Almira Shannon (nee Bradshaw) was a widow with probably two small children. (The Bible records their death, but as their birth is not given and the dates do not fit, this assumption is made.) She came into the motherless Mason family of four children all under eight years of age. The next ten years of their married life saw six children born to them, five of whom died in infancy including still-born twins, and also the deaths of the two other children.
When the family moved to Richland County, Wisconsin in 1857 it consisted of Thomas’s four children by his first marriage. Margaret was born 2 April 1858. James Eddy Mason was born 1 March 1861 and lived to be ninety-four years, eight months and eighteen days old but Margaret died before her eighth birthday.
Almira Bradshaw was the daughter of James Bradshaw and Matilda Frances McMackin and was born in Wayne County, Illinois on 4 Sept. 1829. No record of her marriage to Mr. Shannon has been found as early Wayne County records were destroyed by fire. Her photographs show a calm, poised and thoughtful person. That she was deeply spiritual and inspired affection from relatives and friends alike is evidenced by her autograph album which was inscribed by many during the latter years of her life when she visited relatives in Illinois, Indiana and Kansas. These inscriptions are revealing in showing the mind and thought of those with whom she was associated. The album was a gift from R. H. Burns on Dec. 25, 1888. Excerpts from it follow:
Mrs. Walser, Dear Friend: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Your friend,
R. H. Burns.
Mount Erie, Ill., April the 23, 1889
Dear Sister: How I would love to see you once more in this life but if not permitted to meet on earth lets strive for to gain a home in that blest land where our loved ones await us. Your loving sister,
Lizzie Bradshaw
Dear Mother: We are all drifting into tomorrow. Today with us will be over. May we meet where the sunrise of Heaven Dawns clear on that beautiful Shore.
Rebecca Ferguson
Amboy, Kan. 11/9, 1890
Dear Mother: We may write our names in albums, We may trace them in the sand, We may chisle them in marble With a firm and steady hand But the pages soon are sullied Soon each name will fade away And each moment will crumble As all earthly things decay. But my Mother there is an album Filled with leaves of snowy white Where no names are ever tarnished And each page is ever bright. In the book of Life (God’s album) Where our Loved are penned with care And may we an unbroken family Find our names recorded there. The sentiments of your Affectionate Son. J. E. Mason
Richland Center, Mch 17th 89
Dear Sister: The voyage of life with you no doubt has been dotted with many trials and heartaches, but when you contemplate the great future and the preparations our Savior has made for our eternal happiness, and that the greater half of our family are now safely housed within the veil watching and waiting our coming may you with the poet be able to sing: “My hardest trials are are past, my triumphs have begun.”
Your brother, I. W. Bradshaw
Amboy, Kansas Nov. 9th, 1890
Dear Mother, That your last days may be your best and that you may be rewarded for all the good you have done here, is the wish of your daughter. Viola Mason
Mount Erie, Ill. April 22, 89
Dear Aunt: Drop a pearl in memory’s casket for me. Your Loveling Niece, Mamie B. Yohe
Indianapolis, Ind. Aug. 28, 92
Dear Sister: Once more we meet on Earth happy is the thought Sad will be the Farewell O may we meet again if not on earth O may we meet in Heaven.
Annie Bradshaw
Woodstock, Wis. Sep. the 4th 1894
Dear Friend Sister Walser: May this your birthday be a happy day and a day to be remembered by each of us and may we so live that we can meet on that heavenly shore where parting is no more is the sincere wish ofyour Friend Mary R. MickApparently
Almira Mason continued to live in Galesville after the death of her husband but no doubt there were trips back and forth to Woodstock, Richland County to visit her relatives there. Death continued to be a frequent visitor to the Mason family. Little “Maggie” only lived to be seven years old. A small stone in the Galesville cemetery indicates that she passed away 10 Jan. 1866. Sarah and Mahala, children of Thomas’s first marriage, were eighteen and sixteen at the time of his death. It appears that they may have married or returned to Illinois by this time as only James E. was with his mother when she married Henry T. Walser, a merchant and mill owner of Woodstock, on 20 Oct. 1866 and returned to that place to live. He applied for guardianship papers for James E. in 1867 but resigned that trust in 1877 when James Petitioned the Court that his uncle, Ira W. Bradshaw, be named guardian. As of that date, 23 Jan. 1878, James stated that he was the only living child of Thomas and Almira Mason. In his petition he also states that “the personal property of your petitioner now amounts to about the sum of eighteen hundred dollars ... in money and promissory notes.”
In 1866 Henry Walser and family had arrived in Woodstock, Wis., from Edwards Co., Ill., and purchased the general merchandise store there. His wife died the same year leaving him with a family of six, the youngest, Hiram H., six months older than James Mason. Again Almira assumed the responsibilities of raising two families. Another child was born to her but only the death is recorded on the tombstone in the Woodstock cemetery of Thomas Edgar, s. of H. T. and Almira Walser, Aug. 23, 1869.