(submitted by Ann Tonge)
Thomas Callaghan (1875–1956) was born in Adelaide Twp., the ninth child of Terrance and Catherine (Dowling) Callaghan. In 1909 Tom married Ann Jane (Jennie, 1883–1969) Comiskey. They had seven children, two of whom died in infancy. After working on the family farm in Adelaide they moved to Erie St. in Watford around 1915.
Tom was a cattle driver and once was paid with a cheque that had his name spelled wrong, without the “g”. From then on the name was known as Callahan.
Tom and Ann Jane's son Joseph Clare Callaghan (1920–1995) was born in Watford. He was nicknamed “Tim”. During World War II he was trained as a mechanic and repaired airplanes and army vehicles. When he returned to Watford he worked at Wallis Motors and then started his own business. He rented the White Rose Garage and the attached home at the corner of Nauvoo Road and Confederation Line from Canadian Oil.
In 1948 Tim married Margaret J. Hannon from Toronto. They met at a funeral at the Catholic Church Cemetery in Watford. They had seven children: Michael, Stephen, Mary, twins Catherine and Thomas, Peter and Lisa. Tim would do extra repairs and body work for Wallis Motors in the White Rose Garage. They had a German Shepherd dog at the garage. This led him into a business of raising dogs. The Callahans left Watford in 1958 and moved to Sarnia where Tim worked at Polysar as a mechanic for 25 years.
Thomas Callaghan's brother James Edmund Callaghan (–1962) married Olivia “Livia” Saunders (–1950), daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Whitcroft) Saunders, in 1911. As a young man James operated liveries in Arkona and Petrolia. In 1912 he purchased the memorial stone business of the late John Livingstone on the corner of Erie and Main St. in Watford. It was an old brick house across from the library, formerly the millinery run by Miss Eliza Minielly in the 1890s.
Olivia Callaghan continued to run the millinery shop in front of the house. James and Olivia had one son, Clarence (1912–2000). James lost his sight in 1918 when he was hit by a splinter while engraving a headstone. The family is buried in the St. James Anglican Cemetery.
Chapter 24 of 25 - Callaghan-Callahan
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