys, weights, scratches, &c., in each race. Each bookie paid him two dollars a day and, as there would be from 50 to 75 of them "on the line," Barney had a little bonanza. I am glad to be able to say that he did not "blow this money in" foolishly. On the contrary, he owns a nice house on Thirty-first street, near Fourth avenue, where he lives as contented as a clam at high tide. His wife is a very comely woman, and his daughters are as pretty girls as you will find in a days walk. One of them, Miss Abby, aged 13, is a god-daughter of Al Smith's, [perhaps the Al Smith who was later Governor of New York and Presidential candidate who lost to Herbert Hoover in 1928] and she is a beauty bright. She reads French and English fluently, and her French has the true Parisian accent. She is an accomplished player on the piano and the pride of her doting father's heart. "There's nothing like a home with a good wife and loving children," said Barney, as he gave me his picture. A man that hasn't got a home, a loving wife, and a couple of kids, at least, to go to at night doesn't know what life is. Pretty good sentiments from an ex-lightweight-champion of America." [The Enquirer, Cincinnatti, Ohio, 5 May 1895, p.23]

His obituary mentions his final fight, that took place at the Broadway Athletic Club against Dooney Harris. This appears to have taken place on 15 Dec 1896, but although there are several newspapers who reported the story, none of them give the details included in the obituary. All mention that Barney was presented with a horseshoe-shape bouquet of flowers as a token of appreciation.

In the 1900 census of Manhattan, Barney, Catherine and their two daughters were living at 100 East 76th Street. It stated that Barney was retired, and a naturalized citizen. When the 1905 New York State census was taken Barney and his wife Kate were living at the same address with their now 19-year-old daughter Phoebe. Barney was a 73-year-old retired merchant.

The first mention found of Barney being a horse racing 'commissioner' is from the 16 Oct 1902 Brooklyn Citizen, p.5. What that exactly entailed is not certain. The following was published in June 1903: Barney Aaron is Still Alive. Barney Aaron, who worked around the tracks as announcer for many years, and was before that a shining light in the pugilistic firmament, is a regular at the New York race track every day, although he has retired from active business. During his palmy days Aaron invested his savings so that now, to use his own expression, "I can have me pint of claret every night with me dinner." Besides, Barney can back his choice for a little wager, which he does regularly, in any race where he thinks the horse has a good chance. [The Buffalo Enquirer, Buffalo, N.Y., 4 Jun 1903, p.8]

On 2 Nov 1905 Barney was a first class passenger on the ship Teutonic when it arrived in Liverpool, England, having sailed from New York. There is an interesting newspaper article published in the Los Angeles Herald later that month on 21 Nov: "Former Champ Skidoos. It is reported in New York that Barney Aaron who was a featherweight champion of the world forty years ago, has disappeared and left behind an indebtedness of $8000 behind him, all due to bookmakers. He had been a betting commissioner for noted plungers for some time." On 21 April 1906 he is recorded arriving in New York from England on the ship St. Louis. Whether he remained in England for a half a year or not is uncertain, but ancestry.com does not have evidence to show that he made two trips.

A year before Barney's death his residence was at 121 East 76th Street in Manhattan. But then on 7 Jun 1906 he was moved to a sanitarium in Queens for the last 11 months and 22 days of his life due to dementia. While he was still in England earlier in the year a newspaper story that mentioned him said he "is a mental wreck in England." [Boston Globe, 26 Feb 1906, p.5] Another mentioned that he "had been committed to a sanitarium in England, and that he was a physical wreck." [The Brooklyn Citizen, 7 Apr 1906, p.5]

His obituary was published in the New York Times for 4 Jun 1907, p.7:
BARNEY AARON DEAD AT 77
Famous Bare-Knuckle Pugilist Fought Last Fight Seven Years Ago
Barney Aaron, 77 years old, whose most famous bare-knuckle fight was with Arthur Chambers at Mississippi City in 1878, lies dead in a Long Island institution. He was the last of the old breed of bare-knuckle fighters. He is survived by a widow and two daughters--but 'by no man of his weight who licked him,' say his friends. Aaron learned his art - or science - of fighting from his father in England where he was born. He fought there until the seventies, whipping every other Englishman of his weight in sight, and then he came to America, of course. His most famous fight at Mississippi City was a 17-round set-to, which he won. "For several years after that his business was to stand up in Harry Hill's Houston Street pit and meet all comers. For a while, too, he followed the same business at Owney Geoghegan's resort on the Bowery. In his later years Aaron worked about the race tracks, where he called out the winners, for which the bookmakers chipped in and paid him. Seven years ago Aaron, being then 70 years old, a sort of veteran ring-dodgers' reunion was held in the Broadway Athletic Club. Doony Harris, another old man of the ring, said he would fight his elder, Aaron. Doony lost his temper and started in to make a sight of Barney. The referee had to whistle off the bout to keep old Barney from knocking Doony out altogether. That was Barney's last fight. About a year ago a breakdown, due more to old age than anything else, caused him to go to the sanitarium where he died.

Another obituary from the 4 Jun 1907 Washington Post:
Became Famous by His Great Bare-knuckle Battles in England -- Could Fight Well at Seventy.
Special to The Washington Post.
New York, June 3. -- Barney Aaron, the old-time light-weight pugilist, was buried in Washington Cemetery, L.I. yesterday. He died on Thursday in a sanitarium on Long Island, where he was taken about a year ago, having broken down physically. Aaron was seventy-seven years old. Funeral services were held at his home in East Thirty-sixth street. He leaves a widow and two daughters who are in comfortable circumstances. Like his father before him, Barney Aaron was a great bare-knuckle fighter in his prime, having beaten every man of his weight in his native England. After Aaron came to this country his greatest fight was a seventeen-round battle with Arthur Chambers at Mississippi City in 1878. He met all comers at Harry Hill's sporting resort in Houston street and at Ourney Geoghan's in the Bowery. His last public ring appearance was about seven years ago at a sort of fight fest for old timers at the Broadway Athletic Club. Aaron and Dowie Harris, an old-time featherweight, went on for a friendly bout. Harris got mad and went in to thrash Aaron, who gave back at least as good as he got until the referee stopped them. Aaron's old patron, Al Smith, got him employment on the race-tracks after he left the ring. For a while each bookmaker paid Aaron $1 a day to announce in the betting ring after each race the winner and place horses. Then he became a betting commissioner. James R. Keene was one of his patrons for a time.

