In honor of Katy getting married in Alaska tomorrow on 10/10/2010, let me tell a bit about my Grandmother Sneath's wedding on November 15, 1911. They had to do some traveling too - and to a foreign country!
Let's begin with a photograph...
a Gram story from Jeanette...
"I was born Nov. 29, 1914 in Alameda, Saskatchewan where my dad was manager of the Royal Bank of Canada. Charles Alexander Sneath, my dad, was born 13 Jan 1880, and my mom Lois Rebecca McGregor was born 8 July 1884.
They met at Macoun, Saskatchewan when he was manager of the Northern Crown Bank there, and she came from Iowa to visit her brothers Alex and Bruce who invested in real estate there. Macoun was just a little town on the prairie. There were wheat fields all around. I can’t imagine where they went on a date.
My dad was the entire staff at the Northern Crown Bank – manager, accountant, bookkeeper. He was born in Ontario and had several brothers and sisters. He came west as a young guy and joined the bank in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He served in several branches and was finally in Kimberly, Saskatchewan and then Macoun.
(Josh, how do you like the hair?)
My dad was shy and my mom real out-going and chattered all the time. He was SOO handsome, dark auburn hair… She was so dark too and graduated from high school in 1903. She was 27 years old when they married so she must have been 24-25 when she went to Canada.
There is a lovely picture at the wedding which Lois Ann copied and framed in an oval frame and which each of my girls have a copy. (See in green oval frame above). My parents were married in Ames, Iowa at her parents’ home. I am enclosing the account which Lois Ann and I picked up at the library in Ames when she and I were there in Sept 1998.
My dad came down to Ames by way of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Uncle Bruce told me he had to give my dad the money to pay the minister (I suppose dad didn’t have any American money?) When Lois Ann and I were up at the cemetery in Ames where Granddad McGregor (Lois’s father Alexander McGregor, Jr.) is buried, I could hear a train whistle and wondered if it was the same line that my parents had traveled to and from Canada. My mom told me that when they arrived in Macoun, there were 52 people to meet the train (the entire population). No cameras in every family, so no pictures. They soon moved to Alameda where three of us kids were born. (Saga to be continued). “
Newspaper article from the Ames Times Nov. 16, 1911; “A quiet home wedding took place this afternoon at four o’clock at the residence of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. MacGregor, 905 Clark Avenue, when Miss Lois MacGregor was united in marriage to Mr. Charles Sneath of Kinley, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Only relatives to the number of fifteen were present to witness the ceremony, performed by Rev. W.J. Minchin of the Congregational Church, the beautiful ring ceremony being used. The bride was becomingly gowned in white embroidered batiste and carried a shower of bridal flowers. After congratulations, a delicious four course dinner was served to the guests, Mrs. R.M. Paxton acting as cateress, the house decorations being of yellow chrysanthemums.
Mr. and Mrs. Sneath leave this evening for Winnipeg and then on to their new home at Kinley, where Mr. Sneath is manager of the Northern Crown Bank. Miss MacGregor came to Ames about a year ago from Macoun, Saskatchewan, and has gained many friends, considering the shortness of her residence in Ames. “
McGregor houseat 905 Clark Ave., Ames, Iowa in 1911.
McGregor house at 905 Clark Ave., Ames Iowa in September 1998.
