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James McAuley
JAMES MCAULEY, late of Boggs township, had lived on his farm there for
almost fifty years at the time of his death. He was a native of Ireland, born
July 28, 1828, in County Antrim, Province of Ulster, son of Henry and Martha
(McIntire) McAuley, Scotch Irish people who lived and died in Ireland. They
left only one child. The father was a weaver of fine linen.The father had two brothers, John and James, and one sister, Mrs. Mary
Mitchell, the latter being the only one of the family to come to America. She
and her husband settled in Ohio.James McAuley received his early education in Ireland. His parents having
died, he came to America at the age of seventeen, joining some friends in
Pittsburgh who had written him of the opportunities to be found in the new
land. He worked in farms about what was then the village of Mechanicsburg, now
Verona, and studied under Prof. Samuel Jones until he became fitted to take up
the profession of school teacher, which he followed for a number of years. On
March 29, 1855, he married in Pittsburgh Cornelia Remaley, and on April 5th
they went to Ohio, settling on a small farm near Lucasville, where Mr. McAuley
had previously taught school. After a residence of a year and a half they sold
out and returned to Pennsylvania, settling December 10, 1857, on the farm in
Boggs Township, Armstrong County, which was ever afterward his home, and where
his widow and three daughters resided for several years after his death. It is
situated on the south fork of Pine Creek. Mr. McAuley purchased a first tract
of 102 1/2 acres, on which a big log house was standing. That, however, was
the only improvement. The land was overgrown with brush, but he set bravely to
work, and not only succeeded in placing his original purchase under
cultivation, but bought another tract containing sixty one acres and a
fraction. As he prospered he put up new buildings, and the fine condition the
place attained under his intelligent management showed him to be a man of
resource and energy, as well as progressive ideas. He became a well known
citizen of Armstrong County, having served a s tax collector for many years
from 1869, and was quite prominent in the work of the Democratic Party. While
he and his wife were living in Ohio he was instrumental in organizing the
church there, and after settling in Boggs township was prominently identified
with the United Presbyterian Church, being an elder in the Mount Zion Church.
He died at his home, April 21, 1907.The following children were born to James and Cornelia (Remaley) McAuley,
Martha, Mary, Susan, Margaret, Minerva, Elvira, Isabella, Robert James, and
Sara Orie. Mary died when but five years of age, and Isabella in June, 1913,
at the age of forty-four. Susan and Sara Orie remain with their mother. The
other members of the family all married, and reside in different parts of
Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. McAuley appreciated the advantage of an education.
In the early years of their married life, after the toils of the day were
over, they made their home like a school, and as a result of their teaching
all their children enjoyed the a liberal education, several of them becoming
prominent teachers.George Remaley, son of George and Katie (Richards) Remaley and father of
Mrs. McAuley, married Mary Hoffer and they became the parents of six children:
John, Susan, Jacob, Catherine, Cornelia (born March 17, 1833, at Springdale,
Allegheny Co., PA., now the widow of James McAuley), James. Mrs. McAuley was
but 21/2 years old when her mother died, and her father died in the prime of
his life, when only forty four years old. At the death of her mother she went
to live with her aunt, Mrs. Susan (Hoffer) Wright, of Pittsburgh, where she
resided until her marriage.Source: Pages 890-891, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed November 1998 by Nanci Michalkiewicz for the Armstrong County
Beers Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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