Not Royal, But Pretty Special

With all the attention being paid to the royal wedding today, I'm guessing the topic of weddings will be very popular in the blogosphere. It has me thinking of a very special newspaper announcement of my grandparent's wedding that I found on a research trip to Indiana. You know I was thrilled! Today, I would only have to go to NewspaperArchive.com. Here is a transcription of the announcement. Cue Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera!

The Daily Republican, October 13, 1915:

Miss Mary Louise Mauzy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Mauzy and George Hupp DeHority, son of Mr. and Mrs. C.C. DeHority of Elwood were married Tuesday evening at seven-thirty o'clock at the Mauzy home at 611 North Harrison Street. Many guests were present.

The ceremony was performed by the Rev. C.M. Yocum, pastor of the Main Street Christian church, before an immense bank of pink roses, and ferns studded with green cathedral candles, in the living room. The Episcopal ring service was used.

Colors of pink and green predominated in the very elaborate decorations. Pink roses and greenery were used in profusion and green potted plants were also a part of the decorative scheme. The bride's table was especially beautiful with feather fern suspended from the chandalier to the four corners of the table, forming a canopy when entwined with pink maline.

Leading the bridal Party were Wendell Wilkie of Elwod and Benjamin Hitz of Indianapolis, ribbon bearers, and following in order were the pastor; the bridegroom, Mr. DeHority, and his best man, Louis Mauzy, brother of the bride; Miss Erema Wilk and Miss Mary Louise Craig of this city, bridesmaids; Judith Mauzy, little daughter of Mr and Mrs. Hugh Mauzy, ring bearer; Miss Edith Wilk of this city, maid of honor; Mary Belle O'Brien of Elwood flower girl, and the bride and her father, who gave her away. Mrs. Florence Frazee Woodward san "All For You" and "At Dawning" just preceding the ceremony; Mrs. Hugh Mauzy playing the accompaniment. Maroni, an Indianapolis harpist, played the wedding march and a program of wedding music during the ceremony, as well as throughout the evening.

The bride's wedding gown was of white tulle over white charmuse, embroidered in pearls. She wore a veil and carried a bridal boquet of orchids and lilies of the valley.

The maid of honor was gowned in pale green taffeta. The bridesmaids were in dresses of pink silk net over pink silk. All three carried shower bouquets of sweetheart roses. The ring bearer and flower girl were dressed in white dresses.

Following the ceremony, light refreshments were served the guests.

Mr. and Mrs. DeHority left last night for their honeymoon trip to Chicago in an automobile, stopping over night in Elwood and will be at home in Elwood after December 1.

Mr. and Mrs. DeHority were both graduated at Indiana University and were students together there. Mrs. DeHority is a member of the Kappa Alphha Theta and the Psi Iota Xi sororities and Mr. DeHority is a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

The guests from out of the city included Miss Lois Stewart of Sullivan, Miss Laura Lindley, Miss Irma Wyebacher, Mr ad Mrs. Carl Eveleigh and Benj. Hitz of Indianapolis, Mrs. Florence Frazee-Woodward of Covington, Ky. Miss Helene Whitesides and Ferd Strickler of Franklin, Miss Hallie Pilger of Anderson, Fred Durham of Muncie, Jolin Morris of Newcastle, Mr. and Mrs. Frank DeHority, Mrs. Arthur O'Brien and daughter Mary Belle, Wendell Wilkie and Mr and Mrs. C.C. DeHority, parents of the bridegroom, all of Elwood, Mrs Rose Kranier of Indianapolis, Mrs. George Becker of Richmond, Mr. and Mrs Ed DeHority and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph DeHority of Elwood, Mr. and Mrs S.B. Harding of Indianapolis, Mr. and Mrs. W.A. DeHority of Indiannapolis, Mrs. Anna Mauzy-Moore of Findley, Ohio, Mr. and Mrs. William Harding of Elwood, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Parry of Indianapolis, Miss Gladys Henley of Chicago, Ward Hackleman of Idianapolis, Mrs. Harold Mauzy of Gary and Mrs. St. Clair Parry of Indianapolis.

Best wishes to all the happy couples this weekend!