His obituary appeared in dozens of newspapers around the U.S. and Canada and almost all of them contained the same basic facts, often copied word for word, but sometimes slightly altered from what must have been a single original obituary that was sent around the country. There are a number of inaccuracies in these obituaries, such as the statement that he fought a lot in England before coming to this country in the 1870s, and he never did fight Chambers in Mississippi City. Searches through indexed newspaper databases for the entirety of Barney's career have zero mentions of such a fight other than in his obituary. How the mistaken fact of his most famous fight being one that never occurred got written in the first place will remain a mystery. It's unfortunate because several websites picked up that information from the obituary, assuming it to be true. It appears as part of his short biography on the International Boxing Hall of Fame website, and was on his Wikipedia page until this author removed it.

We'll add one final obituary here, that differed from the rest in that it included the personal recollections of the reporter George P. Goodale, and in that it projects a very negative opinion of Barney:
I read in the daily papers of New York news of the death of Barney Aaron, the little pugilist, at the age of 77 years. Barney and F. Augustus Heinze had one sentiment in common "so live every day that you can look any damned man in the face and tell him to go to hell." While some of us may be tempted to criticize the literary form of the sentiment, the fundamental idea is all right, since it impliedly involves a conscience free from guilt and the kind of manliness that shrinks from no necessary encounter with threatened disaster. With Barney Aaron the sentiment was, I am forced to admit, more on the lip than in the heart; for he was one of the most unconscionable rascals of his tribe, a practicer of all the double-cross games known to the ring of his active time therein, and as foul-mouthed an outcast as ever escaped the hangman or the health officer. In 1872 I was at the ringside to report the battle between Billy Edwards and Arthur Chambers on Walpole Island. Chambers was a whipped man from the first round. But the gang, led by Barney Aaron, had determined otherwise, and matters were so manipulated that the victory was awarded to Chambers. I sat on a log between the outer and inner rings. Aaron was one of the seconds of Chambers; and when he saw that his principal was doomed to sure defeat, he seized an opportune moment, just as Edwards had knocked him down, to throw a blanket over his head and sink his teeth into Chambers's shoulder. Then jumping up he assumed an air of vicarious injury and yelled "Foul! foul!" with all his strength of lung. The referee was asked to examine the "evidence" that Edwards had bitten Chambers in the last clinch. It was obvious that that official was well rehearsed in his part, for he instantly fell in with the brazen swindle and gave the fight to Chambers. Of course the robbers were prepared to defend their booty at any cost. We who saw the robbery and understood the method of it were too prudent to tell just then what we knew--life and bones in their normal positions being, in our estimation, of more interest than the result of a prize light. However, the exposure was made in print on the morning following the meeting; but the theft had been put through according to program, and Barney Aaron, whose "virtues" the New York papers have lately been celebrating, lived long to enjoy the fruits of as dastardly an assault on decency and as piratical a defiance of "professional" ethics as history records. The last interview I had with Barney Aaron was in one of the Broadway hotels five years ago. He was then weazen, shriveled, white-haired and blustering. He told me of some of his early fights on the turf, when bare knuckles and the London rules were the law of the ring, and always with shrill boasting. I reminded him of what I had seen in the Edwards-Chambers event, but it did not appear to make any perceptible difference in the load his conscience was carrying. It is probable that he was unable to apprehend the right and wrong of the situation, for a more morally obtuse brute never preyed upon humankind. That he lived nearlv eighty years, and was wafted to the Happy Beyond on the wings of newspaper eulogy is nobly encouraging for the stragglers that try to live right and give the other fellow a fair show to win. [Detroit Free Press, 17 Jul 1907, p.4]

The 1900 census states that Barney's wife Catherine was the mother of five children, only two of whom were then living, so it's possible she and Barney had three children who died young. Then again, the 1910 census states that she was the mother of two, both living.

Barney was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.^11,12

Children of Barney Aaron and Catherine Agnes Harris

Abbie Aaron+ b. 25 Jan 1882, d. 30 Jan 1962
Phoebe Lee Aaron b. 18 Sep 1885, d. 15 Feb 1964

Citations

Month and year are from the 1900 census, but other sources conflict with this date. See discussion in biographical text.
Ancestry, http://www.ancestry.com, (Barney Aaron in the New York and Vicinity, United Methodist Church Records, 1775-1949).
Ancestry, http://www.ancestry.com, (Barney Aaron in the Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index, 1871-1920).
Various newspaper accounts mention their marriage, which apparently ended in divorce in 1880.
The approximate year of marriage is based on the fact that the 1900 census says they were married for 20 years.
Original death record of Barney Aaron from the City of New York Department of Health.
Washington Post, Washington, D.C. (free-form text to be added in Proof window), Obituary of Barney Aaron, 4 June 1907.
New York Times, New York, N.Y. (free-form text to be added in Proof window), Obituary of Barney Aaron, 4 Jun 1907, p.7.
Ralph Hickok, Who Was Who in American Sports (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1971), p.1 [This source states that he died June 15, 1907, but based on the date of his obituary this can't be correct.].
Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/, (Barney Aaron, <https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/165305488/barney-aaron>).
Most of the information in this biography of Barney Aaron is sourced within the text, but other sources consulted are included in these footnoes.
Claypatch, Hunter M. "Tough Little Specimens of the light-weight order:” The Establishment of Lightweight Prize-Fighting in the United States during the 1850s," 2016.

James Milne Sutherland

M, b. 24 December 1888, d. 12 January 1959

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

William A. Sutherland b. c 1870

Mother

Jane Ann Milne b. 1870

Last Edited

31 Aug 2024

Birth*

James Milne Sutherland was born on 24 December 1888 in Brechin, Angus, Scotland^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Martha Hermine Aaron, daughter of Joseph Aaron and Carrie Elizabeth Schmelzer, on 23 November 1910 in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.²

Death*

James died of colon cancer on 12 January 1959 at home, 308 Washington Street in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.³

Burial*

He was buried on 15 January 1959 in Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sutherland-10450.

Children of James Milne Sutherland and Martha Hermine Aaron

Ruth Carolyn Sutherland+ b. 24 Dec 1911, d. 24 Feb 1981
Chester Kenneth Sutherland+ b. 27 Jan 1914, d. 15 Apr 1967
James Milne Sutherland Jr.+ b. 11 Jan 1924, d. 10 Jul 2019

Citations

Date comes from family and year and place from death record.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1910, v.595, p.462, no.358.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1959, v.71, p.70.

