Sunday's Obituary/William McGinty

    Today's post is about Bill McGinty, the husband of my 3rd great aunt Sarah Jane O'Hora.

Shortsville, NY Enterprise, January 18, 1934
WILLIAM McGINTY DIES ON FRIDAY LAST
      Shortsville has lost another of its old "characters" in the person of William McGinty, who died on Friday at the Ontario County Home, Hopewell. He was aged 73 years. William McGinty was born in Shortsville during the year 1861, to Owen and Margaret Murphy McGinty. He was married in 1894 to Miss Sarah O'Hora of Shortsville, who soon became invalided by rheumatism and died seven years after their union. The marriage took place at the old Harrington Hotel, which formerly occupied the plot where the bandstand now is.
     Bill, as he was familiarly known to all, was by trade, a moulder and worked for years in that capacity for the Empire Drill Company. For many years he had made in his home in the little house at the intersection of High street and Pioneer Road.
    For many years Bill had been an invalid, being a great sufferer from asthma. Yet that did not interfere with his good nature. He had always been a favorite with the boys of the village, and the writer recalls well of being entertained by Bill's poems and wise cracks. He was removed to the County Home last November. So far as we are able to learn, there are no survivors. Funeral services took place Monday morning at 9:30 o'clock, from St. Dominic's church, conducted by the pastor, the Rev. John E. Napier. The remains were laid at rest in St. Rose Cemetery.

      As they are wont to do, the editors got a few details wrong. The marriage took place in 1889 not 1894 so they had a thirteen year marriage, still tragically short, and they were married in Clifton Springs, New York at the residence of Sarah's priest Father Lee, not at a hotel.  One thing they got right was the "character" part.  

     When I first began seeking my O'Hora family I spoke with the Shortsville historian, an elderly lady who was very helpful, even letting me take irreplaceable old photos to the copy shop. As we discussed my family, William's name came up.  She smiled broadly and told me that when she was a girl, "Bill", then himself an elderly man, used to be the guard at the railroad crossing in Shortsville.  The photo above was taken by someone standing on Main Street, where Bill would have stood.  She went on to relate how he used to entertain the children with funny stories and how they loved to visit the crossing to see him.  Uncle Bill is definitely on my "I wish I could have known them" list.