Cora’s Wedding

Transcribed as handwritten by Cora in her spiral notebook/journal — italics text is mine. She is writing her memoirs TO her oldest son, Charles William Palmer, as he requested in 1961.

Well, we set our wedding date for September 1, 1897 (Cora age 13, Charles age 20) at three o’clock at your grandparent’s home north of Columbia. It was a very small wedding. Rev. William H. Jeffries was the minister (he was your Aunt Stella’s father — a very aristocratic, old gentleman, but good as gold). Your uncles, Robert and Edney, and their wives were present and the little boys, who were supposed to be on their good behavior. They got tickled and hid in the hall just outside the parlor door. I misplaced my white gloves; my wedding dress was white, dotted-swiss, and red slippers?!!! And I just couldn’t find ’em anywhere. So I went on “sans” gloves. I dressed in the dining room as it was the only room I could close all the doors to. After the ceremony, I found the gloves under a chair cushion. I have always thought that one of the boys put them there, but they never confessed, so to this day, it’s a mystery.

I know when you, my children, read this you will wonder that I had red slippers for my wedding. They were all the rage then. “Oxblood” color they were called with two red buttons on the side. Your grandmother was very conservative where money was concerned, so she thought I should have something I could wear later instead of white, which she thought could never be worn any more. She had homemade ice cream and cake after the ceremony.