Monday's Moaning, Lost Marriage Certficiates

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Man and I discovered a little town near Fort Wayne that we knew nothing of, and seeing that it is in the heart of a small Amish community just 10 miles north of our campground, we just had to go visit.  Grabill, Allen County, Indiana.  In all the years we have been coming to Fort Wayne, we were unaware of this little jewel.

There are only a few stores, a great hardware, a new grocery type store where they sell spices and all kinds of goodies in small containers at bulk food prices.  There are also two Sauder stores, one of which is the General Mechandiser.  I have a few photos today over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna showing their Candy, Coffee and Checkers.  The other store is Sauder's Furniture (est. 1907).  The store is now all about antiques (well almost), a number of vendors rent floor space and place their wares to be sold.  You can buy a Vera Bradley product there, that is the "almost" part of the store.

They had some great stuff.  I found a sewing cabinet exactly like mine, which I inherited from my great aunt Sarah.  Here is mine, they had the one there priced to sell at $95.00.  The ends (under those two gold lamps) lift, for deep storage.  One of the drawers has a little sliding type of tray to hold small sewing items, like needles, thimbles, etc.

I found some old cradles, lots of jewelry and what always saddens a family researcher, old photos, someone's great great grandparents.  Some large, fully framed photos, some smaller.  I would love to save them all, but, finances and space do not permit. 

I did not feel that I could stand there and photograph all of them, I am pretty sure that would have upset the owner and the vendors.  My ethics just would not stretch that far.  Besides, most have no names, no way to identify the people, so, sadly, why bother?  SIGHHH

However, that said, ethics sorta took a hit when I found two marriage certificates, one dated 1909 and the other 1915.  I whipped that ole Sony out and took photos! 

So, what is the purpose of this Monday Moaning??  I would love to find someone who is related to these happy couples, and reunite them with their ancestors.  No, I did not purchase them, again, finances and space just do not permit.  Of course, I have NO idea how long these marriage certificates may stay unsold.

So, here's the deal, I will NOT post the photos, again, due to ethics, but, I am going to tell you WHO the happy couples were.  If you recognize any of these names, contact me, find my email addy here on the blog and write me.

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Charles F. Pence of Converse, Indiana and Louella A. Wright of Converse, Indiana were married on September 7, 1909.

Charles H. Rodenbeck of Fort Wayne, Indiana and Ardelia E. Schultz, also of Fort Wayne, Indiana, were married on December 1st of 1915.  Charles and Ardelia were married in Fort Wayne.

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If you know anyone who might be interested in these names, in this area, please let them know about this post.  Thank you.

OK, Monday's Moaning is over.  Man and I enjoyed our visit to Grabill, and we will go back again, next time we are here in the Fort Wayne area. 

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