William J. Mahoney
As one of the able and representative members of the bar of Lawrence County, Ohio, Mr. Mahoney is entitled to specific recognition in this history, as he is also by reason of his status as a broad-minded, loyal and public-spirited citizen of sterling character and high ideals. He is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the City of Ironton, the judicial center of Lawrence County, and his clientage indicates in its personnel and importance the popular estimate placed upon his ability as a resourceful advocate and well fortified counselor.
Mr. Mahoney claims the fair old Emerald Isle as the place of his nativity, and in both the agnatic and maternal lines he is a scion of the stanchest of Irish stock. He was born in County Wexford, Ireland, on the 14th of June, 1862, and is a son of Patrick and Elizabeth Mahoney, the former of whom was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1834, and the latter County Wexford, Ireland, in 1839. Patrick Mahoney served as a captain in the British army during his lifetime, and was district inspector of Irish troops and police for the Province of Leinster, where his death occurred in 1894. The mother of him whose name initiates this review was summoned to the life eternal in 1868, when he was a lad of about six years. Of the children William; J. is the elder of the two now living, his brother Thomas when at home being a resident of Dublin, Ireland, being now in the diplomatic service of the British government. Three children are deceased, two sons and one daughter.
In a private school in his native land William J. Mahoney acquired his early educational discipline, and he there also attended the preparatory department of a college. At the age of ten years he came to the United States, and settlement was made at Center Station, Lawrence County, Ohio, where he spent two years, and was reared to adult age in fronton, Ohio, being there afforded the advantages of the public schools. He made good use of his scholastic privileges, and for two and one-half years was numbered among the successful teachers of the district schools, besides which he worked in various iron furnaces in the States of Virginia and Tennessee, having charge of iron plants as manager and in other capacities. His ambition led him to form definite plans for his future career, and after deciding to adopt the legal profession he entered the law department of Washington University at Lexington, Virginia, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. Since the time of his graduation Mr. Mahoney has been engaged as a teacher and instructor in law and has practiced his profession for varying intervals in Virginia, Washington, Ohio and other states. He has been one of the leading representatives of his profession in Lawrence County, Ohio, since 1908. He controls a large and important law business and has appeared in connection with much notable litigation in the various courts of this section of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Mr. Mahoney is independent in his political opinions. He is well fortified in his conviction concerning economic measures and government policies, as he is a close student of the questions and issues of the hour, as well as of the best in general literature, including that of his profession.
In the year 1885 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mahoney to Miss Ella Scherer, who was born in Ironton, Ohio, April 14, 1862, a daughter of Michael Scherer, a pioneer in Ironton business circles. Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney have two children, Elizabeth and John L. The daughter is now the wife of Henry Horschel, of Ironton, and they have one son, William E. M., their daughter, Henrietta, having died in childhood. John L. Mahoney is unmarried and resides in Oklahoma.
From "A Standing History of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio" by Eugene B. Willard, Daniel W. Williams, George O. Newman and Charles B. Taylor. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, 1916