In Albion, Wis., Nov. 15, 1886, of pleuro-pneumonia, Mary A., eldest daughter of Ezekiel Saunders, deceased, and widow of Henry M. Sheldon. She was born in Potter Hill, R. I., March 24, 1823. When four years of age, her parents moved to Alfred, N. Y. At about the age of fourteen years she embraced religion, and with about forty others was baptized by Eld. Stillman Coon, and united with the First Alfred Church. January 24, 1848 she was married to Henry M. Sheldon, who departed this life Nov. 3, 1880. In the spring of 1855 she with her husband, moved to Albion, Wisconsin, where she became a member of the Albion Church.
She was the mother of seven children, four sons and three daughters. Three of the former preceded her to the spirit land while one son and the daughters, one of whom has been an invalid for many years, are left to mourn their loss. Her life was quiet and unselfish. She believed more in doing than in talking. One of the expressions she frequently made was, 'I hope I can help someone today.' Her nearest neighbor said of her, she knew no one to whom the words 'She hath done what she could,' more appropriately applied. It was always her delight to seek out the poor and needy ones, and help them in every way she could. She, with her children, were among the first to respond with a liberal contribution when the call for means to lift the debt of our Societies was made.
When she learned the nature of her disease and the probability of a fatal termination, she replied, 'It is just as well.' She afterwards became unconscious to material things and passed away into the abode of the blest. 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.' 'Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.'
