Love and Marriage: Henry and Sarah, 1858 ~ 52 Ancestors #18

Maine Marriages, 1771-1907, FamilySearch

My second great-grandparents, Henry C. Copeland and Sarah Lowell, both of Calais, Maine, were married on Wednesday, December 15, 1858. They submitted their intention to marry with the city clerk on December 9. (By the way, the City Clerk's name is Samuel Lambe; it took some creativity to confirm that signature.)

Calais, Washington County, Maine, is one of the northernmost locations in my family tree. It is 330 miles from Boston, a long way to travel in the mid-19th century.

Edward Randolph Gay Married Two of My Cousins

Edward Randolph Gay was born in September 1898 to Edwin Francis Gay and Louise Randolph. In 1902, his father started teaching at Harvard, and in 1906 became Professor of Economic History. He was the first Dean of the Harvard Business School from 1908 to 1919 and was president of the New York Evening Post from 1920 to 1923. [1]

Edward graduated from Harvard University in 1919 and from the Business School in 1920. He served in World War I. [2]

By 1923, he was an assistant dean of Harvard College. Although Ancestry's Yearbook collection doesn't currently include Harvard University's 1919 yearbook, it does include 1923, with Edward's photo on the page with the other deans of the college.

Harvard Class Album 1923 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1923), p. 11; image, "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 September 2019)

Edward married Rose Dunbar, on 20 July 1923, at Northeast Harbor, Maine. The Boston Globe description of the wedding is full of Harvard references. Edward's best man was Charles Franklin Dunbar, a Harvard junior, and Rose's brother. [see note 2]

Rose's paternal grandfather, Charles F. Dunbar, founded the department of political economy at Harvard, was dean of the college and, later, dean of the faculty. [see note 2]

Charles and Rose's mother was Katherine Copeland, younger sister of Lowell Copeland (my great-grandfather), and Charles Townsend Copeland, Harvard English professor. Katherine died just over a year later. Rose was my first cousin twice removed.

However, by May of 1925, Edward and Rose Dunbar were divorced, as he married Rose (Greeley) Pritchard, as her second husband, in Santa Ana, California. [3] She was my half first cousin twice removed.

Rose Greeley was the adopted daughter of Louis May Greeley and his wife Anna Lowell Dunbar.

With all the repeating names and multiple marriages, I had to draw a picture to see how Edward Randolph Gay's wives were related to my grandfather, Lowell Townsend Copeland.

My Grandparents' 1931 Wedding ~ 52 Ancestors #40

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Ten.

I have published 446 blog posts since April 2011 and I decided to go back to see what my tenth blog post was.

It turns out that this was one of my favorites, so I am repeating it here, slightly edited:

A Small 1931 Family Wedding

My mother's parents were married on September 5, 1931, in Princeton, New Jersey. I have a few items from this wedding. The announcement:

Helen and Toby (Lowell's nickname) had originally planned to marry in October 1931, but my grandfather's mother was ill and not expected to live long, so they moved the wedding back to September 5. The groom's mother, my great-grandmother Ethel May (Greeley) Copeland, died on October 3, 1931, in Princeton.

Percy and Marguerite Going to the Chapel ~ 52 Ancestors #23

I am participating in this year's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from Amy Johnson Crow. Each week has an optional writing prompt and this week's writing prompt is Going to the Chapel.

My great-grandparents, Percy Earle Hunter and Marguerite Lysle were married in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on 21 October 1897.

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Clerks of Orphans' Courts, Pennsylvania County Marriage Records, 1885-1950, FHL Film 878632, p 49, no. 13646, digital image, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DY8Q-7CL : accessed 25 January 2012), citing marriage record for Percy E. Hunter and Marguerite Lysle, 21 October 1897.

Wedding Wednesday ~ St James Church, Chicago

97 years ago today, on Sunday, March 2, 1919, there were wedding announcements for my paternal grandparents' wedding, which had occurred the previous day at St. James Episcopal Church in Chicago.

We visited Chicago last September and although the church was undergoing some renovation, we talked our way in and here is a photograph of the inside of the church, taken by my husband.

Here is the wedding announcement from page 5 of the Chicago Sunday Tribune.