Friday's Focus Family: the Hupps of Elwood

Above is a picture of the family of George Washington Hupp and Elizabeth Stokes Hupp, the source of whatever German genes I have. Based on what I know about birth and death dates, in the photo are:

Top row, left to right
Lola M. Hupp (my great grandmother, 1870-1951)
Albert A. Hupp (1878-1947)
Maude Hupp (1882- )
William A. Hupp (1868-1904)
Samuel S. Hupp (1871-1911)

Bottom row, left to right :
George Washington Hupp (1834-1923)
Isabelle Stokes Hupp (1843-1918)

George W. Hupp was born on December 3, 1834, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, near New Market, the son of Samuel A. Hupp and Mary Kipps. Isabelle Stokes was born on May 7, 1843, in Butler County, Ohio, to Jesse Stokes and Elizabeth Hineman. According to George’s obituary, he came as a young man to Indiana in 1859, moving to Elwood in 1862 where he lived the rest of his life. I think this picture must have been from around that time. He does look like a young man headed west looking for adventure.


George and Isabelle were married in 1867. He established the first tinning and plumbing company in Elwood, later opened a hardware store, and much later went into the insurance business. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Odd Fellows Lodge. His home, with much changing and addition, is the current Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home in Elwood.

It seems the family, like all families had its share of happy and sad times. They apparently liked to travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas, as shown in this picture.



Five children are shown, but three died in infancy. And their son Samuel must have suffered from some type of depression, as a note in the family bible indicates that he committed suicide.

Isabelle’s obituary shows her to have been an active member of the community:

Mrs. Hupp was a lifelong member of the M.E. Church, a worker in its Aid and other societies and a Christian woman who found much for her hands to do and willingly contributed to every good cause. She will be missed in the community where she was so long known and so much beloved.

Melodrama on a Sunday Morning

Still sorting through those pesky Delaware Dehortys, I came upon a newspaper article from the front page of The Logansport (IN) Journal, dated August 20, 1898, with a story about my cousin (3X removed) Tillie DeHority. It is a long post, but fun, so I'll excerpt the article below. The writing is such fun, dramatically telling the story of two young lovers. It was a lesson for me on the importance of looking for newspaper articles of the period to give life to our ancestors' stories.

THEIR SECRET OUT
*****
CAME TO LOGANSPORT
***
Here an Obliging Justice Said the Words that Made Them One

Society circles in the little cities of Elwood and Kokomo are just at present all excitement over the episodes of a couple of lovers who ran away to this city and, sometime between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning are supposed to have been united in marriage by some obliging official possessing the authority to tie knots that are said to bind. The principals in the elopement are prominent in the social circles of both the cities both being residents of Elwood.

The bride is the daughter of the president of the leading bank of Madison county's second city and the groom is a handsome young widower, in the drugs and soda water line. The dramatis personae also includes a wronged wife seeking her lost marriage lines: a young attorney, mutual friend of the principal characters, and a friend of the heroine who was inoocently made to aid in the development of the plot, while the "villian" in the play is supposed to be represented by the irate papa of the blushing bride.


The first part of the story is told by the Kokomo Dispatch as follows:'Tuesday morning Miss Tillie DeHority, a daughter of J.H. DeHority, president of the Elwood National bank and perhaps the foremost man in the commercial life of that place, came to Kokomo for a brief visit with Mrs. Cordis Ovens of West Walnut street.....Miss DeHority had visited Mrs. Ovens here on several occasions. Naturally she suspected nothing when she received a letter from her Elwood friend a few days ago announcing her purpose to 'come over' for a brief time. Invitations were secured for her to a number of social gatherings, functions at which she was to be the houseguest were organized among the younger set, and no effort was spared to make her visit a pleasant one...

Miss DeHority came to Logansport on Tuesday night and here [she was] met by Curt Howe, an Elwood druggist, and attorney Bert Call of Elwood. No record of any marriage license having been issued to Mr. Howe and Miss DeHority appears on the books in the office of the county clerk here, but from an acquaintance of the parties here the statement comes that the marriage license was brought from Madison County by Mr. Howe. The marriage ceremony howeve is said to have been performed here, but even surrounding that there seems to have been thrown a circle of secrecy for, while it is whispered that one of Logansport's very popular and ever-obliging justices in matters of this kind knows more than he is willing to tell, no definite statement has been given out. However, certain it is that when the Elwood young lady left here Wednesday, returning to the home of her friend in Kokomo, she went not as Miss DeHority but as Mrs. Howe.

