SLOANE/THOMPSON: Article published in the Walla Walla Daily Union, 23 April 1905. Columns 3 & 4.

Extracted by Linda M. Thank as written.  Jane Harris Thompson is an ancestral link of Linda’s grandfather, Arthur Raymond Thompson.  Jane was the daughter of  William D. Thompson and Alice Harris;  William was a sibling of John W. Thompson.    William Sloane III is a descendant of the marriage of William Sloan II and Rachel Mann, of Kentucky.

 

                                                

 

 

            MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM SLOANE WERE MARRIED SIXTY YEARS AGO.   

                                             

                                                                       FOUR SCORE AND TEN                                                                        

 

                        

Reminiscences of Olden Days.—The quaint wedding ceremonies and the Primitive housekeeping When the Housewife Had Not Even a Kitchen Stove---Some Spoons over 400 years of age.

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     Sixty years ago today in the faraway town of Edenton, Ohio,  the Wedding Bells rang for Mr.William W. Sloane and Miss Jane R. Thompson.  The bride and groom of more than half a century are residents of this city, living at 116 East Birch street

   Mr. Sloane has passed the 83rd year mark, and, while not in the most robust health, makes a tour of the markets almost daily and makes the household purchases.  Mrs. Sloane, although approaching her 80th birth anniversary, is spry and insists on attending most all of the household duties.  She comes from a family of remarkable longevity, her grandmother obtaining the unusual age of 112 years.

     The wedding ceremonies of this occasion were solemnized at 10 o’clock a.m. on Wednesday by Rev. White, of the Methodist Church, who was a circuit rider. Having Edenton in his tour of work.  This village being one of the small places the regular church services were held every two weeks on Wednesday, Sunday being reserved for the larger places.  

 

                                                                        NO WEDDING PRESENTS.

          The wedding was witnessed by 108 guests. There were neither floral decorations, bridesmaids, groomsman nor wedding presents then. The bride was attired in a lilac silk gown and wore a matron’s cap, which custom

substituted at that time for the bridal veil and orange blossoms.  This article of the bridal trousseau was purchased in Cincinnati, and cost no small sum.

     After the ceremonies the entire wedding party attended preaching to the village church, the bride in her bridal robe and cap.  At the conclusion of the services the party returned to the home of the bride’s parents and partook of a wedding dinner.  The refreshments on the that occasion, instead of being ices, salads and peppermint drops of today, consisted of turkey, chicken, cold ham, tongue, oysters, six kinds of pies, every kind of preserve and jelly known to the good housewife, and pickles galore.  Good form demanded then, that a wedding feast must have oysters.  

 

                                                                         THE INFAIR DINNER  

     On the day following the marriage, a dinner was served at the home of the groom’s parents.  This was styled the infair dinner, an affair almost equaling the wedding festivities in elaborateness.

     The bride and groom of 60 years look back through the vista of modern improvements in their home in its plainest simplicity, where they began wedded life.  They relate with romantic interest the crude furnishings of this first home.

 

                                                                      HAD NO COOK STOVE.

     A cook stove was not included in the furnishing of this household for more than two years after its establishment, a Dutch oven and a reflector serving for cooking purposes, although the couple kept a tavern part of this time.  Cook stoves were a luxury that only the rich could indulge, then.  Mr. Sloane paid $40 for his first cook stove, a large sum of money tat that time.

     The tallow dip lighted this household for more than 11 years, before the kerosene lamp.  To make a brighter light Mrs .Sloane used to put two wicks in the dips she made to take to singing school, one of the most popular of winter amusements.  Other amusements of the time were “Apple Cuttings,” when the fun of bobbing for apples in the tub was one of the features.

“Barn raisings,” were other occasions of much importance and pleasure;  a barbecue often being a part of this festivity.  The spelling school was one of the classic entertainments, and was held in high repute.  Probably the most enjoyable of all the long-ago good times was the “Corn husking,” in which the finding of the red ear entitled the young man to kiss the maiden of his choice.

     Among the interesting and rare relics in the family are silhouettes of ancestors before the coming of the daguerreotype, which is remembered by them as being one of the wonders of the age.  Time has also spared to them some sterling silver spoons over 400 years old, an heirloom in the Sloane family for unknown generations.

     In the world beyond the home, science and innovation have wrought great changes.

 

 

                                                                      THE OLD TIME STAGE.

     Among the aids to comfort and labor and time and time saving devices is the evolution of the electric motor car from the stage coach;  the reaper and header from the scythe and cradle; the thresher from the flail and fanning mill; the telegraph and telephone from the weekly mail and the coming of the electric light.

     An interesting story is related of a commercial custom in that part of Ohio as far back as 1845.  Cincinnati was a great pork market of that section.  Hogs ready for market, were taken in droves.  The men who took them were called drovers.  The journey of 25 miles often required three days.  The farness of the porkers caused a tedious progress.  Taverns and pens being were established along the routes for the accommodation of the drover.  Mrs. Sloane remembers more than once of feeding 75 of these people at supper and breakfast.  The roads leading to Cincinnati were sometimes amonst one continuation of droves and drovers.

 

                                                                     KEPT PACE WITH TIMES.

     Mr. And Mrs. Sloane have kept pace with the westward trend of the nation, moving first to Illinois, later to Iowa, and last year coming to Walla Walla.  This climate suits them so well they have no desire to return to the cold, long winters of Iowa.   Mrs. Sloane remarked that the winters were so long and cold that no one could build a bin large enough to hold enough fuel to last till spring.

     Mr. And Mrs. Sloane are the parents of six children.  They are Mrs. R. F. Griffin, of Princeton, Mo.;  Joseph G. Sloane, Payette, Idaho;  Mrs. D. A. Herrie, Indianola, Iowa;  Felix G. Sloane, Oceola, Iowa, and Miss Cora Sloane of this valley.  The aged couple is also blessed with 35 grandchildren, and 30 great grandchildren.

     The successful with pioneer conditions of the middle west instilled an economy and thrift that has brought competence sufficient for comfort and ease in a ripe old age, and today they are enjoying the golden sun set of two useful lives.

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Submitted to the Walla Walla County, Washington GenWeb, March 2011, by Linda Thank.