{"id":13483,"date":"2016-04-06T11:20:21","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T15:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=13483"},"modified":"2017-02-10T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T18:31:10","slug":"genealogy-challenge-double-takes-double-weddings-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-challenge-double-takes-double-weddings-more.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy Challenge: Double Takes \u2013 Double Weddings & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this blog article, Mary searches old newspaper articles to find details about double, triple \u2013 and even quadruple \u2013 weddings, and shows how this information can help you untangle your family tree.<\/em><\/p>\n

When two separate couples marry in a double ceremony, one has to wonder how traditional arrangements are modified. Historical newspapers, such as those in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, provide insights into these special events with details that can help you untangle your family tree.<\/p>\n

\"illustration<\/a>
Tacoma Daily News (Tacoma, Washington), 16 November 1895, page 7 (image duplicated and reversed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Turns out double weddings are not all that uncommon. Here are some of my favorites.<\/p>\n

Sister Ceremonies<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1867 Miss Leu Lu Thorpe married M. F. Wilson, and Miss Mary S. Wilson married Mr. I. L. Russell, in the Cincinnati, Ohio, Presbyterian Church, with Rev. O. A. Hills officiating.<\/p>\n

The brides chose traveling suits, and as they were passing down the aisle to leave the church, a beautiful dove fluttered over them before perching on the rafter. The reporter noted:<\/p>\n

May their married life, so auspiciously begun, ever be attended by so sweet and pure a symbol of peace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"article<\/a>
Cincinnati Daily Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio), 2 October 1867, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By 1914 photographs<\/a> were common in the papers, such as in this wedding announcement \u2013 although I had to take a double take when I saw the headline. Both Florence and Katherine Dyer Webster were teachers and their maid of honor was their sister Beatrice. Katharine had met her groom, Edward Albert Eaton, in high school, and Florence met hers, Walter Lawrence Barnum, in Chicago. The article is filled with solid genealogical details including that the ceremony took place in the Congregational Church, assisted by the father of one of the grooms. The wedding was attended by members of their sororities. A reception was held at the Edgar Finch Webster home.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Boston Journal (Boston, Massachusetts), 1 July 1914, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Double Sisters-in-Law and Brothers-in-Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1906 the Tilson sisters married the Gravat brothers, making them double brothers and sisters-in-law.<\/p>\n

A carefully orchestrated home ceremony was chosen. Both brides wore identical white lace robes with diamond and pearl sunburst veils. This newspaper article reported:<\/p>\n

The single note of difference in the costumes were the bouquets, Isabelle carrying white roses and Estelle lilies of the valley.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First, Anna Isabelle Tilson followed her flower girl into the parlor escorted by her father and attended by her maid of honor. Following the nuptials, they were entertained by the \u201ctender strains of Harrison\u2019s \u2018Spring Song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, \u201cas the Lohengrin nuptial chorus sounded through the rooms,\u201d Estelle May Tilson \u2013 with her father as escort \u2013 descended the stairs attended by her maid of honor and flower girl. Both brides received handsome chests of silver as wedding gifts.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Duluth News-Tribune (Duluth, Minnesota), 7 June 1906, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Triple Wedding<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 2 June 1868 the three daughters of Rev. Lyman Whiting married their beaus.<\/p>\n

Helen married Samuel L. Taggert, Gertrude married Charles M. Duren, and Agnes wed William G. Farrar. The gaily decorated church held wreaths of evergreen flowers and a special wreath suspended under a chandelier, comprised of three circles with interspersed flowers.<\/p>\n

The three matching gowns were white with head dresses of illusion veils and orange blossoms. The grooms wore black with white gloves. After their father, the officiant, spoke about three couples battling the destinies of life, the three rings were placed upon the brides\u2019 fingers and they were proclaimed to the world as husbands and wives. After the divine blessing and organ music, they were greeted by friends and family in the front parlor of the parsonage.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Cincinnati Daily Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio), 10 June 1868, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Four Farmer\u2019s Daughters<\/strong><\/p>\n

On New Year\u2019s Day in 1899, four Sumers brothers married four Hochstettler sisters in Canal Dover, Ohio, making this a very unusual quadruple wedding.<\/p>\n

When siblings marry siblings, their children are first cousins \u2013 but when there are multiple unions, one has to wonder how a DNA test would sort out the relationships. Hopefully this family has kept detailed records.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 3 January 1899, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twins Marrying Twins<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another complicated DNA tree occurs when identical twins wed identical twins. Such was the case in 1898 when Adda and Alma McKee married William and Frank Brindle. As this newspaper article noted:<\/p>\n

The extraordinary likeness between the twins, pair for pair, has been the occasion of much confusion and fun. The two brothers and the two sisters are so much alike, inter se, that everybody but their parents long since gave up distinguishing between them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doesn\u2019t this make you curious if their children looked alike?<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Indiana State Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 19 October 1898, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Birthday Brides & Birthday Grooms<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another twinship anomaly occurred when Guy Omer Crabbe and his brother Roy Homer Crabbe married Adrien E. Dotson and Edna A. Dotson on 17 April 1900. They were all twins and, amazingly, all were born on the same day.<\/p>\n

Where were they going to live? Would you believe: on opposite sides of a custom-built double home, each side decorated identically to the other!<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
St. Louis Republic (St. Louis, Missouri), 19 April 1900, page 14<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

War Brides and Grooms<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would be remiss to overlook the many multiple weddings that occurred in the haste of soldiers going off to war. In 1917 there was a quadruple ceremony at the Church of the Assumption of Waco, Texas, followed by a mass. In this newspaper article we learn their out-of-town residences, and the fact that the bridegrooms were soldiers stationed at Camp MacArthur, and to which companies they were attached. These are very exciting finds for a family historian!<\/p>\n