A FINE WEDDING

My nephew Paul was married today and it was a nice wedding.
He was handsome and his bride Jen was radiant and they are
both such good young people.


Man, does that ever make me feel old, looking at that.


I rode down to the reception with my brother and his two sons
and along the way I explained about the family tree. By the
time I was done, my youngest nephew Matt complained his head
hurt!


There was a little mixup with the table seatings but we ended up
where we were supposed to be with a table with my two aunts.
Aunt Emily from my mother’s side came with her daughter
Winnie and Winnie’s husband David. From my father’s side there
was his sister, my Aunt Dorothy, and cousin Louise her daughter.
My mom’s friend Joe B. who was as close as a grandfather to
Cheryl’s kids was also there with us along with the minister who
had performed the ceremony.




I’d brought along photocopies of my Grandfather West’s WWI
draft card and John Ames’ Revolutionary War pension files for
Aunt Dot. I also brought copies of great Grandfather White’s
WWI draft card, the cards for the McFarland brothers, some
census pages and other information on that side of the family
for Emily and Winnie.



And it turned out Aunt Dot had the same idea. She brought a
folder with pictures of Grandfather and Great Grandfather West
and pictures of Great Grandmother Lottie Barker and her four
sisters. There was also a copy of Grandfather West’s WWI
discharge papers from the Army and a copy of a certified abstract
of the marriage of Arvilla Ames' and John C (Cutter) West’s
marriage record.


But the best of all are the thirteen handwritten pages entitled
“Memories” that are Dot’s reminisces of her and Dad’s childhood
in Maine. I will be posting most of it here over the course of the
next week or so.



We had a good time talking about family history and genealogy.
I even learned a few new things about Grandfather White that I
hadn’t known concerning the reason Aggie divorced him.

I guess the minister learned more about our family than he
expected!

All in all, a beautiful day.

The sun shone on us all.