Surnames: MAHONEY CROUCH BIRDSALL

----Source: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Wis.) 04/15/1926

Mahoney, Sarah (1841 - 6 Mar 1926)

On Wednesday morning the Times editor received a letter from R. W. Austin of Bowling Green, Ohio, informing us of the death of Mrs. Sarah Birdsall Mahoney. Mr. Austin, who is a nephew of Mrs. Mahoney, writes: "After several weeks have passed I find that I had forgotten to write to old friends of my aunt, so I am writing now, to tell you that she has been called to the Great Beyond. On Feb. 23rd she was taken with a light cold and this couple with chronic throat trouble, weakened her system. On March 4th she said she would recover soon and she looked so much better that we had hopes, but on March 6th at 9:30 a.m. She passed away without suffering. She was buried in the family lot in Bowling Green Cemetery on March 12th."

The foregoing will be read with deep regret by the few surviving pioneer settlers and their children in Chilton, Wis., and by friends at Wausau and Colby, Wis., where she made her home for some years. Sarah Birdsall Mahoney was a native of Michigan, where she was born in the summer of 1841. When a girl in her teens she came to Chilton to visit her sister, the late Mrs. John Crouch, who lived on a farm two miles west of this city on what was known as the Bennett road. She was an intellectual young woman and secured a position as teacher in the village school in the late fifties. While teaching she made her home with the late Mr. and Mrs. John P. Hume for several years and after her school work was over, assisted the Times office as a typesetter. She followed the teaching profession until her marriage to the alt William Mahoney, a civil war veteran, who enlisted in Co. K of the Fourth Wis. Cavalry, while employed in the Times office. On Nov. 4, 1869 Sarah Birdsall and William Mahoney were married at the home of John Rowell in Chilton by Rev. Fr. Andolschek, pastor of St. Augustine's Church and they began housekeeping over Mr. Mahoney's drug store, which stood on Main Street, where the harness shop of John J. Weber now stands. They later sold out their business and located at Colby, Wis., where Mr. Mahoney was in business for several years and then moved to Wausau, Wis. Her husband was chief of police of that city for a term of years and also in the early nineties held a position under Governor George W. Peck, who served in the same regiment. They were parents of two daughters, both dying in young womanhood. After the death of her husband Mrs. Mahoney remained at Wausau until 1910, when she went ot Michigan to live with relatives and has since made that state and Ohio her home, principally with Mrs. Austin and her son.

She was the Times editor's first teacher and we have kept in touch with her since she gave us our first instructions and do not hesitate to say that she will get her reward on high.

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Response--Obit: Mahoney, Sarah (1841 - 1926)

I just located your message aboaut Sarah BIRDSALL MAHONEY. Her sister, Cynthia BIRDSALL (Mrs. John CROUCH) was my gg grandmother. I was wondering if you know how Sarah BIRDSALL is related to Mrs. AUSTIN and son R. W. Were they sisters? I have searched for a long time looking for clues about Cynthia. I thank you very much for your posting. Maureen

Response--Obit: Mahoney, Sarah (1841 - 1926)

Maureen, A group of volunteers is posting obituaries from old Clark County Newspapers to the website. This is one that was posted by me from the Colby Phonograph. Sorry to say, I am not related, so am not able to answer your question. Stan Schwarze