Wedding

June is the month for weddings, so this week's blogging prompt from 52 Ancestors is appropriate.

I thought I'd use the occasion to share this old wedding photo of my great great grandparents, taken in Kansas City, Missouri, on 22 September 1889.

The groom was William Swinney Morgan (1863-1917), son of James Lorenzo Morgan and the former Martha Virginia Brown.  (His parents were second cousins, descendants of Revolutionary War patriot William Jones.)

The bride was Lola Estelle Blakesley (1872-1954), daughter of Edson McClure Blakesley and the former Mary Elizabeth Blakesley.  (Her parents were cousins once removed, descendants of Ohio pioneer Amasa Blakesley.)

So, when I get endogamous results among my DNA matches, I know who to blame . . .

Anyway, William and Lola were next door neighbors in Kansas City.  Yep, he literally married the girl next door.

As the story goes, he had grown tired of driving cattle along the Chisholm Trail and was looking to settle down.  

She had been working as a lady's maid, and had been swindled out of her savings by some charlatan they met at church.

So, William worked some magic to convince the charlatan to give them their money back, perhaps with interest.  Complete details on just how he was so persuasive have been lost to history, probably a benefit to posterity.

This, of course, made William not only Lola's next door neighbor, but also her hero.  And, they quickly tied the knot.

Sort of romantic if you overlook the endogamy and vigilante justice  . . .

#52Ancestors