Very early in my blog, I shared a scan of the other part of the announcement, with photographs. Now I know it's from the Chicago Sunday Tribune.

Wedding announcement of my grandparents

Bowmie Ashby's 1890 Wedding - 52 Ancestors #23

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is Wedding.

I have written about many ancestor weddings. You can see all of the posts with the label "Wedding Wednesday" by clicking here.

As I have noted, my new favorite website to explore is Newspapers.com. I did a search for "Ashby" in location "Kentucky" with date "1890", and sure enough, one of the top results was for my great-grandparents, Charles Chapin Adsit and Mary Bowman Ashby, who was known as Bowmie. Previously, I had known that they married in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 30, 1890, but I didn't know anything about their wedding.

The following is from the Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), Friday, October 31, 1890, page 6 (Newspapers.com/image/33851479). My comments are in [brackets].

BRIDES AND GROOMS.

Miss Bowmie Ashby Married To

Mr. Charles Adsit, of

Chicago.

   One of the prettiest home weddings of the season was that of Miss Bowmie Ashby to Mr. Charles C. Adsit at the home of the bride's aunt, Mrs. Henry C. Murrell [Emma Gorin Murrell, a sister of Bowmie's mother], on Second street, near Breckinridge, yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock.
   The bride, a beautiful blonde [I wish there was a wedding picture!], has been one of the greatest favorites in the society of this city for several seasons.
   The wedding was a quiet one on account of a recent death in the family [I don't know who], and only the friends and relatives were present. The parlors were simply, but tastefully decorated, and the ceremony was performed in the front room under a panoply of green. The bride wore a handsome gown of heavy white faille with train. Her cousin, Miss Florence Murrell [daughter of Henry and Emma Murrell], acted as Maid of Honor and Mr. James M. Adsit [this could be his older bachelor brother or his father] as best man. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Minnegerode. Immediately after the wedding supper, which followed the ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. Adsit left for Chicago, the home of the groom.

Wedding Wednesday ~ Jedediah Willet and Mary Stanton (1806)

January 28, 1806, issue of the Connecticut Herald (GenealogyBank.com)

MARRIED

At Lisbon, Mr. Jedediah Willet, of Norwich, to Miss Mary Stanton, for the former place.

I believe these are the parents of Frances Stanton Willet (1807-1893), the subject of this week's 52 Ancestors post.

Wedding Wednesday ~ Edgar Carter Rust and Elizabeth Adsit Pyle

On Valentine's Day, I shared a 1937 love note to my grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit, from her second husband, Edgar Carter Rust.

I recently obtained their marriage record from the Family History Library photo duplication services.

Edgar Carter Rust and Elizabeth Adsit Pyle married at the "Fifth Ave. Pres. Ch." on 12 August 1933. He was 50; she was 36. The one error I see in this record is that Edgar was widowed; his first wife, Rosamond Pierce Weeks, died on 19 December 1931, leaving Edgar with four children.

I love the second page, where I can recognize my step-grandfather's signature (same as the love note) and my grandmother's handwriting, and the only place I have ever seen her signature as Elizabeth Adsit Pyle!

The witnesses were George W. Kuehn, a son-in-law of Rust, and Charles C. Adsit, Libby's brother.

This was a very happy marriage. Edgar C. Rust died in July 1963, about a month before they would have celebrated 30 years of marriage. This picture is from the summer of 1962, with Libby having just turned 65 and Dad Rust (as we refer to him) almost 80 years old.

Wedding Wednesday ~ Gordon Pyle and Zene Montgomery

The wedding announcement from the October 15, 1926 New York Times for my great uncle Gordon Pyle and his bride, Zene Montgomery. (Courtesy GenealogyBank.)

My grandfather, Charles Pyle, was his best man and the guests included four of Gordon's five siblings:
James McAlpin Pyle (and his wife), David Pyle (and his wife), Sara Smart (and her husband), and my grandparents, Charles and Elizabeth Pyle. I have not done much research on the Montgomery family, but it looks like two of Zene's brothers were in attendance.

An 1873 Wedding Invitation ~ Wedding Wednesday

Mr. + Mrs. John Alston

request the pleasure of your company

at the Marriage of their daughter

Marion H. Alston

and

George Lysle Jr.

