The Amazing Power of Newspaper: Part 3

 Memorializing a Wedding

Elizabeth Leach & Walter Tubbs
November 1937 

Nowadays weddings are memorialized by digital images and transmitted across the world in an instant. We have FaceBook, usually used now by the parents of the wedded couple, or TikTok, Instagram or any other number of social media outlets for the couple themselves. There is video, audio, and photographic images by professionals and now everyone with a phone shares with the world. 

When I was married in 1990, my wedding was memorialized by a professional photographer, a family friend who loved photography, and disposable cameras (with film) set at tables for the truly candid snapshots. I have a beautiful album and scrapbook with photos of all my family and friends in attendance. We shared with the rest of the world through a wedding announcement in the newspaper but it was a bare minimum description and a black-and-white grainy newspaper photo. Against my husband’s wishes, we do also have a video, but it has rarely been viewed for fear of shattering the memory of the “perfect day”!

But in 1937, when my grandparents, Walter Elliot Tubbs and Elizabeth Anna Leach, were married, all that was left to memorialize the day is one photo. Her dress still exists and a few summers ago, one of my daughters tried it on. My grandmother was 5’9” and very thin when she was married, so it’s not a dress that many people would fit into!

How Historical Newspapers Help Memorialize a Wedding

In my search for my great-grandmother (Florence Stoddard) through the Osceola County Herald (See The Amazing Power of Newspaper: Part 1), I found an article about my grandparents wedding in 1937. And boy is it a find!  The descriptions are so vivid that one can almost imagine being there. Because I know the print is so small on the Blog, I am transcribing it here for your appreciation, with a little commentary  in the right hand column:

Elizabeth Leach Is Bride of W. Tubbs in Pretty Ceremony

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FORMAL LOUNGE OF CHARLES McKENNY HALL IN YPSILANTI SCENE OF WEDDING

The formal lounge in Charles McKenny hall on the campus at Michigan State Normal college in Ypsilanti was the scene of the marriage Saturday afternoon, December 4, of Miss Elizabeth Ann (sic) Leach, daughter of Mrs. Florence Stoddard Leach of Ypsilanti, and Walter Elliott (sic) Tubbs of Detroit, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Tubbs of Ann Arbor.     Seven-branched candelabra with lighted white tapers on either side of the window in the south bay separated by palms and abundant ferns showing red for the approaching holiday season were included in the attractive decorations of the lounge.      Theophilus Fenker of Ypsilanti sang “At Dawning” by Cadman, accompanied by Miss Eleanor Hutson before the entrance of the bridal party.     To the strains of the Lohengrin wedding march the bridal procession came from the room to the north and walked down the long room led by the ushers, Harlow Tubbs of Detroit, brother of the groom and John Judson of Ann Arbor, brother-in-law of the groom.    The bridesmaids, Mrs. Robert Knight of Ann Arbor and Mrs. Henry Lewis of Dearborn followed. Miss Marie George, maid of honor, was followed by two little flower girls, Lois Tubbs of Detroit and Sally Judson of Ann Arbor, nieces of the groom. The two girls scattered flowers along the path of the bride who was accompanied by her brother, Clay Leach of Detroit.     At the south bay they were met by the groom and best man, Frank Shuda, and the clergyman, Dr. Harvey C. Colburn, who read the marriage ceremony.    During the ceremony Miss Hutson played “O Promise Me” by DeKoven and “I Love You Truly” by Carrie Jacobs Bond.     The bride was lovely in a gown of white satin made on princess lines with full oval train. A row of white satin buttons reached from the next of the gown in the back to the waist. Pearl trimming edged the high collar and the long tight sleeves. She wore her mother’s long bridal veil of white tulle which was attached to the white satin Juliet cap trimmed with beads. The bride wore white satin, toeless sandals and carried white roses, sweet peas and little lilies of the valley confined with white satin ribbon.     The gowns of her attendants were distinguished by high necks and long sleeves and were floor length. Miss George wore dubonnet velvet with a hale of the same color and a chin-length veil. Her flowers were yellow and brown chrysanthemums tied with brown ribbon streamers. She wore matching slippers. Mrs. Knight and Mrs. Lewis were gowned alike in royal blue velvet with matching halos and chin-length veils and wore matching slippers. Their arm bouquets were composed of yellow chrysanthemums tied with streamers of yellow ribbon. The flower girls were dainty in blue silk.     Mrs. Leach, the birde’s (sic) mother, wore a long dress of royal blue velvet. The groom’s mother was dressed in black lace. Both wore corsages of white roses and pink sweetpeas.     The bridal party and the bride’s mother and the groom’s parents were in the receiving line at the reception which followed the ceremony. The table from which the buffet luncheon was served was very lovely with silver candlesticks holding white tapers at each end and white chrysanthemums laid ion the snowy damask between the candlesticks and the four-tiered wedding cake surrounded by two white doves. Ice cream moulded in wedding bells was also served.       For going away on the honeymoon Mrs. Tubbs wore a gray wool tweed suit collared in wolf. Her hat and blouse were of varsity blue, while shoes, gloves, and purse were gray.       Mr. and Mrs. Tubbs will reside in Detroit where the groom is employed by General Motors corporation. He and his bride both attended Normal college and later Mr. Tubbs took a business course at Cleary college in Ypsilanti. Mrs. Tubbs studied in the University of Michigan.     Out of town guests of interest to residents of this vicinity included: Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Cowan and Mrs. T. R. Welsh of Grand Rapids; Mr. and Mrs. John Bielby of Dearborn; the Misses Mae and Alice Arnold of Toledo, Ohio.