Ruth Carolyn Sutherland

F, b. 24 December 1911, d. 24 February 1981

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland b. 24 Dec 1888, d. 12 Jan 1959

Mother

Martha Hermine Aaron b. 21 Oct 1888, d. 14 Mar 1976

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Ruth Carolyn Sutherland was born on 24 December 1911 at home, 295 Wyoming Ave. in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married Ralph Ellsworth Richardson, son of Frank A. Richardson and Josephine C.W. Clark, on 12 August 1932 at the bride's home, 43 Trenton Street, in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G. They were married by Ruth's mother's first cousin, an unknown person.²

Death*

Ruth died of cancer of the gall bladder on 24 February 1981 at New England Medical Center in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts^G.³

Burial*

She was buried on 27 February 1981 in Lindenwood Cemetery in Stoneham.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sutherland-10451.

Ruth lived in Stoneham and Melrose, Mass. and at a summer home in East Wakefield, N.H. In 1932 when they were married Ralph was a cost accountant living at 5 Barrett Ave. in Stoneham and Ruth was living at 43 Trenton St. in Melrose. In 1935-38 when their first two children were born they were living on 306 Washington St. in Melrose. In 1943 when Ralph Jr. was born they were at 5 Barrett Ave. in Stoneham.

Ralph worked in various capacities for the Johnson company, where he had worked before his marriage, until the end of World War II, when he joined the sales force, later assuming responsibility for the New England and New York territory. He became a partner in the firm in 1950 and retired in 1972 after 45 years of service.

He was a member of the King Cyrus Lodge of Masons and the First Congregational Church, both of Stoneham. Ruth was also a member of the church. Ralph lived in Stoneham most of his life, and they were still living at 5 Barrett Ave. there when he died. When Ruth died in 1981 she was still at 5 Barrett Ave.

Children of Ruth Carolyn Sutherland and Ralph Ellsworth Richardson

Ruth Joanne Richardson+ b. 18 May 1935, d. 30 Nov 2015
Norma Jean Richardson+
Ralph Ellsworth Richardson Jr.

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1911 (additional entries volume), v.141, p.285.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1932, v.39, p.513.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1981 v.4, p.1594.

Chester Kenneth Sutherland

M, b. 27 January 1914, d. 15 April 1967

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland b. 24 Dec 1888, d. 12 Jan 1959

Mother

Martha Hermine Aaron b. 21 Oct 1888, d. 14 Mar 1976

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Chester Kenneth Sutherland was born on 27 January 1914 in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Marion Irene Sparks, daughter of Walter Sparks and Marion Norton Hobbs, on 3 December 1933 at 42 Chestnut Street in Wakefield, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G. They were married by Chet's mother's first cousin, an unknown person.²

Death*

Chester died of cirrhosis of the liver on 15 April 1967 at Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.³

Burial*

He was buried on 18 April 1967 in Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sutherland-10452.

He always went by the name of Ken or Kenneth rather than Chester.

When they married Ken was a truck driver living at 43 Trenton St. in Melrose, Mass. and Marion lived at 76 Franklin St. in Stoneham, Mass. When their daughter Patricia was born in 1934 Ken was a clerk and they were living at 97 Highland Ave. in Melrose. When their daughter Shirley was born a year and a half later Ken was a steamfitter and they were again at 76 Franklin St. in Stoneham.

Ken, as a young father, was greatly disappointed that he was denied acceptance into the Coast Guard during World War II. He was denied because of color blindness. Irene, worked in a factory during the war effort as a welder.

When their son Chester Jr. was born in 1946 they were still at 76 Franklin St. and Ken was a salesman. Later they lived in Melrose. The 1950 census found them living at 317 Washington Street, in the same neighborhood as his parents and his aunt and uncle Teschek. Ken worked as a local road salesman for a company selling hotel, bakery adn restaurant equipment. When he died in 1967 he was a dairy store manager and they lived at 307 North Main St. in Natick, Mass. They had been in town or at that address for the previous four years. His death record also stated that he was not a veteran.

Children of Chester Kenneth Sutherland and Marion Irene Sparks

Patricia Ann Sutherland+ b. 6 Jun 1934, d. 17 Sep 1988
Shirley Kaye Sutherland+
Chester Kenneth Sutherland Jr.+

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1914, v.623, p.755.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1933, v.62, p.111.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1967, v.79, p.412.

James Milne Sutherland Jr.

M, b. 11 January 1924, d. 10 July 2019

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland b. 24 Dec 1888, d. 12 Jan 1959

Mother

Martha Hermine Aaron b. 21 Oct 1888, d. 14 Mar 1976

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

James Milne Sutherland Jr. was born on 11 January 1924 at the New England Sanitarium in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Marie Theresa Cahoon, daughter of Frank Joseph Cahoon and Marie Theresa Donovan, on 29 July 1947 in Antrim, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire^G. They eloped to Antrim to be married by a Justice of the Peace, and had a second wedding later that year on November 22 in the Catholic Church at St. Mary's Rectory in Melrose, Mass.²

Death*

James Milne Sutherland Jr. died of heart failure on 10 July 2019 at his home, 192 Lund Farm Way in Brewster, Barnstable County, Massachusetts^G. His remains were cremated on 12 July.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sutherland-10456.

Jim grew up in Melrose, Mass. at 308 Washington St. He played on the Melrose High School hockey team that won the New England Championship in 1941 and was co-captain the next year when they won the championship again. In April of 1943 he joined the Marines, serving in the South Pacific as a Sergeant until his honorable discharge in June of 1946.

Marie lived in Melrose and graduated from St. Mary's High School in 1944. She joined the Cadet Nurse Corps and graduated in 1947 from Boston City Hospital as a registered nurse, too late to participate as a nurse in World War II.

Following their 1947 marriage Jim enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1948. Marie stayed at her mother's home at 9 Crescent Ave. in Melrose to raise their firstborn Jeanne Marie. They all moved to Providence in 1949 and lived in the University's veteran housing project called "Browntown". Their second and third children were born while they were living in Providence. Jim worked in construction jobs during the summers and had several part time jobs during the school year. He still managed to play hockey at Brown and captained the 1951 team to the National Championship Finals at the Broadmoor Ice Palce in Colorado Springs only to lose to Michigan. This team was enshrined into the Brown University Hall of Fame in 2001.

After graduation Jim took a job for Sylvania Electric in Salem, Mass.
When son John was born in 1952 Jim was a salesman and they were once again living at 308 Washington St. in Melrose. After his birth the family moved to Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass. In 1954 Jim was transferred to Cleveland, Ohio, but a year later they returned to the North Shore a Jim became District Manager for the Radio and Picture Tube Division of Sylvania. When their next two children Judith and Janet were born in 1957 and 1958 they were living at 24 Old Essex Road in Manchester, Mass. In the Fall of 1958 the family moved to a larger home with their six children to 26 Odell Avenue in Beverly, Mass.