Wednesday Evening. October 13th 1875.

Ceremony at half past nine o'clock.

127 North Avenue, Allegheny City, Pa.

Holyland Engraver
43 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh

Two copies of this wedding invitation of my second great grandparents have been saved and handed down. I am descended from this couple as follows:

George Lysle, Jr. and Marion Helen Alston

|

Marguerite Lysle

|

Helen Lysle Hunter

|

My mother

|

Me

Wedding Wednesday 1/1/1900

I always loved the fact that my grandfather's parents, Lowell Copeland and Ethel May Greeley, were married on January 1, 1900. And I was especially excited when I was able to confirm this by finding their marriage license at FamilySearch.org in Winnetka, Cook County, Illinois:

Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920 (index and images, FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org, from Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, accessed 5/1/2011), L. T. Copeland and Ethel May Greeley, married 1 January 1900. citing Marriage Records, FHL microfilm 1,030,305.

The groom was 37 years old and the bride was 24 years old. The marriage license above was issued on December 21, 1899, and the marriage took place on January 1, 1900, at (Episcopal) Christ Church Winnetka by Rev. Henry Grattan Moore. Note that at the bottom of the license, where the pre-printed date was 189_, he had to completely write over it: 1900.

(N.B. My grandfather, Lowell Townsend Copeland, was born just under a year later, on December 21, 1900.)

Wedding Wednesday in 1884

My grandfather, Charles McAlpin Pyle (1893 - 1966) was the fifth child and fourth son of James Tolman Pyle and Frances Adelaide McAlpin.

Click to enlarge

My great grandparents, James T. Pyle and Adelaide McAlpin (sometimes spelled McAlpine), were married on February 12, 1884, at 673 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, the home of the bride's father, David Hunter McAlpin(e). The newspaper announcement to the right is from page 5 of the February 13, 1884, New York Daily Tribune, found at GenealogyBank.com.

The best man, named in the newspaper article as J. R. McAlpine is likely Joseph Rose McAlpin(e), (1853 - 1888), and is one of Adelaide McAlpin(e)'s brothers. Other brothers who were ushers included George Lodowick McAlpine (1856-1922) and David Hunter McAlpine, Jr. (1862-1934). Interestingly, she had four other brothers living at the time of her marriage, not listed as members of the wedding party.

One of the bridesmaids is Miss Sadie Pyle, who is the groom's sister, Sara Carter Pyle (1863-1949), who later married one of the bride's brothers, Charles Williston McAlpine.

I love the newspaper descriptions of weddings of this era, which often include many details of the dresses, jewelry and decoration. Some longer notices also include names of the "prominent people" who were guests.

Wedding Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

A small 1931 family wedding: Wedding Wednesday

My mother's parents were married on September 5, 1931, in Princeton, New Jersey. I have a few items from this wedding. The announcement:

They had originally planned to marry in October 1931, but my grandfather's mother was ill and not expected to live long, so they moved the wedding back to September 5. The groom's mother, my great-grandmother Ethel May (Greeley) Copeland, died on October 3, 1931, in Princeton.

Wedding Wednesday: High Society 1919

My paternal grandparents, Elizabeth Adsit and Charles McAlpin Pyle married on March 1, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois. The following original newspaper clipping is from a Chicago newspaper.

Wedding announcement of my grandparents

Elizabeth (known as Libby, even to her grandchildren) is the woman in the middle of the photograph. Charles is the inset photo. The following notice is from the New York Times of March 2, 1919:

And their marriage certificate from the FamilySearch.org website:

Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920, index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org) for Charles Pyle and Elizabeth Adsit, married March 1, 1919; citing Marriage Records, FHL microfilm 1,030,692; Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois.

They divorced in August 1933, and my father (born in 1924) was their only child. Libby remarried about a week after her divorce from Charles was finalized, and was very happy in her second marriage. Charles married two more times, and I think was relatively happy in his third marriage. I never knew my paternal grandfather; he died when I was a toddler. My father didn't talk about him much.

However, my father was devoted to his mother, and I did know my grandmother, Libby, well. She died in 1983, before I had developed my interest in genealogy. I wish I'd had a chance to discuss family history with her, as I know (from materials I have inherited) that she was interested in family history.