Tuesday, November 24, 2020

CORA’S SCRAPBOOK ~ Episode 2 – Thomas C. Hall & Cora E. Brown marriage announcement, 1877


This is the story of my journey through Cora’s scrapbook.  I will give a link to all posts at the beginning of each new post.  Here’s that link My posts about Cora's Scrapbook

The very first piece of family history I find in this scrapbook is the wedding announcement of Cora to Thomas C. Hall.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I knew they had married 5 Feb 1877, based on information in his Civil War Pension file.  But, what other evidence did I have.  None! 

Thomas was 32 at the time of the marriage and Cora was 22.  Their only child, Charles Schuyler Hall was born 13 months after the marriage, on 5 Mar 1878, in Saratoga Springs, New York. I have no record of any other children born to this couple.

Here are the newspaper clippings from the scrapbook.  It doesn’t say what newspaper they are from, so I’m going to try and find that information.  It also looks like a portion of the article is missing.

(Please click on any image to enlarge it) 


TRANSCRIPTION:

HYMENEAL – Mr. Thos. C. Hall, a former resident of Saratoga, now a citizen of Poughkeepsie, came back to Saratoga yesterday and carried away with him one of those most attractive features of our village – a charming young lady, Miss Cora E. Brown.  Mr. Hall always had good sense and fine taste when he dwelt here, and we are glad that they cling to him.  Our best wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Thos. C. Hall

A nice package of wedding cake comes to our table accompanied by a notice of the marriage, on the 5th inst., at the residence of the bride’s father on Church street; by the Rev. Mr. Carey, of Miss Cora E. Brown, of Saratoga, to Thomas C. Hall, of Poughkeepsie.  The wedded pair, on return from their wedding tour, will make their home in Poughkeepsie.  The marriage service was attended by a large number of relatives and friends who manifested their regards for the wedded couple by a liberal bestowment of presents. Among these was a piano by father and……

Another of Saratoga’s fair daughters has left to make a house elsewhere.  Miss Cora E. Brown, daughter of Charles Brown the tobacconist, changed her name preparatory to making her home in Poughkeepsie, on Monday.  The best wishes of many friends attend her………..

Even with the missing portions of this article, we can learn something about our couple. 

  • Their wedding was well attended
  • There was a wedding cake
  • The marriage location was Cora’s father’s residence on Church St.
  • Cora was the daughter of Charles Brown, a tobacconist
  • The officiant was Rev. Mr. Carey (this can help us figure out which religion the couple may have been and lead to church records)
  • The couple was going on some kind of “tour” or trip after the wedding
  • They were going to make their home in Poughkeepsie

That’s quite a lot of genealogical leads to follow. Admittedly in my case, some of the items are facts I already know about.

Update: I cannot help but research as I write.  I have located a portion of the articles transcribed above, plus another small wedding announcement. The first place I go for any east coast newspapers is to Fulton History Postcards website where Tom Trynski has been scanning newspapers for years.  He’s a one man show and a blessing to us all.

Here is a cropped portion of the page from The Daily Saratogian from 6 Feb 1877. 

Cora & Thomas had moved from Poughkeepsie to Halfmoon, New York by the time of the 1880 census.  He was working as a baggage handler for the railroad.  I can’t wait to share more about this couple’s life.

If, while you are reading this post, you find you are connected to any family mentioned, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

4 comments:

  1. No connection but I am excited for you . :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment. I never thought I’d be that lucky genealogist who comes into possession of such a thing.

      Delete
  2. What an amazing treasure Diane! Can't wait to see what other treasures are in the scrapbook.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Enough to keep me happily blogging at least through the end of this year and probably beyond Debby.

      Delete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.