Wistful Wednesday: Weddings at home

In the olden days many people were married in their homes. 

Some were married at Christmas or New Years.  Relatives would come the house was cleaned before Christmas and baking was done….so why not have a wedding or two?

I found this old polaroid and thought…it was taken this time of year.

Grandpa Jim, Grandma Tracie, Great Aunt Emma and Great Uncle Rubert.  The two women are sisters born 22 months apart, Tracie in June of 1895 and Emma in April of 1897. This photo was taken at Far Guys home.  I will guess that Far Guys Dad got out his Polaroid Camera and took this photo near their anniversary time.  I wish I knew exactly what year it was. It was taken earlier than November 1968.

So when Tracie was 18 1/2 years old she married Jim on Christmas Day 1913 in rural Logan Iowa on her parents farm. Jim would have been 24 years old.

Rubert, Grover, Jim, Tracie, Emma and Esta

Then the next week Rubert married Emma on New Years Day 1914. Emma would have been 16 years and nine months old. Rubert was 21 years old.

Grover, Rubert, Emma and Stella

Later in 1914 they would all move to Minnesota, I am certain that these marriages took place so that the group of them could leave Iowa and find cheaper land to farm in Minnesota.

I would bet that Grandma made both of the wedding dresses she was quite an accomplished seamstress.  The Bridal Bonnet that Emma is wearing always makes me smile…Emma was a bit of a character all her life.

Jim and Tracie celebrated their 54th Wedding Anniversary before Grandpa died in 1968.

Rubert and Emma celebrated their 67th Wedding Anniversary before Rubert died in 1981.

Wistful Wednesday : 1913

This is Far Guys maternal Grandmother, Clara or Mead or Meady or Meade.... her middle name was Almeada. Old timers around here call her Meady. Her family came from Iowa. She had two sisters and five brothers. She was born April 18th, 1893. This photograph was taken before June 18, 1913. She was a teacher, and she married a farmer. They occupied the family "home" farm, kitty corner from where I grew up. When I found this photograph, I was simply amazed at how beautiful she was. It is hard to imagine her at twenty years old..

In 1955 she contracted tubercular meningitis. She was quarantined in a Sanatorium.. Far Guy was not allowed to visit, so he stayed in the car. He is not sure why his sister was not along (perhaps she stayed with a friend) ..note I said suppose to stay in the car..apparently these times were spent exploring the vast grounds of the remote sanatorium. One day they were allowed inside, he says he remembers she was behind a huge glass window and he waved to her. All the cousins were there that day, possibly for her birthday or Christmas. She spent several years there. I remember that she was very ill, and being told that she might die..and I was sad. His grandpa was a frequent visitor at our house during this time.

Then one day she came home, and she was totally deaf. She refused to learn sign language, she said it would be a waste of time. I used to take written notes to her from my mother, then I would run back home and tell my Mom exactly what she said. Years later she graduated to one of those Magic Eraser Boards, you know the ones with the little plastic "pen" that was usually red, you wrote on the board, after she read it, you pulled up on the plastic film on the bottom and had a new slate to write on again. She could speak, and she did in a really loud voice, of course she could not hear herself. As she aged sometimes she talked to herself..out loud..it was actually quite revealing. Grandpa hardly ever used the Magic Eraser Board to talk to her, he just kept on speaking to her normally, using his own form of sign language. I think she could read his lips..cause sometimes she would throw stuff at him. He was used to being ignored.

The day that Far Guy and I wrote on the board ..We are going to have a baby. She was so excited, she asked "When are you due?" I wrote April 1st. She replied " You will give birth on my birthday." I wrote OH NO Grandma, April 18th would be a long wait. She said "No matter, you will give birth on my birthday." And I did. Her first Great Grand Daughter was born on April 18, 1972 on her 79th birthday. Somehow she just knew it, predicted it and I fulfilled it:)