Marriages (March 11)

Holt - Bartlett

Chenango Union, January 24, 1892

Binghamton papers mention a most pleasant social event which occurred at the residence of Mrs. Harriet A. Bartlett, at Port Dickinson, N.Y. [Broome Co.], Thursday, January 21, in the marriage of her eldest daughter, Blanche, to William D. Holt, of the same place.  The ushers were Benjamin Salisbury, of Port Dickinson, and C.W. Bryers, of Chenango Forks.  The wedding march, was rendered by Miss Julia McNitt, of Norwich. The bridal pair entered the room at 1 o'clock P.M., taking a position underneath an arch of evergreens, from which was suspended a horse shoe of white roses.  The ceremony was performed by Rev. Samuel Dunham, of Binghamton, in a very impressive manner.  After receiving the hearty congratulations of the entire company a choice collation was served.  The bride was tastefully attired in heliotrope crepe du chine and carried a beautiful bouquet of marechalneil roses.  The rooms were tastefully decorated.  They were the recipients of very many beautiful and costly presents, showing the esteem in which they are held by their many friends.  Mr. and Mrs. Holt and party left for Binghamton in a heavy shower of rice, where they took train No. 6 for the metropolis via Albany.  Their many friends unite in wishing them a long and successful journey thorugh life.  Returning they will make their permanent residence in Port Dickinson.  The bride is a daughter of the late Major L. Chester Bartlett, of Port Dickinson, who is pleasantly remembered in this county as an eloquent Democratic speaker.  She is a favorite society young lady of that place. During her occasional visits with relatives in Norwich, she made many friends, who extend their hearty congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Holt.

Gridley - Smith

Chenango Union, February 11, 1892

At the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Smith, of Oxford, N.Y. [Chenango Co.], a large and select company of friends and relatives assembled on January 25th, 1892.  The occasion was that of the marriage of their daughter, Miss Cora L. to Mr. Gaylord G. Gridley, of Guilford, N.Y. [Chenango Co] The ceremony was performed by the Rev. W.J. Simpson, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church of Oxford.  It was a bright and glad event.  The bride is well known to the people of the Chenango Valley--a young lady possessed of all that constitutes a beautiful character.  Mr. Gridley is a young man of sterling character and universally respected.  Many presents graced the event showing the love and esteem in which the young people were held.

Some Scotch Wedding Superstitions

Chenango Uniion, January 7, 1892

In the matter of courtships and weddings Scottish people preserve an extraordinary number of peculiar customs and fanciful superstitions. 

• It is deemed unlucky to alter the first width of an engagement ring.  Many troths have been broken as a result. 
• The  giving of brooches and pins by lovers is full of ill consequences.  No young man or woman, in the tender relation, will take a pin from the other without returning the same after use.  Pins, needles, etc., are all emblematic of the cessation of friendship and affection. 
• It is very fortunate for the bride to wear some borrowed article of apparel at her wedding. 
• If swine cross the path of the bridal party before it, it is an omen of the direst import; but if they should cross its path behind the party it would be a happy augury. 
• A wedding after sunset entails on the bride a joyless life, the loss of children, and an early grave. 
• In the south of Scotland, a rainy day for a marriage is an unlucky one.  The bride is then called a "greetin' bride," whereas, "Best is the bride that the sun shines on." 
• To "rub shoulders" with the bride is a sign of a speedy marriage; the first among the unmarried female friends who succeeds in doing it will be the first to wed; and I have myself witnessed scrambles on the part of buxom Scotch lasses for precedence quite closely approaching fisticuffs.
• As a newly married wife first enters her new home some elderly person must throw a cake of short bread into the door, before her. 
• One securing a piece of cheese cut with the bride's own hand, before she has left the wedding feast, is shortly to be happily married. 
• And it is everywhere in Scotland as inauspicious for the bride's mother to be present at a wedding as it is unfortunate in our country to have the same individual arrive, to remain, at any subsequent period--Boston Transcript.