HOGAN, WILLIAM JAMES (1872-1936)

HOGAN, WILLIAM JAMES, blacksmith and undertaker; b. North Esk parish, 1872 (bap. 10 Nov 1872), s/o Patrick Hogan and Mary Hyland; m. Annie Lawlor, d/o John Lawlor and Mary Ann Power, of Red Bank; d. Newcastle, 8 Apr 1936.

After spending five years in Portland, Oregon, William J. Hogan returned to the Miramichi in 1907 and opened a blacksmith and carriage repair shop in the former Hecla Foundry building in Newcastle. In 1910, in collaboration with Ernest A. Mullin, he also introduced an undertaking service. The partnership was dissolved the next year. He continued in the undertaking field on his own, but in 1916 he sold the business to Maher Bros of Chatham.

In 1919 "heavy logging sleds" were the advertised specialty of Hogan's blacksmith shop. The shop was still in operation in 1933, with a hired blacksmith in charge. Meanwhile, in the 1920s, Hogan was again advertising an undertaking business in Newcastle, and it would seem that he kept both businesses going for the remainder of his life. He was survived in 1936 by his wife, Annie Lawlor, four daughters, and four sons. His son James L. Hogan later had a successful undertaking business in Bathurst.