The earliest story of the family is that they originally lived in Ireland, and their name at that time was O'Hearn. It is said that they crossed over to Scotland, going in the night - whether they sailed or rowed I don't know, but it is not too far from the northern tip of Ireland for them to reach the west coast of Scotland. It was my understanding they were in a Catholic country altho they were Protestants, and went to Scotland because it was primarily Protestant. (That may account for the violent "Orangeman" attitude exhibited by members of the family many, many years later.

While living in Scotland one of the Hearns boys (I don't know when the "O" was dropped and the "s" added) married a Scottish woman, a Lady Jane Grey. (I used to make my mother mad by saying: "How do you know she was a lady?" and she always insisted that she was a Lady with a capital L. Lady Jane received from her father for a wedding present, a garnet necklace. More about the necklace later.

There was a gap in the story about when and where they came to America, and the story takes up again at the time of the American Revolution.

The Hearns were sympathetic with the King of England, were Tories in other words and the rebels making it too hot for them in New York, they formed a party or perhaps joined a party going to Canada. They went on foot across the Adirondack Mountains and suffered considerable hardship on the way. They were driving some cattle and the milk was reserved for babies and young mothers. They were joined by a Frenchman who caught a small fish and was so hungry he ate it raw.

They came to the banks of the St. Lawrence River. There were said to be four brothers, and one elected to stay in New York State, near Canton, N. Y. When I was a young girl a Mr. Hearn, an undertaker from Canton, N. Y., called on my mother and they discussed the family history. Mr. Hearn said that the ones who crossed to Canada for many years visited the one in Canton, crossing on the ice at times the river froze over but eventually they lost touch.

My mother said that at one time her grandfather lived in Glen Burnie, which is just outside Kingston, Ont. She herself was born at Napanee, in a brick house on flat land near the river. One time we went to Napanee and took her along the river road and she saw the house, two-story red brick. We also saw the Huyck house, higher on the hill - a square house built of heavy timbers, one story. There were some suspicious circumstances regarding the death of George Huyck's mother and he and his wife were very nervous about something about the house. One night when mother's father (Jason) and his wife and one daughter were spending the evening the daughter saw an old lady in the woodshed, and when she came back into the kitchen she asked what became of the old lady, and the Huycks were very upset. She had evidently seen a "ghost."

Well, that Jason, who was my mother's father, and Catharine, his wife, had a full house of children. Willena was the oldest girl. After that they had another girl who eventually married and went to California and whose name I can not remember. Then Nancy and Jerusha, Jason, Katharine, and Sarah. This Jason was my cousin Olive's father, and when the children were quite young the whole family moved to Parham, which is in Hinchinbroke County in Ontario

They moved from Napanee to Parham by sleigh, toward the end of winter, unloaded the sleigh and returned to Napanee for another load, leaving young Jason, one of the other girls ( forget which) and my mother. Came a big thaw and the roads were in such a terrible condition they were unable to return to Parham, so the three children. were alone for a month. However, Jason was big enough to shoot and provide them with meat and they had one neighbor about a mile away.

Olive can tell you about life on the farm and her brothers.

I will tell you about what happened to the "girls".

Willena married a Thomas Wager, lived in Moscorv, Ont. at the time of her death. Nancy married a Jay McKenzie and lived in Saginaw, Mich. Jerusha married a man named Hicks. Sarah married a man named Babcock, who died at their farm in Canada. Sarah finally moved to Watertown, N. Y. She had two children, Lois Edith and Fred. Edith is dead.

The girl whose name I can't recall had two children, one of whom was named Mehetibal (!) and called herself Heta. She married a Reuben Shipman and they lived in Napanee. They had the old family Bible with a record of the family which someone in the family wanted to have, but they refused to give it up. Both Heta and Rube are dead and what happened to the Bible is anybody's guess.

One time when Leonard and I were visiting the Fred Babcocks I asked Fred if he had ever heard from his mother the story of the O'Hearns leaving Ireland and his wife had evidently never heard it - she glared and bristled - and after a sidewise glance at her, Fred said he had heard of "but didn't put much stock in it", and in the interests of peace the subject was dropped, like a hot potato.

Now to go back to the garnet necklace of Lady Jane Grey. When my mother was a girl the necklace consisted of five strands of tiny garnet beads, long enough to go round the neck and almost to the waist, Well, Jerusha wore the necklace one afternoon going for a buggy ride with a young man, and perhaps some necking was being done. Anyway the necklace was broken and when it came down to me, there were just enough beads for a three-strand choker.

My Aunt Willena being the oldest daughter had had the necklace. I always felt that it should not have come to me but to Aunt Sarah’s Edith. So when Edith’s daughter and family visited me here in Florida, I gave her the necklace as she had a little girl to whom it could go. Edith’s daughter name is Wilburta. She is now Mrs. Francis Dayshaw and lives in Norwalk, California.

My mother, Catherine Gertrude married Jenckes Perkins Thomson in 1885. Where the Holland Dutch ancestry started, I don’t know but I think the Kellers and the Huycks were definitely Holland Dutch, maybe dating from the days when New York was New Amsterdam (Netherlands).

There is still property in New York that date from very old times. When my mother was a girl and lived near Uncle George Huyck, his wife was called "Aunt Polly". I think the following story came from the Mr. Hearns from Canton who called on my mother. He said that years after the Revolution, some lawyers came from New York and saw the oldest head of the Hearns family who had emigrated from New York. They brought with them papers and if he would sign them, they would restore the family property left behind in New York. This he refused to do saying he had to undergo such hardships and hard work to get where he was that day that his sons could do the same. If he had signed, who knows - we might all be rich today!

I remember Olive’s mother. We visited there while she was sick with “yellow jaundice” from which she died. I remember riding in from the field on a load of barley. Uncle Jason asked me if I wanted to ride and I misread the twinkle in his eye. I rode with Olive, Sidney and Alfred walking alongside eyeing me and waiting for me to complain abou the barley spikes sticking into my legs and into the place were you 'sitdown".

I remember lots of details, they say as you get older you remember things that happened in your youth better than more recent things.

One last thing, I wish families would keep a real record of what happens and see that it is passed on to following generations. I was glad to be able to do this for someone who is interested and regret that I can not tell you more".