71 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Elkhart Weekly Review - 05 May 1906 All this rain has left us with some plumbing issues and I don’t want to think about it anymore. We got it fixed on a weekend thanks to a very generous local company. It really makes you thankful for people when they go out of their way to help, without charging you an arm and a leg. After all the stress and worry, I decided to use one of the newspaper websites to search and I came across the article to the left! Last week, I talked about what a small world it was and I thought I’d also share this gem about that very same person.

It appeared in the May 5th, 1906 edition of the Elkhart Weekly Review. It talks about Reuben and Anna Webb, my 3x great uncle and aunt. For some reason, I’ve always loved these two. I don’t know why, maybe it’s just their stability and longevity. I am still trying to track down their descendants. I know their wedding anniversary was a big deal, because they frequently appear in the paper as a celebration. Not only that but it seems as if they had a big shindig every year to celebrate! I’m pretty sure if I had been married 71 years, I’d be throwing parties too! That’s a big deal.

One of the things in the article that struck me because I had never heard it before, was that “soon after their marriage they went westward to Indiana with their parents”. I know that they went from Brown County, Ohio to Tippecanoe County, Indiana but I had no idea their parents came with them. In fact, I was pretty sure Reuben’s dad, Reuben, lived in Ohio for the rest of his life. Not that I have any records stating that, it’s just what I assumed! It could just mean Anna’s parents but it didn’t sound like that.

I also love that it mentions Reuben’s time in the Civil War, I had already known that, but I love the more personal recollection about it. Sadly, a few months after this article and their 71st wedding anniversary Anna died.

Tomorrow will be the 181st anniversary of their marriage. According to records, they got their license on the 4th of May, and then were married on the 16th. I say Happy Anniversary for any day they wanted to celebrate on. 🙂

181weddinganniversary

Sources:

“Wedded Many Years,” Elkhart Weekly Review, 5 May 1906, p. 8, col. 3; digital images, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 15 May 2016), This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society.

Brown County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1818-1939, 4: 136, Webb-Sidwell, 4 May 1835; digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 May 2016).

Definitely a Small World

Like all genealogists, I am always searching things for familiar names. It could be newspapers and obituaries or even my families Facebook pages. When I finally got my Grandpa Moore to clear out his closet in Columbus, I was absolutely ecstatic. I was even happier when he let me confiscate what was in it. Police Chief’s granddaughter humor there. There were boxes of things in that closet. More than I thought I would ever be able to go through. I even thought I would have to weed some of it out. I had heard stories of grandparents saving things that weren’t exactly important. I haven’t thrown anything out though, because apparently my great-grandparents were amateur genealogists. They saved all the right things at all the right times. I have so many amazing records, I could just cry thinking about it. It makes me wish I had known them. Technically I knew Grandma Llewellyn, but I don’t remember her since I was so young when she died. I know I would have loved her though because through these objects she kept, I know that I would have spent a lot of time talking about the past with her. I am just so grateful that my Aunt Lori loves talking about it so much, because it is the next best thing.

Imagine my surprise when I’m going through all these things that have sat in a closet for over 30 years, and I find the most amazing thing. Not even something for my father’s side of the family, but my mothers.

smallworld

You see, my great-grandpa William was an accountant for AT&T in New York City for over 30 years. This man loved to keep records of everything, from bibles to various kinds of account booklets. I can even tell you what my parents telephone number was in 1977 because Great-Grandpa had everyone’s addresses and phone numbers in a book. The pictured book is basically a calendar book with these testimonials on the other page. What you see above is Mrs. R. T. Webb talking about her ailments. My Great-Grandpa didn’t know Mrs. R. T. Webb but I sure do. She’s my 3x Great Aunt on my mother’s side of the tree. She is the sister-in-law of my 3x Great-Grandfather George Washington Webb.

smallworld02It really is a small world folks.

Isaiah West and Zemiah Black Marriage Record

I will be writing up a timeline post for Isaiah West, hopefully this week. Right now I am working on updating his section of my database website. That way I can point to the exact records I will be talking about. I am just so excited to finally see proof of this marriage.

Isaiah West, Zemiah Black
Isaiah West, Zemiah Black marriage bond

Pendleton County, Kentucky, Marriage Bonds, 1851-1864, v. 6: 139, West-Black, 1861; digital images, Family Search (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJ9-SX8X : accessed 23 Apr 2016).

Marriage Record of John Walter Parkin

My website has migrated to its new server and there should be zero downtime! That is definitely good news. Usually something always goes wrong for me in these things. 🙂

0310-JohnWParkin-MR

To celebrate here is the marriage record for my 2x great grandparents John Walter Parkin and Jennie Featherson. I had hoped to get the maiden names of their mothers with this record. I have to say 50% is much better than 0%!

Lucky for me Find My Past had some sort of promotion going on and I was able to find census records for Ann Maltis’s family. More about that later though. 😉

Marriage of Herbert Redford and Sadie Sutcliffe

Sadie Sutcliffe is no longer my family tree’s biggest mystery! Thanks to the New Jersey State Archives, there are plenty of new names for me to play with!

0288-HerbertRedford-MR

I hope your family trees are treating you kindly! My father’s side is definitely ripe with activity while I am waiting on my website to change servers. There are a couple more records that came with this one and I can’t wait to share them.

lovekathleen