The Shortstop

My great grandfather Henry J. Mahoney was six years old in 1869 when the National Association of Base Ball Players established a "professional" category.  His mother had just remarried that year after having been a widow for five years.  Henry was Bridget (Conroy Mahoney) McNulty's only surviving son, and her first child born on U.S. soil.   He had three older sisters, one younger sister, and would soon have two half-sisters.

The Boston Red Stockings dominated the newly formed professional leagues in those first seasons, and the popularity of the game was spreading rapidly. "Major League" more likely designated the size of the city, rather than the caliber of the players at that point, and  leagues of players were popping up all over the East Coast.  Henry was active in organizing the local Athletics team, became a fixture on the Blue Stockings, and later made a name for himself as one of the best known players in Middlesex county as a shortstop on the T.R&T. Nine.  It was said that he was offered a spot on a Major League team, but he declined.

Uncle Vinny remembers seeing pictures of his grandfather's teams, with most of the players sporting mustaches and gloves with the palms cut out for a better grip. It was during these playing days that Henry acquired a new moniker: "Steve".  Apparently, the nickname had something to do with his persistence in taking chances on the diamond.  Stealin' Steve Mahoney? Whatever the reason, it stuck.  He was also known in his playing days for colorful chatter to opposing fans in the stands.

Henry was a firefighter for his hometown of Billerica, MA. He was already serving as a volunteer when the town purchased their first steam engine, and he earned renown for being able to "get up steam" in 3 minutes.  In the 1940's he received a gold medal from his fellow firemen for 50 years of dedicated service, rarely missing a call out in all that time.

In 1883, at the age of 20, Henry married Mary Ella Ham (Ella, as she appeared on the census).  She was a local girl, same age, who lived with a well off Protestant family in town.  After the marriage, her parents disowned her - or at least, cut her out of the not-insignificant family will. Whether it was because Henry was Catholic, or Irish, or both isn't clear now.  But Henry and Ella went on to have five children.  Ella passed away not long after her last child, a son named James, was born.  The child James died soon after.

Within a few years, Henry was also to lose a cousin in what seemed to be a tragic accident.  Arthur Conroy was 28 when he was shot by a woman as he attempted to enter her home in the middle of the night.  Apparently he had been drinking and had mistaken the house for a friend's.  It was cold, he was drunk, and the last street car had left for the evening.  It is assumed that he thought he might ask his friend to spend the night.  However, the woman was home alone with small children, and believed that she was facing more than one intruder, as she heard Arthur talking to himself as he tried to get into her front door.  She shot him through the glass door, apparently at quite close range, and he died instantly.

Henry J. was a pall bearer for his cousin Arthur Conroy in 1899

The woman, Letitia Blennerhasset, was held on $1500 bail pending a trial for manslaughter.  I haven't yet discovered what the verdict was.

After Ella died, Henry J. was about 35 years old with four children to raise.  The youngest, Isabelle, was two years old.  He hired a series of housekeepers to assist, but one in particular was more than a hired hand.  Enter Catherine "Nonnie" Cain.  She became a surrogate mother to the Mahoney clan, and Henry married her a few years later. Nonnie went on to become a beloved grandparent to the next generation of Mahoneys.

 Henry J. aka Grandpa Steve (last on right) with Nonnie (center) 

and Isabelle's in-laws on Isabel's wedding day, 1923

And it was as a grandfather that "Steve" truly excelled. Vinny fondly remembers Grandpa Steve taking him as a child to the firehouse to try on helmets and show him the equipment.  And although he was often reproved for it by his son Frank (my granddad), Grandpa Steve enjoyed a pipe and beer on a regular basis.  As Vinny noted, it didn't seem to do him any harm, as he was one of the longer lived relatives of the day, reaching the ripe age of 78 when he died in 1942.

A popular song from the era of his birth (1863) was "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic".  Hits from the year he died included "American Patrol" and  "The White Cliffs of Dover".  He was born in the middle of the US Civil War, and died during WWII.  And in between he witnessed the advent of typewriter, telephone, combustion engine, the zeppelin, teddy bear, safety razors, the airplane, penicillin and bubble gum (in that order).  He died before the atom bomb, TV, and microwave ovens.