In 1962 General Telephone bought Sylvania and Jim left to become the District Manager of American Machine & Foundry (AMF) in the Bowling & Sporting Goods Division. AMF was a large conglomerate that owned Head Ski and Tennis and Harley Davidson, among others. When son Jude was born in 1963 Marie was working as a nurse. She worked part time as a nurse during the family's 37-year stay in Beverly.

Jim retired from AMF in 1985 and took a Regional Manager's position with MacGregor Sporting Goods. He permanently retired in 1992 after relocating to Cape Cod to live in a summer cottage on Sheep Pond in Brewster, Mass. that they had purchased in 1972. Since 1995 they have been living in the in-law apartment of their daughter Joanie's home at 192 Lund Farm Way, Brewster, Mass., 02631, (508-896-5406).

All seven of their children have the initials J.M.S. After naming their first son for his father and grandfather, they noticed that both of their children had the same initials and decided to do the same for the remainder of their children.

His parents were living at 295 Wyoming Avenue in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G, when he was born.¹

His obituary appeared on the website of the Morris, O'Connor and Blute Funeral Home and read as follows:

James M Sutherland Jr., 95, of Brewster, MA passed away at his home on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 with his wife and family members by his side. Jim was the beloved husband of Marie T. (Cahoon) Sutherland. They lived in Beverly, MA before relocating to Cape Cod in 1987. Jim was born in Stoneham, MA on January 11, 1924 to the late James & Martha Sutherland. He graduated from Melrose High in 1942 before serving active duty in the US Marines in WW II. Having served his country he went on to graduate from Brown University in Providence, RI with a BS in Business in 1951. During his college years, Jim was the Captain of the Brown Hockey Team and led the Bears to the National Finals of the collegiate Hockey Championships and was later named to the Brown Alumni Hall of Fame for his contributions to the Bears. He loved all sports, especially hockey and football. Jim was a sporting goods sales representative traveling the Northeast Region for most of his adult life while bringing up his growing family of 7 children. He served many years coaching Beverly Youth Hockey Teams. Having enjoyed over 30 years of summer Cape Cod family vacations on Sheep Pond, Jim and Marie made Brewster their primary home and actively participated in Our Lady of the Cape Parish ministries prior to his declining health. Jim was the patriarch of the family and is survived by his wife of 72 years and his children: Jeanne Michael of Wakefield, Joanie Sutherland of Brewster, John Sutherland and Susan Spear of Salem, Judy Sutherland of Dennisport, Janet Rallo and her husband Paul of Danvers, J Michael Sutherland and his wife Rayelle of Beverly, and his daughter-in-law Candy Sutherland, wife of pre-deceased son, Tripp Sutherland of Vernon, CT. and numerous nieces and nephews. Jim leaves a legacy of four generations including 12 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren and was affectionately known as ‘Big Grampa’ to all. He will be fondly remembered as a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather to the Sutherland Clan with a kind and gentle heart full of love and goodness for others. A Celebration of Life Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, July 16 at 11 am at Our Lady of the Cape Church in Brewster. Burial services will be private.⁴

Children of James Milne Sutherland Jr. and Marie Theresa Cahoon

Jeanne Marie Sutherland+
James Milne Sutherland III+ b. 7 Mar 1949, d. 16 Jun 2012
Joan Meredith Sutherland
John Malcolm Sutherland+
Judith Martha Sutherland
Janet Mary Sutherland+
Jude Michael Sutherland+

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1924, v.129, p.40.
New Hampshire City and Town Annual Reports, University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository, https://scholars.unh.edu/nh_town_reports/, (Antrim Town Report 1948, p.71).
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 2019, no.32000.
Website Source: Obituary of James M. Sutherland Jr., Morris, O'Connor and Blue Funeral Home website, <https://www.ccgfuneralhome.com/obit/james-m.-sutherland-jr>, date viewed 14 Jul 2019.

Ralph Ellsworth Richardson

M, b. 12 August 1909, d. 15 April 1978

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Frank A. Richardson

Mother

Josephine C.W. Clark

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Ralph Ellsworth Richardson was born on 12 August 1909 in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Ruth Carolyn Sutherland, daughter of James Milne Sutherland and Martha Hermine Aaron, on 12 August 1932 at the bride's home, 43 Trenton Street in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G. They were married by Ruth's mother's first cousin, an unknown person.²

Death*

Ralph died on 15 April 1978 at his summer home in Wakefield, Carroll County, New Hampshire^G. He was buried in Lindenwood Cemetery in Stoneham on April 19th.

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Richardson-36379.

Ralph graduated from Stoneham High School and worked briefly for the Boston & Maine Railroad before joining the H.A. Johnson Co., a Boston food distributor, as an office boy in 1928.

Children of Ralph Ellsworth Richardson and Ruth Carolyn Sutherland

Ruth Joanne Richardson+ b. 18 May 1935, d. 30 Nov 2015
Norma Jean Richardson+
Ralph Ellsworth Richardson Jr.

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1909, v.583, p.688.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1932, v.39, p.513.

Ruth Joanne Richardson

F, b. 18 May 1935, d. 30 November 2015

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Ralph Ellsworth Richardson b. 12 Aug 1909, d. 15 Apr 1978

Mother

Ruth Carolyn Sutherland b. 24 Dec 1911, d. 24 Feb 1981

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Ruth Joanne Richardson was born on 18 May 1935 at the New England Sanitarium and Hospital in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married Hubert Guyce Lee Jr., son of Hubert Guyce Lee and Eunice I. Proctor, on 30 November 1956 at the First Congregational Church in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G. This marriage ended in divorce in 1977.^2³

Death*

Ruth Joanne Richardson died of acute respiratory and renal failure on 30 November 2015 at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.⁴

Burial*

She was buried on 30 December 2015 in Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts^G. Her obituary says she was buried in Lindenwood Cemetery in Stoneham, Mass., however.⁴

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Richardson-36380.

At the time of their marriage Hubert was in the U.S. Army from Stilson, Georgia and Ruth was a secretary living at 5 Barrett Ave. in Stoneham, Mass. When their daughter Sherry was born in 1958 Hubert was a cook and they were living at 93 Summer St. in Stoneham. When Laurie was born in 1960 he was still a cook and they were living at 304 Washington St. in Melrose, the same house where Ruth's Sutherland grandparents lived. When their son Scott was born in 1962 Hubert was still a cook and they were still living at 304 Washington St. Ruth was living in Melrose in 1981.

