The death has been recorded of
Mrs. Margaret Mahoney, at the home of her daughter, just east of
Tillsonburg, aged 103 years.
The late Mrs. Mahoney, whose
maiden name was Salina Gilbert, was born in 1807 in Long Point. When six
months old she moved with her parents to Springfield, where until a few
months ago she resided.
Her husband has long since passed to the great
beyond, but a son and one daughter are still left, and are now well up in
years. Until about four years ago the old lade kept house for her son, but
at that time her son died, and Mrs. Mahoney has since resided with her
daughter, Mrs. Cooper, of the 11th Concession of Dereham.
During the last years of her long
life the deceased lady was very active, and it was with great difficulty
that she was compelled by her daughter to cease labor and spend the autumn
of her life in peace and quietness.
At a celebration held in Springfield
Baptist Church on the occasion of Mrs. Mahoney's 100th birthday, the old
lady performed a feat which is seldom accomplished, even by those many
years her junior. Before a crowd of some 500 friends she finished knitting
a pair of stockings which she had been working on at her home. The task
was the more remarkable in that the venerable lady worked without the aid
of glasses. When asked by a friend how she managed to see to do the work,
she simply replied that it was easy enough for anybody who took care of
their eyes in their yonger days.
In her last years the old lady
would be seen at frequent intervals driving along the country roads in a
buggy and many used to remark on the way she handled the animal which she
was driving.
Mrs. Mahoney could tell more about
what happened in this country during the last 100 years that anybody else
in this section of the province, and she delighted in telling her friends
the tales of the pioneer days when a settler had to hew out a home for
himself in the forest.
