Story: James John Hogan (1886 - 1967)

From Arthur Lipscombe, added to this site 6 Dec 2000

Jimmy and Jack Hogan (my great-uncles), were twin brothers descendants of Irish catholic immigrants. Jimmy liked to boast that he was the elder, being born a short time before his brother. They were named John James Hogan and James John Hogan. This is interesting, because although names are often recycled in families, it is unusual for name-recycling in the one birth!

They lived most of their lives in Carlton, Vic, Australia. Jimmy was a barber and had a barber shop in Rathdowne St, Carlton with a dwelling above it. He had retired many years before I first knew him.

Jimmy never married. His brother Jack lived in a single-story terrace around the corner: you could go out the back gate of his house, down the lane, and be at his brother's back door in about 20 seconds.

I used to visit them with my parents when I was very young. I remember the long mirror in the front room of Jimmy's shop where he did his barbering. To get to it, you entered the main hallway of the house, and the shop was the first door on the left. There was a staircase next along the hallway and upstairs there were still gas-light fittings on the wall, (though they would not have been in use for half a century or so).