When she died in 2015 Ruth was living at 110 Hill Street #4 in Stoneham. Her prior occupation had been as an administrative assistant in a government job.

Her parents were living at 306 Washington Street in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G, when she was born.¹

Her obituary appeared in the 6 December 2015 Boston Globe and read as follows:

LEE, Ruth J. (Richardson) Of Stoneham, November 30, 2015. Devoted mother of Sherry, Laurie and Scott Lee. Cherished grandmother of Brittany, Scotti, Shaunna and Jeffrey Lee. Great grandmother of Aeryannah and George. Dear sister of Norma J. Carlson & her husband Sid and Ralph Richardson Jr. Loving auntie of Pamela Ganem, Gary Carlson and their children. Private graveside service at Lindenwood Cemetery, Stoneham December 18th. A celebration of Ruth's life will be held in the spring. Memorial gifts may be made to the Jimmy Fund, 10 Brookline Place West, FL 6, Brookline, MA 02445-9924.⁵

Children of Ruth Joanne Richardson and Hubert Guyce Lee Jr.

Sherry Ann Lee b. 13 Aug 1958, d. Dec 2020
Laurie Diane Lee
Scott David Lee+ b. 19 Feb 1962, d. 9 May 2020

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1935, v.102, p.100.
Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Probate,.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1956, v.91, p.431.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 2015, no. 53780.
Boston Globe, Boston, Mass., Obituaries, Obituary of Ruth J. (Ricvhardson) Lee, 6 Dec 2015, viewed online at legacy.com on 18 Dec 2015.

Norma Jean Richardson

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Ralph Ellsworth Richardson b. 12 Aug 1909, d. 15 Apr 1978

Mother

Ruth Carolyn Sutherland b. 24 Dec 1911, d. 24 Feb 1981

Last Edited

28 Jul 2024

Children of Norma Jean Richardson and Robert Militzer Carlson

Ralph Ellsworth Richardson Jr.

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Ralph Ellsworth Richardson b. 12 Aug 1909, d. 15 Apr 1978

Mother

Ruth Carolyn Sutherland b. 24 Dec 1911, d. 24 Feb 1981

Last Edited

15 Mar 2023

Hubert Guyce Lee Jr.

M, b. 25 March 1933, d. 11 November 1992

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Hubert Guyce Lee

Mother

Eunice I. Proctor

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Hubert Guyce Lee Jr. was born on 25 March 1933 in Stilson, Bulloch County, Georgia^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Ruth Joanne Richardson, daughter of Ralph Ellsworth Richardson and Ruth Carolyn Sutherland, on 30 November 1956 at the First Congregational Church in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G. This marriage ended in divorce in 1977.^2³

Death*

Hubert Guyce Lee Jr. died on 11 November 1992 in Stilson.^4,5

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lee-43841.

Children of Hubert Guyce Lee Jr. and Ruth Joanne Richardson

Sherry Ann Lee b. 13 Aug 1958, d. Dec 2020
Laurie Diane Lee
Scott David Lee+ b. 19 Feb 1962, d. 9 May 2020

Citations

Ruth Joanne (Richardson) Lee , email dated 6 Mar 2012. Ruth was married to Hubert.
Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Probate,.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1956, v.91, p.431.
Social Security Administration, U.S. Social Security Death Index, http:/familiysearch.org, (date viewed 6 Mar 2012).
Ruth Joanne (Richardson) Lee , email dated 7 Mar 2012. Ruth is Hubert's ex-wife.

Robert Militzer Carlson

M, b. 9 November 1936, d. 18 August 2016

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Albert Bernard Carlson b. c 1896

Mother

Greta Eleanor Johnson b. c 1901

Last Edited

28 Jul 2024

Birth*

Robert Militzer Carlson was born on 9 November 1936 at home, 72 Beach Street in Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Death-Resided*

He died on 18 August 2016, at which time his residence was in Northwood, Rockingham County, New Hampshire^G.²

Burial*

He was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Northwood.²

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carlson-5833.

His obituary appeared on fosters.com and read as follows:

NORTHWOOD - Robert M. "Sid" Carlson, of Northwood, N.H., (formerly of Barrington, N.H., Stoneham, Mass., and Woburn, Mass.) passed away peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, August 18, 2016. Beloved husband of Norma (Richardson) for 55 years. Devoted father of Pamela Ganem and her husband, John, of Exeter, N.H., and Gary Carlson and his wife, Judy, of Northwood, N.H. Proud grandfather of Ryan, Justine, Derek, Sean and Jared, and great-grandfather of Mackenzie. Loving uncle, cousin and friend. Predeceased by his parents, Greta and Albert Carlson, and his seven siblings: Helen, Doris, Edie, Eddie, Eleanor, Donald and Jean. Known by his many names: Bobby, Robert, Uncle Bobby, Uncle Bob and the Gov, Sid's early career began as a barber in Woburn Square, a Navy reservist and a Stoneham police officer. He then trained at the Massachusetts State Police Academy and earned rank of Sergeant; during his tenure he was special aide to Governor Frank Sargent. After his retirement, he created Carlson Detective Agency and remained an active private detective until his passing. Above all, he was a devoted and dedicated family man. The youngest of eight, he transmitted his ingrained "children learn what they live" motto to his children, grandchildren, great-grandchild and his extended family of many nieces and nephews. He organized yearly reunions and holiday get-togethers as well as co-hosted with his loving Norma years of Christmas Eve gatherings and summer flockings to Nippo Lake, Barrington. With Norma and friends, he founded Suburban Special Needs Committee, enlightening children and young adults with developmental delays with yearly "proms" and visits from the likes of "Killer" Kowalski (wrestler) among others, who became endeared friends. He has been a member of the Barrington American Legion and for 26 years proudly carried the American Flag in the color guard in the Barrington Memorial Day Parade. He and Norma have been presiding members over the Barrington Historical Society for over 20 years. Over the past 12 years he and Norma have wintered in Myrtle Beach, S.C. They became the Activities Coordinators of the Sandcastle South Snowbirds, planning excursions, daily adventures and fostering friendships. We struggle with the sudden loss of our beloved Husband, Dad, Papa, Sid, Bobby, Robert, Governor. He has touched thousands of hearts with his unselfish, infectious personality, funny poolside pranks, joke gadgets and "when I was with the Governor" stories. We are forever blessed to have crossed his path in this lifetime. You are missed... SERVICES: Friends and family may call from 4-7 p.m., on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, at Purdy Memorial Chapel, 2 Concord Rd., Rte 4, Lee, N.H., 03861. Funeral service will be held at 10 a.m., on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, at Purdy Memorial Chapel with Rev. Miram Tirabassi, officiating with burial to follow at Pine Grove Cemetery in Northwood, N.H.³

Children of Robert Militzer Carlson and Norma Jean Richardson

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1936, v.109, p.544.
Obituary.
Foster's Daily Democrat (newspaper), (Dover, N.H.), Robert M. Carlson obituary, fosters.com online, <http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fosters/obituary.aspx?n=Robert-M-Carlson-Sid&pid=181127715>, date viewed 22 Aug 2016.

