Evansville Argus Wedding Story

On Sunday, August 9th, I took a visit to the Willard Library and met John & Brenda. While at the Willard Library I spent some time looking at the microfilm of the Evansville Argus, an African-American newspaper published in Evansville from 1938-1942. One of the items I photocopied while there that day was this wedding announcement of Luella Clay & Charles Jackson.


Evansville Argus
August 13, 1938

Young Couple in Beautiful Ceremony


The marriage of Miss Luella CLAY to Chearles [sic] JACKSON, both of this city, was solemnized last Tuesday evening at the home of the bride’s uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie BROWN, 64 E. Oregon. The Rev. Chas BROWN, pastor of the Little Zion, Baptist church Newburgh, Ind., officiated with the ceremony in the living room of the home.
The service was read before an improvised altar of palms, ferns, and lilies, with two six branch candelabra. Pink gladiolos and red roses were used throughout the house. Preceding the ceremony James ROACH sang, “I Love You Truly,” and played the “Bridal Chrous” from Lohengrin as the processional, and “O Promise Me,” during the service. Mr. ROACH played Mendelsshon’s Wedding March as the processional.


The bride, who was escorted to the altar by her uncle, Lewis BROWN of Boonville, Ind., wore a white chiffon gown with tight shirred bodice, very full, floor length skirt. She carried a corsage of white rose buds. Miss Virginia ADCOCK, maid of honor; Mertice SHANE was best man, and Leslie BROWN, uncle of the brides, served as groomsman.


A reception followed the ceremony. The three tiered wedding cake was topped with a small candle, and decorations of the dining room were in white and pink flowers. After a short wedding trip the couple will be at home to friends at 610 E. Oregon Street. The bride and groom are graduates of the Lincoln high school and are quite popular among the young social set of the city. The groom is a well known athlete, having been named as one of the best softball pitchers of the city. He plays with the Johnican All-Stars, leagued leader. Among the out-of-town guests present were Mr. and Mrs. Edmond BROWN, Mrs. Bertha McFARLAND, Miss Cecelia and Essie McFARLAND, and Lewis BROWN, all of Boonville, Ind. There were representatives from 5 generations of the BROWN family present at the wedding namely: mother, Mrs. Mary BROWN, daughter, Mrs. Lucy MOSS, granddaughter, Mrs. Bertha MCFARLAND, great-granddaughter, Mrs. Myrtie GREEN; great-great-granddaughter, Jeanette SHIRLEY.

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After I'd typed this up to send in as a submission to the blog, I decided to see if I could locate this family. Well, I did and you know what I learned? That Mrs. Jackson died August 1st and on the same day that I was at Willard photocopying the description of her wedding, her obituary notice was published in the Evansville Courier-Press (see it here). Mrs. Jackson was 91 years old at the time of her death and was living in St. Louis, Missouri. I found her full obituary at ObitsArchive and was able to confirm this was indeed her husband Charles is mentioned and it is noted in the obituary that she was born in Boonville, Indiana. Her full obituary mentions other family members. Maybe I can find some of them and provide them with the newspaper article. I think Luella wanted this found, don't you?

- Submitted by Taneya Koonce

"Wedding in a Cemetery in a Zoo!"

Ok, you go to a zoo to see animals (sometimes botantical gardens); but at our recent visit to the Louisville Zoo, we found a nice little cemetery, too! Later, as we passed the area of the zoo with the cemetery, we observed the photo session of a wedding party after the vows were repeated... where? in the cemetery in the zoo! Click on photos for a larger image.



Above is the wedding party bridesmaids getting their photo taken. We noticed that the ladies had very nice black & white floral design sun dresses, bright yellow high-heeled shoes with matching yellow necklaces & earrings. The groomsmen wore black tuxedos with yellow handkerchiefs and ties.

Here is the cemetery in the zoo that the wedding took place. This confirms the new wave or trend to get married in cemeteries as this blog recently reported. We posted a blog on here about the cemetery with a few more photos.

On our way out of the zoo, we came upon some of the groomsmen and commented on the wedding, they pointed out that they all wore yellow socks and yellow personalized monogramed tennis shoes. Ross let me take a photo of his shoes. My thought is that this was a really neat wedding with a creative young couple starting a fresh life together.


-Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

RACING DOWN the RIVER -Brief Genealogical Notes

Cemeteries are the newest wedding sites...


As genealogists we have spent a lot of time in cemeteries, what do you think of this idea?

BROOKFIELD, Wis. - Cemeteries such as the Wisconsin
Memorial Park in Brookfield, Wis., have begun hosting
weddings as part of a new service trend, industry officials
say. Stewart Enterprises Inc. spokeswoman Denise Wester-
field, whose company operates the Brookfield cemetery, said
funeral homes make an ideal wedding site given the changing
perception of death in society, the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel reported Wednesday. "Funerals are becoming much
more a celebration of life than a dark event, so why not
have your wedding at a funeral home?" Westerfield said.
Jessica Koth, National Funeral Directors Association spokes-
woman, said a growing number of cemeteries and funeral
homes have begun expanding their businesses to include
everything from weddings to bar mitzvahs. "It's something
that more and more funeral homes are looking at, whether
they're remodeling existing facilities or building new
additions," Koth told the Journal Sentinel.

-Submitted by Don Counts