Obit: Silsbey, Marilla (1848 - 1939)

Contact:  Crystal Wendt
Email: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Silsbey, Ludington, Mason, Bacon

----Sources: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) Thurs., 29 June 1939

Silsbey, Marilla (11 April 1848 - 23 June 1939)

Mrs. Marilla Silsbey passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Minnie Ludington, of Elkhart, Indiana, on Friday, June 23, a few minutes proceeding the midnight hour. Mr. Silsbey had been confined to her bed for almost fourteen weeks after fracturing her hip in a fall.

Christian Science Services were conducted at the Charles Walley Funeral Home at Elkhart Sunday at two p.m., with burial rites at the grave in Neillsville cemetery, where the remains were laid at rest besides her husband.

Marilla Mason was born at Troy City, New York, April 11, 1848, to Marvin and Susanna Mason. When she was six years of age her parents moved to Manitowoc county where she grew to womanhood and where she assumed her share of the hard work connected with clearing the cultivating a farm.

On February 29, 1868, she was married to Joseph E. Silsbey. They came to Clark County in 1873, setting at Humbird where Mr. Silsbey worked on farms. Lter they moved to Hewettville where they took up a homestead and where they lived until the fire which destroyed the village in 1886. They then came to Neillsville where Mr. Silsbey worked for James Hewett on the farm which is still in the Hewett family.

Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Silsbey: Ellis W. and Minnie, the latter being the only survivor of the Silsbey family. Mrs. Silsbey is also survived by one brother, Charles Mason of Neenah, Wisconsin.

For a number of years after the death of her husband in 1915, Mrs. Silsbey remained in the home along. In 1919 she gave up housekeeping and went to Elkhart to make her home with her daughter, but as long as she was able, she returned to Neillsville for the summer months. Mrs. Silsbey was noted for her ability as a housekeeper and was also an expert cook. For years she fired doughnuts for special customers, the excellency of which became known throughout the city. There are many residents who will remember the rows golden doughnuts lined on the breadboard in spic-and-span kitchen and the pleasant smile of the be-aproned artist who kept it so.

She was a charter member of Charles G. Bacon, W. R. C.

In attendance at the rites from out-of-town were: Mrs. Ludington, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mason and a sister-in-law, Mrs. Bertha Mason, and two daughters of Stanley.