Marion Irene Sparks

F, b. 1 August 1913, d. 26 June 1991

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Walter Sparks b. c 1890

Mother

Marion Norton Hobbs b. c 1895

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Birth*

Marion Irene Sparks was born on 1 August 1913 in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married Chester Kenneth Sutherland, son of James Milne Sutherland and Martha Hermine Aaron, on 3 December 1933 at 42 Chestnut Street in Wakefield, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G. They were married by Chet's mother's first cousin, an unknown person.²

Death*

Marion died of pneumonia, on 26 June 1991, at New England Baptist Hospital, in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts^G.

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sparks-7992.

Children of Marion Irene Sparks and Chester Kenneth Sutherland

Patricia Ann Sutherland+ b. 6 Jun 1934, d. 17 Sep 1988
Shirley Kaye Sutherland+
Chester Kenneth Sutherland Jr.+

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1913, v.615, p.737, no.198 [Birth record had no first name but place and year of birth, as well as the name of the parents, agree with the information on Marion's marriage record.].
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1933, v.62, p.111.

Patricia Ann Sutherland

F, b. 6 June 1934, d. 17 September 1988

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Chester Kenneth Sutherland b. 27 Jan 1914, d. 15 Apr 1967

Mother

Marion Irene Sparks b. 1 Aug 1913, d. 26 Jun 1991

Last Edited

15 Mar 2023

Birth*

Patricia Ann Sutherland was born on 6 June 1934 at Winchester Hospital in Winchester, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married second Charles Leslie Mulcahy, son of Patrick J. Mulcahy and Marjorie Robbins, on 20 July 1954 in Seabrook, Rockingham County, New Hampshire^G. Their marriage ended in divorce.²

Death*

Patricia died of lung cancer, on 17 September 1988, at Leonard Morse Hospital, in Natick, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G, at age 54.³

Burial*

She was buried on 21 September 1988 in St. Stephen's Cemetery in Framingham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sutherland-10453.

When their son Walter was born in Mar 1950 Glen and Patricia were living at 316 Washington Street in Melrose and he worked as a clerk.

When they were married in Jul 1954 Charles and Patricia were living at 31 Porter Road in Natick. He worked in construction and she worked as a 'counter girl.' When their son Patrick was born in 1955 Charles was a truck driver and they were still living at 31 Porter Road. When their son James was born in 1957 Charles was a machinist and they were living at 24 Pemberton Road in Wayland, Mass. When their son Dion was born in 1958 and their daughter Patricia was born in 1959 Charles was a machine tool specialist and they were living at 9 Leary Street in Wayland. When their daughter Cindy was born in 1962 Charles was still a machinist and they wre living at 58 Sycamore Road in Wayland, Mass.

Her parents were living at 97 Highland Avenue in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G, when she was born.¹

Patricia was living at 67C Nicholas Road in Framingham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G, when she died. She was divorced and working as a receptionist at Framingham YMCA.³

Child of Patricia Ann Sutherland and Glen Philler Klix Jr.

Glenn Walter Mulcahy+

Children of Patricia Ann Sutherland and Charles Leslie Mulcahy

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1934, v.111, p.166.
Ancestry, http://www.ancestry.com, (New Hampshire, U.S., Marriage Records, 1700-1971, <https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61836/images/61836_01_0996-00150>. It says this was her first marriage, but according to the 1950 census she was married to Glenn Klix.).
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1988, v.87, no.46330.

Shirley Kaye Sutherland

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Chester Kenneth Sutherland b. 27 Jan 1914, d. 15 Apr 1967

Mother

Marion Irene Sparks b. 1 Aug 1913, d. 26 Jun 1991

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Children of Shirley Kaye Sutherland and Alden Hull Whittemore

Chester Kenneth Sutherland Jr.

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Chester Kenneth Sutherland b. 27 Jan 1914, d. 15 Apr 1967

Mother

Marion Irene Sparks b. 1 Aug 1913, d. 26 Jun 1991

Last Edited

13 Mar 2023

Children of Chester Kenneth Sutherland Jr. and Constance S. Tower

Marie Theresa Cahoon

F, b. 27 April 1927, d. 3 June 2023

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Frank Joseph Cahoon b. about 1898/99

Mother

Marie Theresa Donovan b. about 1901/02

Last Edited

5 Dec 2023

Birth*

Marie Theresa Cahoon was born on 27 April 1927 at Melrose Hospital in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married James Milne Sutherland Jr., son of James Milne Sutherland and Martha Hermine Aaron, on 29 July 1947 in Antrim, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire^G. They eloped to Antrim to be married by a Justice of the Peace, and had a second wedding later that year on November 22 in the Catholic Church at St. Mary's Rectory in Melrose, Mass.²

Death*

Marie Theresa Cahoon died on 3 June 2023 at the Kaplan Hospice House in Danvers, Essex County, Massachusetts^G.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cahoon-807.

Her obituary appeared in the 6 June 2023 Cape Cod Times and read as follows:

Marie T. (Cahoon) Sutherland, 96, of Brewster, MA passed away peacefully at the beautiful Kaplan Hospice House in Danvers, MA on Saturday, June 3, 2023 with her family by her side. Marie was born in Melrose, MA on April 27, 1927 to the late Francis & Marie (Donovan) Cahoon. She graduated from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Melrose and went on to earn her Nursing Diploma at Boston City Hospital as an RN. She worked for many years as an RN providing specialized pediatric care at the Beverly Hospital while bringing up a growing family of seven children with her husband Jim of 72 years. Marie was active in St. Mary’s Church Sodality while living in Beverly and attended many of her children’s sporting, church, and school activities especially hockey games and St Mary’s Cardinals Drum Corps Competitions. Having enjoyed over 30 years of summer Cape Cod family vacations on Sheep Pond, Marie and Jim made Brewster their primary home on Cape Cod in 1987. She was a devout Catholic Christian and continued to serve in a variety of La Salette ministries at Our Lady of the Cape Parish for many years including: Ladies Guild, Prayer Group, Eucharistic Minister, Thrift Shop Volunteer and Coordinator of Sunday Mass Social Gatherings. Marie was the matriarch of the Sutherland Clan and carried the torch following the death of her husband Jim in 2019. She is survived by her children including: Jeanne M Michael of Wakefield, Joan M Sutherland of Brewster, John M Sutherland and Susan Spear of Salem, Judith M Sutherland of Brewster, Janet M Rallo and her husband Paul of Danvers, J Michael Sutherland and his wife Rayelle of Beverly, and her daughter-in-law Candy Sutherland, wife of pre-deceased son, James M Sutherland III (Tripp) of Vernon, CT. She leaves the legacy of three generations affectionately known as Grammy including 12 grandchildren: Katie, Kelley, Corey, Kerry, Jamie, Dianne, Kim, John Jr, Danielle, Kaleigh, Luke & Megan; and 25 beautiful great grandchildren plus numerous nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, June 9, at 11 am at Our Lady of the Cape Church in Brewster. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. Burial services will be private.³

