William Mahon was the son of James Mahon and Mary Boshart. James was a son of the Originals and was born in Ireland.
The spouse of William Mahon, Anna McDonald, and their child Charles, 8 years old, were returning to their family residing in Iron City, Michigan after spending Christmas with family in Renfrew County.
Unfortunately Anna and Charles didn't make it home. They were passengers on a CPR train, and involved in the Spanish River Train Wreck, that extinguished 43 lives. Two of those lives were Anna and Charles Mahon. They are buried in Iron City, Michigan where they had their home.
On January 21, 1910, a passenger train on its way from Montreal to Minneapolis left Sudbury around noon. Shortly after 1 p.m., after a brief stop at Nairn, the train was approaching the Spanish River bridge when tragedy struck.
Four cars of the seven-car train derailed. One car hit the bridge superstructure and split in two, with half going into the river and other half catching fire and burning on the bridge. Two other cars, with passengers, plunged through the ice into the river. The fourth rail passenger car turned on its side and came to rest on the embankment. Forty-three people lost their lives in this wreck. This was one of the worst in Canadian rail history.