Rachel (Lyons) Woodhouse

                                                 Rachel Lyons Woodhouse        

            During Rachel's early years in Wisconsin, Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States__he was the first president to ride a railroad train. Although the Lyons family still had to contend with indians, most of them by this time had moved west of the Mississippi River.  In the same year as the young Lyons girls and their mother entered the state of Wisconsin, Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were killed in the famous siege of the Alamo in Texas' struggle for  independence from Mexico.        

 

            Rachel was born in Manchester, England on April 11, 1832 the fourth daughter of John and Mary Lyons.  Rachel's birth came just a few months after her father's departure from England, leaving the family, in order to make a new start in America.   Rachel, at the age of two, with her mother, and three older sisters set sail for America to meet Rachel's father, John.   They were six weeks at sea when they encountered a bad storm.  Even the sailors thought all would be lost.  They had all been very sick during the long journey and arrived feeling frightened, bewildered, and unsure of what the future would hold.  They had left a secure and comfortable life in England to come to America at their father's request, and must have often wondered why.  When they arrived in New York, there was no one there to meet them.  Mother Mary soon arranged for their travel to Philadelphia where John's brother, Edward lived, and where they were certain John would also be.    

 

            Once in Philadelphia they found the home of Uncle Edward, but to their total dismay, they discovered that John during a drinking spree with friends had left the area and decided to move on to the west.  Mary and the girls remained in Philadelphia for two years before moving westward to meet John in Galena, Illinois and then on to Potosi, Wis.  Rachel was four years old before she first saw her father.  Their lives had been poverty_ridden while her mother attempted to provide for the girls in her father's absence, and their circumstances would become even more primitive in their new Wisconsin home.      

 

            Rachel and her family encountered many hardships in "Snake Hollow".  The local stores did not carry children's clothing for there were few children in the area.  In the beginning there were no schools or churches.  The miners in the area were heavy drinkers.  Their father John also drank heavily.  This caused much concern for the security of their family.   Despite the many hardships that were endured in this backwoods area, Rachel grew to womanhood here living at home with her parents.   

     Peter Woodhouse came back from California intending to marry Rachel's sister, Lizzie Lyons, an accomplished musician and vocalist.  He noticed her younger sister, Rachel, and writes as follows:  I thought Rachel (nicknamed "Rock") was very beautiful.  On one of my visits she was doing her mother's washing.  I was much more favorably impressed with that act than had she been performing on the piano and her mother doing the washing.  She seemed to be very fond of her mother, a sure indication that she would be a kind, loving and dutiful wife.     

 

     Rachel married Peter Woodhouse at the age of 25 on January 11, 1858.  They sent to Tafton (Bloomington__the town's name changed in 1867) for a minister and they were married at the home of John Clegg.     

 

            After their marriage they settled on their farm and began building a new house.  In that home, five children were born, Lillie, Rose, and two little baby girls that died in infancy.  (One died on the day she was born, and the other, one week after her birth.)  Soon after Milt was born, they moved to the village of Tafton (Bloomington) where their children could receive an education.  Bird and Bessie were born after the move to Bloomington.     

 

            Life, particularly her childhood, had been filled with adventure and difficulties.  Undoubtedly one of the most trying events of her life was the death of their young daughter Bessie who died at the age of 6 years. 

 

            Peter writes:  "...after years have rooled by I dare not in memory recall that sad scene, but that mother, and who can measure a mothers love, she who so often folded her in her arms, and pressed her to her bosom, how that poor hart was torn and lasserated, bourn down with grief and sorrow for her lamented Bessie;  but she is cherished in her memory, and as each summer rools around she gathers her sweetest and lovliest flowers and lays them on her grave, and often times watering them with her tears."  (The spelling is his own.)     

 

            Peter concludes, "I made no mistake when I married my wife.  She has proved herself to be a kind, gentle and dutiful wife and a loving and indulgent mother ever willing to sacrifice her own comforts to promote the happiness of her family."                  

 

     Peter and Rachel lived to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  They had a huge family picture taken at that time.  Two years later, Rachel died in their home, having lived in the village of Bloomington for 44 years.

 

            Taken from the "Bloomington Record", May 18, 1910, Peter Woodhouse writes the following regarding the passing of his wife, Rachel:  "We know not what a day may bring forth__sorrow, grief, and disaster may reach us in our happiest moments.  Sooner or later it reaches us all and it has reached our happy home.  On the 6th day of April my wife had been to attend a WCTU gathering.  She had been a faithful member of that order and she left her home in a happy mood in the early afternoon kissing me good_bye as she always had done even when she left for only a short time.  About five o'clock she returned feeling perfectly well.  She sat down in a chair near me and we had talked pleasantly for about 10 minutes when she raised her hands and uttered these two words, "Oh Pa."  In a moment I had her in my arms and begged her to speak to me, but no response came.  She had died as she had always wished to without a shadow of pain on her beautiful face.  It has overwhelmed us all in the deepest grief.   We can not look on that sweet and lovely face again; her voice and merry laugh are lost from us forever.  We have laid her away as she deserved to be, up in yonder cemetery where she is taking her last long sleep."    

     According to her obituary, "She always tried to look on the bright side of things, helping many people over times of disappointment with a cheerful smile or a pleasant word.  She was essentially a home person and took delight in making it cheerful and pleasant for those near and dear to her.  She delighted in visiting the homes of her children in and near Bloomington and with each visit came as a ray of sunshine into those homes.  She was a delight to her grandchildren and they loved her."     

    "She was nearly always found in church when time would permit.  She had been a Sunday School teacher for 55 years and a consistent member of the M.E. Church all that time.  Her class of little tots which she had charge of for several years     was her chief delight.  She acted as musical director for the church and was very active in the Women's Christian Temperance Union."        

 

            Although Rachel looked like her father, John, she manifested many of her mother's characteristics.   She was a strong family person, devoted to her children's development and happiness.  She was a strong Christian and dedicated worker in the church.  As a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union for many years, she actively opposed the use of alcohol.  Possibly her thinking was influenced by the fact that her father had been an alcoholic.  Her beliefs must also have been in conflict with her husband's whose occupation for many years involved the sale of liquor.