Children of Marie Theresa Cahoon and James Milne Sutherland Jr.

Jeanne Marie Sutherland+
James Milne Sutherland III+ b. 7 Mar 1949, d. 16 Jun 2012
Joan Meredith Sutherland
John Malcolm Sutherland+
Judith Martha Sutherland
Janet Mary Sutherland+
Jude Michael Sutherland+

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1927, v.74, p.23.
New Hampshire City and Town Annual Reports, University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository, https://scholars.unh.edu/nh_town_reports/, (Antrim Town Report 1948, p.71).
Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass., Obituary of Marie T. (Cahoon) Sutherland, postged online 6 Jun 2023,. <https://www.capecodtimes.com/obituaries/pneo0502756

Jeanne Marie Sutherland

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland Jr. b. 11 Jan 1924, d. 10 Jul 2019

Mother

Marie Theresa Cahoon b. 27 Apr 1927, d. 3 Jun 2023

Last Edited

7 Apr 2023

Children of Jeanne Marie Sutherland and David Eugene Michael

James Milne Sutherland III

M, b. 7 March 1949, d. 16 June 2012

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland Jr. b. 11 Jan 1924, d. 10 Jul 2019

Mother

Marie Theresa Cahoon b. 27 Apr 1927, d. 3 Jun 2023

Last Edited

7 Apr 2023

Birth*

James Milne Sutherland III was born on 7 March 1949 in Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island^G. He got the nickname of "Tripp", short for "Triple", because he is James Milne Sutherland the third.

Death*

He died of pancreatic cancer on 16 June 2012 at home in Vernon, Tolland County, Connecticut^G.¹

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sutherland-10460.

His obituary appeared on the website of the Carmon Community Funeral Homes in Vernon and read as follows:

James "Tripp" Sutherland, III, 63, of Vernon, loving husband of 41 years to Candace (Thompson) Sutherland, passed away at home with his family by his side on Saturday, June 16, 2012 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Born in Providence, RI, the son of James Jr. and Marie (Cahoon) Sutherland of Brewster, MA, he grew up in Beverly, MA and moved to Vernon over 32 years ago. His home away from home was Brewster on Cape Cod. He graduated from Beverly High School in 1967 and from Norwich University in Northfield, VT in 1971. Tripp served in the U. S. Army Reserves from 1971-1975. He was a PE teacher before becoming self-employed as a home improvement contractor. Tripp was a member of St. Bernard Church in Rockville. He was active with Norwich University Alumni and Blue Line Club. Though he loved all sports, Boston teams in particular, Tripp's passion was playing and coaching hockey. He enjoyed spending quality time with his many, many wonderful friends. Tripp was a family man affectionately known as "Papa" by his nine grandchildren. In addition to his wife and parents, Tripp is survived by his son Corey and his wife Bridget of Vernon and their children, Ross, Samuel Tripp, and twins Weston and Maxwell; his daughter Kerry Visone and her husband Jeremy of Cromwell and their children, Austun James, Karly, and Courtney; and his son James, IV and his wife Dawn-Marie of North Grafton, MA and their children, Adeline and Quinn James. He is also survived by two brothers, John Sutherland of Marblehead, MA and J. Michael Sutherland of Salem, MA, and four sisters, Jeanne Michael of Danvers, MA, Joan Sutherland of Brewster, MA, Judith Sutherland of Dennisport, MA, and Janet Rallo and her husband Paul of Danvers, MA. He had nine nieces and nephews and nine great nieces and great nephews. Calling hours are Thursday, June 21 from 4-8 p.m. at the Ladd-Turkington & Carmon Funeral Home, 551 Talcottville Road, in Vernon. A Funeral Mass will be held Friday, June 22 at 1 p.m. at St. Bernard Church in Rockville. A private burial will be held on Cape Cod.¹

Children of James Milne Sutherland III and Candace Foster Thompson

Citations

Website Source: Obituary of James Tripp Sutherland, III, website of Carmon Community Funeral Homes, <https://www.carmonfuneralhome.com/obituary/James-Tripp-Sutherland-III/Vernon-CT/1081375>, date viewed 5 Jan 2019.

Joan Meredith Sutherland

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland Jr. b. 11 Jan 1924, d. 10 Jul 2019

Mother

Marie Theresa Cahoon b. 27 Apr 1927, d. 3 Jun 2023

Last Edited

15 Mar 2023

Janet Mary Sutherland

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland Jr. b. 11 Jan 1924, d. 10 Jul 2019

Mother

Marie Theresa Cahoon b. 27 Apr 1927, d. 3 Jun 2023

Last Edited

15 Mar 2023

Children of Janet Mary Sutherland and Paul William Rallo

John Malcolm Sutherland

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland Jr. b. 11 Jan 1924, d. 10 Jul 2019

Mother

Marie Theresa Cahoon b. 27 Apr 1927, d. 3 Jun 2023

Last Edited

7 Apr 2023

Children of John Malcolm Sutherland and Louise Evelyn Casey

Judith Martha Sutherland

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

James Milne Sutherland Jr. b. 11 Jan 1924, d. 10 Jul 2019

Mother

Marie Theresa Cahoon b. 27 Apr 1927, d. 3 Jun 2023

Last Edited

15 Mar 2023

Mabel Viola Barbera

F, b. 12 June 1899, d. 23 April 1975

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Charles L. Barbera

Mother

Polly Durb

Last Edited

24 Mar 2024

Birth*

Mabel Viola Barbera was born on 12 June 1899 at home on Fells Court in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married Harry Joseph Aaron, son of Joseph Aaron and Carrie Elizabeth Schmelzer, on 12 March 1919 at 160 Florence Street, the minister's residence, in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.²

Death*

Mabel died of natural causes in her sleep on 23 April 1975 at home, 180 Linwood Avenue in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.³

Burial*

She was buried on 26 April 1975 in Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Barbera-243.