She, however, failed to apprise her friends at Kokomo of her marriage and she attended an afternoon and an evening social gathering and another on Thursday, as Miss Tillie DeHority, 'heart whole and fancy free.' On Thursday afternoon, however, as the Dispatch tells the story, when on her way to the Ovens home in company with Mrs. Ovens, Mrs. Howe was met by a messenger boy with a telegram. It was from her husband and announced that he would be in Kokomo that night. With many tears and much pleading that her secret be kept she told Mrs. Ovens the whole story. Mrs. Ovens was dumbfounded and greatly distressed at the fact that she had been innocently made to aid in what was evidently an elopement and a match that she was sure would not be approved by the young woman's parents.

Mr. Ovens at once communicated with Mr. DeHority by telephone, laying the story before him. Mr. DeHority asked Mr. Ovens to keep his daughter at his home under any and all circumstances until her brother who he would send on the first train could reach Kokomo. The first train was that reaching there at 10:12 o'clock Thursday night. On it Mr. Howe came, but not the brother of his bride. Whether a truce had been patched up between Papa DeHority and his son-in-law is not known. Mr. Howe went to the Ovens home. His stay was significantly brief, but when he came away his wife was with him. They remained at the Clinton hotel until the 1:45 train, which they took to Elwood.

I've left out the tale of Tillie's friend, who seemed to have misplaced her own marriage license. It was altogether a bad day for poor Mrs. Ovens! The story goes on the give particulars on the families, ending with the note that Curtis Howe's first marriage was also "a runaway match".

I wonder what 18-year-old Tillie had gotten herself into?

It's a brick!

I guess family historians collect strange things. I know that if I find out something belonged to an ancestor, it becomes a treasure and off limits to any downsizing we might undertake. Consider my latest acquisition.



It's a brick. A lovely orange-red, with "Kokomo" on its face, brick. It came from a building, formerly in Elwood, Indiana, called the "DeHority Building". A member of the Elwood Pipe Creek Genealogy Society was kind enough to let me know that the building was being torn down to be replaced by a CVS pharmacy and its parking lot, and also kind enough to go down and get a brick for me, package it carefully with copies of the newspaper accounts of the demolition, and put it in the mail (Thank you, Linda!). How sad! But the building was pretty sad, too. It had pretty much fallen into disrepair in recent years, as you can see from a picture I took a few years ago.





The last DeHority that I knew of to use the building was Robert DeHority, who had an insurance business there, along with other small shops. I don't know what it was before that. The family started a bank, had a general store of sorts, and other enterprises, and maybe some of them were in that building, too. Someday, when I get time, I intend to research the building. That will be after I break down a few more "brick" walls.

For now, my momento will take its place in the garden with my other "Elwood bricks". These I got years ago from an Elwood antique shop. The proprietor told me they once were used as pavers in the streets of Elwood. Aren't they fine?!

Main Street, USA

This is a postcard showing Anderson Street, looking North, Elwood, Indiana. I am not sure of the date, but it appears it was never sent, and someone, probably someone little, left his message on the back in the scratches. From the cars on the front, I would guess it was taken in the late 1930's or early 1940's. Very different from Elwood today.



It certainly seems perfect for this month's Festival of Postcards on the theme of "Main Street".

Deja Vu All Over Again

I have a LOT of land records to transcribe before going to a workshop on Maryland land records in a couple of weeks....but I really don't feel like it. SO, I decided to check out a site that was recommended, GenealogyBank.com . It is a subscription site that features historical newpapers, books and documents, and the always available Social Security Death Index.

The good thing about a name like DeHority is that most of the time, when you get a hit on a search, it is somebody connected to the family. In browsing the hits on this site, I read an article that referenced William DeHority (who would be a great uncle), the first mayor of Elwood, Indiana. The report seemed to be right out of today's headlines, but the reference is a newspaper called the Inter Ocean, dated 20 July 1893:

Dull Times in Elwood

...A deplorable condition of affairs exists among the poorer class of Elwood. Over two thousand workmen are out of employment and many are in suffering circumstances with starvation staring them in the face. The stagnation in business circles prevents them from obtaining any work, and, with no prospect of immediate relief in this direction, they are in a very pitiable condition. With rent to pay and food to procure they are helpless, and in order to furnish them relief Mayor Dehority called a meeting of citizens this evening to devise means for their support.
On Tuesday, Nov. 7, 1892, there were no unemployed men in Elwood. The mills and factories were running on full time and the wages paid were high. But on that day, though a Republican majority was cast in Elwood, many working men in the country at large were led to believe that the Homestead strike was a result of Republican rule, though really it was an event uninfluenced by political causes; and, acting on this belief, they aided in the election of a Congress and a President pledged to repeal that protection to American industries which alone had given birth and maintenance to the Elwood enterprises. The Sherman law, so-called, was then in force, but its operation did not prevent the prosperity of Elwood. It does not now prevent it. The cause of depression there is uncertainty as to the intentions of Congress and the President toward the tariff. If assurance be given that protection will be continued to the glass and tin-plate industries the business of Elwood will revive. If such assurance be withheld it is probable that yet darker days are in store for this lately prosperous little city."