McKenny Hall was built in 1931 as the first student union. It still exists at 878 W. Cross Street in Ypsilanti on (now) Eastern Michigan University’s campus. My parents met at EMU and this was still the union in the late 50’s & 60’s when they were there.  -Not sure the relationship of Theophilus but he was a young man of 22. The song can be listened to at: At Dawning (1906) -Mrs. Robert Knight was Virginia Bell Slep of Saginaw (Robert died serving in WW2) –Mrs. Henry Lewis was Jane Washburn (Henry was a teacher at Ypsi high and later Dearborn) –Marie George went to Michigan Normal College and was a freshman in 1933 with Betty -Lois was Harlow’s daughter who died three years later after being hit by a truck crossing a road, Sally was Aunt Helen’s daughter -Listen to Reginald de Koven : Oh, Promise Me! (arr. James H. Rogers) and “I love you truly” -At the time when my daughter tried on the veil, we had no idea that it was actually my great-grandmother's veil from her 1905 wedding! -Since her father was deceased her brother Clay ushered her down the aisle. These were all people who had a connection to Reed City. The Arnold sisters were both teachers and originally born in Reed City, likely friends of Florence.

The Amazing Power of Newspaper: Part 2

 Although I love family history, I have not been the best student of history. I consistently rely on my husband for that! He would tell me that history is just the world’s greatest gossip column. But the way I was taught history, it was just names and dates that carried no meaning for me. As I’ve grown older, I recognize how important history is, especially for not repeating the past!

Florence Mary Stoddard c. 1906

I have also learned that old Newspapers provide me not only a glimpse into the past but also the desire to learn more about events that happened in the world.

Here’s an example. When I started searching for my great-grandmother Florence Stoddard in the newspapers, I came across this…

I found this interesting for so many reasons! The first is, what relatives were they visiting in Canada?! I actually have no idea because the only relatives that I thought we had in Canada were on Edward Leach’s side, but in 1901 Florence hasn’t met Edward yet! That is an exploration for another day.

The second interesting thing is, the timing. Florence graduated from Reed City High School in June 1901. I’m wondering/guessing that this trip might be a graduation present or a trip prior to starting college at Olivet College. Mrs. H. L. Foster is the older sister to my great-grandmother and I’m guessing that two sisters were off having fun together.

The third thing that caught my eye was the Pan-American Exposition. Maybe you know your history much better than I, but I had no idea what this was! I was familiar with World’s Fairs, but this one was new to me.

I Googled it and the first thing that came up was this Wikipedia entry:

Along with this photo:

In 1901, this electrification would have been an amazing site to witness. According to Encyclopedia.com,  electricity was commercially available in the 1880s, but it was not widespread. The infrastructure for providing electricity to homes hadn’t really developed yet. Only 2% of the US would be electrified by 1910! (citation) Florence and Anna would have probably been mesmerized by the lights and the people! During the 5-month exhibition over 8 million people attended, that turns out to be an average of more than 50,000 people per day in a 350 acre space. For two young women from a town of 2,000 people and 1,366 acres that must have seemed unimaginable!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos specifically of them from that visit, but the Library of Congress has a wonderful collection including MOVIES by Thomas Edison, Inc. (Side note--if you are looking for photographs covering important historic events the Library of Congress has an incredible repository and they are freely available as long as you cite them). Here are some still photographs taken at the event. The first is of the Temple of Music, where no doubt my great-grandmother would have gone because she was a keen lover of music and sang soprano in many choirs over her life.

Arnold, C. D., photographer. (ca. 1901) Temple of Music. New York Buffalo, ca. 1901. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/99472510/.

and illuminated at night:

Arnold, C. D., photographer. (ca. 1901) Temple of Music (at night). New York Buffalo, ca. 1901. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/99472509/.

Here's one that shows the people milling about:

(ca. 1901) Electric Tower. , ca. 1901. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2002706241/.

In terms of silent movies, there were several to choose from! I wanted to include an amazing 11 minutes long tour boat ride around the entire fair, but the size of the file exceeds what I can upload. I highly encourage you to check it out: https://www.loc.gov/item/00694338/.. If you didn’t know, everything (buildings, bridges, etc.) you see was temporary! It was built intentionally for this Pan-American Exposition and it was all (except for the New York State Building, now the Buffalo History Museum) was demolished in 1902.

But I have included a short movie of part of the buildings in the day and then lit at night.

Map of Pan-American
at https://panam1901.org/index.html

Porter, E. S., White, J. H., Smith, J. B., Thomas A. Edison, I. & Paper Print Collection. (1901) Pan-American Exposition by night. United States: Thomas A. Edison, Inc. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/00694346/.

I was looking for a map of the whole exhibit and there are many out there, but in doing so I came across the most AMAZING website, created by Susan J. Eck called "Doing the Pan.." (https://panam1901.org/index.html). After you go there, navigate to "Table of Contents" and you will see that the site is huge and you can learn nearly anything about the entire exhibition, from what meals (with menus) were offered, to the headlines in the newspapers for each day of the exhibition, to the souvenirs someone could buy. 

And you might have read in the opening description that this was the site of the shooting of President McKinley! He was shot on September 6, 1901 and unfortunately succumbed to the two bullets on September 14th. On September 5, he was celebrating President's Day at the Exposition and gave an address. Here is a photo from the address and the program cover for the day. 

This one little newspaper clipping led me to learning so much about this particular 5-month event, but honestly so much about American history...too much to include here. As my kids would say, 10 out of 10!

Item: NYTRI001_1975.012.002 from the New YorkHeritage Digital Collection (https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll100/id/1585/rec/163)

Item: NYTRI001_1975.012.002 from the New YorkHeritage Digital Collection (https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll100/id/1585/rec/163)