The Gen Project

I recently transcribed and posted on the Berks County site the wedding certificate for my parents who were married at Reading Exeter United Friends Meeting. A bit of a challenge to read at times, but it helped that I also had the Bride’s Book that my mother kept as a record of the event. Since this little book includes the listing of gifts received and their donors, it makes for some rather interesting reading when tracking down the source of various family pieces. Among other things given to the couple was a set of Wedgwood Argyle china, which I remember well as Mom’s good china when I was growing up. I believe the set was given to my brother when he married, as Mom had started collecting Haviland china by then.

The Argyle pattern is actually a subset of the Wedgwood Patrician pattern, which Mom’s mother used for her good china, so it was probably a natural choice for her.

Of course, in that day, brides also tended to pick a silver pattern to go along with their good china; Mom’s was International’s 1810 pattern, a very simple pattern. It was used daily at home growing up as she never did like using stainless.

Every family probably has a photo in their collection that really makes one wonder what the participants were thinking at the time - here’s mine:

I believe I laughed nervously the first time I saw this picture which my mother identified as likely being the rehearsal dinner photograph from her grandparents’ wedding, dating from around 1895. Though it’s not really clear in this copy, the men are wearing silly looking hats that appear to be trimmed with some sort of vine, except for the one in front who is holding a small dog. the groom, wearing the white flower in his lapel, is Isaac Gregg Reynolds; his bride, holding the flowers, is Elizabeth Watt McFarland. The gentlemen behind Elizabeth, with the pipe in his mouth, is believed to be her brother, George Keim Mcfarland, and the one holding the dog is her other brother, Charles Tatman McFarland. The third gentleman behind Isaac may be his brother Alfred. Of the ladies, one of the girls with the bows is probably Elizabeth’s sister Hettie, but the others haven’t really been identified yet. The girl with the bow to Isaac’s left may be his sister Mary and the tall girl on the right with the bow is almost certainly family as we have another picture of her.

I really wonder what the wedding photo must have been like if this was the rehearsal…