Children of Mabel Viola Barbera and Harry Joseph Aaron

Harry Joseph Aaron Jr.+ b. 15 Dec 1922, d. 3 Jun 1997
Barbara Jean Aaron b. 21 Oct 1924, d. 10 Dec 2003

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1899, v.485, p.322 ; and corrected record 1899, v.29, p.69.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1919, v.51, p.60.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1975, v.63, p.135.

Harry Joseph Aaron Jr.

M, b. 15 December 1922, d. 3 June 1997

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Harry Joseph Aaron b. 17 Jul 1897, d. 17 Jun 1986

Mother

Mabel Viola Barbera b. 12 Jun 1899, d. 23 Apr 1975

Last Edited

24 Mar 2024

Birth*

Harry Joseph Aaron Jr. was born on 15 December 1922 at the New England Sanitarium and Hospital in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

He married Anne Louise Staniski, daughter of Adalbert Staniszewski and Mary Anna Wolowiec or Boron, on 17 May 1947 at 21 East Foster Street in Melrose. They were married by Harry's father's first cousin, an unknown person.²

Death*

Harry died of a heart attack and non-Hodgkins lymphoma on 3 June 1997 at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.³

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aaron-1390.

Harry graduated from Melrose High School, and worked for a while at the Walker Beverage Company in Stoneham. He served in the Air Force during World War II as an engineer gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber in the 446th Bomb Group and participated in many bombing runs over Germany.

When they married in 1947 Harry was a salesman living with his parents at 251 W. Wyoming Avenue in Melrose and Anne was a "spotter" living at 24 Ashland Place in Melrose. They were married by Harry's father's first cousin Rev. H. Newton Clay. When their son Charlie was born in 1948 they were living at 11 Fields Court in Melrose and Harry was still a salesman. That same year they moved to Starks, Maine. Harry was a dairy farmer there for ten years and was also a Town Selectman for five years. Anne was the Town Treasurer for three years. In 1958 they moved to Forge Village, Westford, Mass. where Harry went to work for the Murray Printing Co. as an offset printing press operator. He retired in 1985 on a disability in his shoulders. He was a member of Mattawankee VFW, the American Legion, Chelmsford (Mass.) Elk's Club, Kiwanis and Aleppe Temple Shriners of Wilmington Mass. When Harry died in 1997 they were living at 37 East Prescott Street in Westford, Mass. His widow Anne was still there when she died in 2004.

His parents were living at 306 Washington Street in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G, when he was born.¹

Children of Harry Joseph Aaron Jr. and Anne Louise Staniski

Charles Edward Aaron b. 12 Dec 1948, d. 5 May 1970
Linda Ruth Aaron+
Joseph Albert Aaron+

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1922, v.123, p.241.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1947, v.84, p.233.
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, 1997, v.61, p.260.

Barbara Jean Aaron

F, b. 21 October 1924, d. 10 December 2003

This research is a work in progress, taken from sources of varying reliability. The information should be verified before being relied upon.

Father

Harry Joseph Aaron b. 17 Jul 1897, d. 17 Jun 1986

Mother

Mabel Viola Barbera b. 12 Jun 1899, d. 23 Apr 1975

Last Edited

14 Mar 2023

Birth*

Barbara Jean Aaron was born on 21 October 1924 at the New England Sanitarium and Hospital in Stoneham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G.¹

Marriage*

She married Donald Alexander Dougan, son of Alexander M. Dougan and Edna A. Schwartz, on 12 March 1954 in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida^G. They separated in 1961 and were divorced in 1964.^2,3

Death*

Barbara died on 10 December 2003 at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina^G.⁴

Burial*

She was buried at Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose.⁴

Https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aaron-1391.

When the 1950 census was taken whe was living with her parents at 11 Field's Court in Melrose and worked as a radio assembler in a radio manufacturing plant.

Her husband Donald was a Green Beret and they lived in Germany for a while when he was stationed there. Barbara lived in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina from 1966 to 1982. She moved to Surf City, N.C. in 1982 and lived there until her death in 2003.

Her parents were living at 233 Washington Street in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts^G, when she was born.¹

Her obituary appeared in the 14 December 2003 Wilmington Star-News and read as follows:

Barbara Jean Aaron, 79, of Topsail Beach, NC formerly of Melrose, died unexpectedly Wednesday, Dec. 10th at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina after a short illness. She was born in Stoneham daughter of the late Harry and Mabel Aaron. She was a resident of Melrose for several years until moving to Topsail, North Carolina. Barbara was best known as the operator and manager of the Old "Dock Side" at Wrightsville Beach. She lived on 6th Street in Topsail where she loved to crab fish and feed the ducks. She raised poodles most of her adult life. At the time of her death she resided at the Surf Condos at Topsail Beach. Mrs. Aaron was schooled in the Melrose School System in Massachusetts, where she excelled in sports. She was a champion swimmer at the age of 14, loved to snow ski and was on the first womens ice hockey team while in high school. Mrs. Aaron was preceded in death by her mother, Mabel; and father, Harry Aaron; a brother, Harry Aaron, Jr. She is survived by a niece, Linda Aaron Zambri Pahl and husband Rodney A. of Lowell, Mass; a nephew, Joseph Aaron of Westford, Mass; a sister-in-law, Anne Aaron, Westford, Mass. Also many nieces and nephews in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. A memorial service will be held in Melrose, Mass., at the Congregational Church. Interment in Wyoming Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center of Topsail Beach, NC. Arrangements by Robinson Funeral Home, 809 Main St. Melrose.⁴

Citations

Massachusetts Vital Records, Births, 1924, v.76, p.334.
Ancestry, http://www.ancestry.com, (Florida, U.S., Marriage Indexes, 1822-1875 and 1927-2001, <https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8784/images/FLMAR_0369-0005> ; North Carolina, U.S., Divorce Index, 1958-2004, <https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2754987:1115?ssrc=pt&tid=31494847&pid=18401859628>).
Correspondence from Linda Zambri-Pahl in Hudson, NH, letter dated 13 Feb 2006, says 12 Mar 1955, but Florida marriage index, which only gives year, says 1954..
Website Source: Obituary of Barbara Jean Aaron, Wilmington (N.C.) Star, online at www.wilmingtonstar.com, date viewed 24 Dec 2003.