Mary McMenamin Slingsby was a teacher and accountant from County Donegal, Ireland. The oldest daughter in her family, she attended Loretta Convent in Letter Kenny, Ireland. In 1867, she immigrated alone to New York City. She spent three months in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before traveling by water to San Francisco via Nicaragua. From San Francisco, she traveled to Marysville, and then hired a stagecoach to drive her to Dobbins, where she arrived in September 1867. After graduating from Notre Dame Catholic School in Marysville, she became a teacher in the Dobbins public schools from 1872 to 1873. In 1873, she opened the Smartsville public school, where she taught until 1881. She then taught at Dobbins again for one term, before taking a position at Sacred Heart Academy in Ukiah until 1885.

She returned to Dobbins in 1885, and the following year, she married William Slingsby in Marysville. William Slingsby had immigrated from England in 1858 and worked as a gold miner before becoming a merchant in Dobbins. After their marriage, Mary took charge of the accounting department at her husband's store, frequently working 12- to 16-hour days there. In this capacity, she packed gold dust in sacks and shipped it to the San Francisco mint. She also attended to all of the household duties herself. William Slingsby died in 1909.

Links

Mrs. Mary Slingsby from History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, 1924