Tombstone Tuesday-James M. DeHority

Here is the final resting place of James M. DeHority and his wife Susannah Huffman DeHority in the Elwood City Cemetery, Elwood, Indiana.

At the top is noted that the mausoleum was rebuilt in 1899, indicating that it had fallen into some disrepair at one time. When I first saw the mausoleum it was in sad shape, but on a more recent visit, I was pleased to see it had been cleaned up, repaired and locked up. A recent reading of the cemetery by the Elwood-Pipecreek Genealogy Society lists its occupants as:
Anna DeHority (1833-1880)
Bertha M. DeHority (1877-1877)
Frank E. DeHority (1875-1942)
Homer DeHority (1881-1881)
James H. DeHority (1844-1899)
James M. DeHority (1853-1907)
James M. DeHority (1819-1890)
Jane H. DeHority (1850-1937)
John W. DeHority (1840-1881)
Joseph A. DeHority (1850-1853)
Mary J. DeHority (1855-1856)
Myrtle DeHority (1874-1968)
Myrtle L. DeHority (1876-1954)
Susannah H. DeHority (1816-1899)
William B. DeHority (1838-1839)

Leads in Indiana

James M. DeHority and his descendants are mentioned in several directories, databases, and histories of Madison County, IN. None of these include information about his parentage, except for the obituary previously mentioned. So, where to look next. One thought was to check for other DeHority families that show up in Indiana at the same time to see if there is a connection. There seem to be 2 that fit this description: George L. DeHority and Caleb DeHority. They aren't listed consecutively on any copies of the 1850 or 1860 census images that I have found online, but it seems they knew each other.

Caleb DeHority and his family arrive near "Anderson town" Indiana in September of 1838 according to a note left to descendants of his son William. 1838 is the year James M. married his wife Susanna in Fayette Co.,IN, and he comes to Pipe Creek Twp. by 1840, according to the Forkner Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, published in 1897. A son born to Caleb in 1834 in DE is named James also. Did they know each other? Seems likely to me.

George L. DeHority and his family arrive from DE to settle "further west of Elwood" in 1850, according to a biography of his son Thomas. George names his son born in 1852 James M. DeHority. A clipping in the Anderson Public Library from 19 March 1858, notice in the Democrat Standard reads:
Administrator's Notice and Sale

I, the undersigned, have administered according to law on the estate of George
L. Dehority, deceased, late of Madison county, Indiana. The estate is probably
solvent. And on Saturday, the 10the day of April next, I will offer at public
sale at Perkinsville, all the personal effects of said deceased, consisting in
part of Horses, Wagon, Household and Kitchen Furniture, &c. A credit of nine
months on all sums of three dollars and upwards. Purchasers will be required to
give notes with approved security, waiving appraisement laws and barring
interest. James M. Dehority, March 13, 1858, Administrator.

So, it seems likely they were related, no? Unfortunately, probate records from George L. DeHority haven't been found (yet.....gotta love those courthouse fires).

Next: Clues in Delaware.

Brick wall: James Madison DeHority 1819-1891

Vital statistics: James was born in Delaware, reportedly near Dover, on 21 April 1819, parents unknown. He came to Indiana in 1836 and married Susanna Huffman 13 September 1838 in Fayette County, IN. Between 1839 and 1858, James and Susanna had 4 children: William B., John W., James H. and Joseph A. Only John W. and James H. lived to maturity. Obituaries and various county histories refer to him as a physician, minister (Methodist), banker and the owner of DeHority and Sons mercantile. James died in Elwood, Indiana, 18 July 1891. When he died, an obituary reports that 2000 people attended the funeral, notably a contingent from the Odd Fellows lodge.

So, my 3x-great grandfather seems to have been quite a Renaissance man. But who were his parents? Biographies of him, and his sons, are silent on this point. His obituary claims that he was orphaned in Delaware at the age of 8, and he lived with his grandparents until the age of 18 when he sets out for Indiana. Research in Delaware has revealed some clues, but no definitive suspects. So far, none of the articles found hints at the answer.


Next post: Clues in Delaware.