The Nugents will never forget their heritage.
Spread across California, the Nugents represent one line of descendants from the Leonard family, pioneers who arrived in Nevada County in the Gold Rush of the 1850s and settled along the South Yuba River.
On Saturday, the Nugents honored their ancestors by restoring their grave sites at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery in Grass Valley; the markers had been vandalized some years ago. The site was blessed by the Rev. Cecilio Tupasi of St. Patrick’s Parish.
“When I realized that they no longer had a tomb stone, I organized the family to get another one,” said the Leonards’ great-grandson, David Nugent.
Nugent, who resides in San Francisco, has been researching his family for the last 10 to 15 years. He’s traveled to Ireland six times to trace his roots and has written a book about what he has found, “A Thousand Year Journey: From France to Ireland to California.”
David Nugent traced his Nevada County roots to Thomas Leonard and Sarah Browne Leonard, natives of Ireland who had lived in Philadelphia. Sarah died in 1893 and Thomas in 1909, both at age 90.
Editor’s note: Read the full story in The Union.
