How did you find a mate before dating apps?
Well, apparently not by offering yourself at the Elks Club picnic.
Perhaps pickings were slim in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1895, but when bricklayer Pat H. Crowe heard through the grapevine that the Elks Club in Mount Vernon, Ohio, was looking for a couple to get married at its Fourth of July picnic, Pat was intrigued.
The only problem was, Pat had no fiancée.
Not letting that stop him, Pat wrote to the Mount Vernon Elks Club that he was perfectly willing to come get married here if the good people of Mount Vernon would provide him with a bride.
The 24-year-old said that he would prefer a “neat and good-looking young woman” and offered as enticement that he was wealthy.
Pat apparently had a lot of confidence in finding a bride this way, as the newspaper brief mentioning this project ran in the Mansfield News Journal just about a week before the picnic!
The report stated that at least one young woman had expressed interest, requesting a photo of Pat.
Alas, nothing came of the project.
Pat finally succeeded in finding a bride when he was 30 years old, and he found her in Meadville. Hattie Chamberlain married Pat, who was the son of Irish immigrants.
Pat and Hattie evidently lived happily enough ever after, having five children and remaining Meadville-based the rest of their lives. When Pat passed away in the 1930s, his obituary described him as “well-known,” suggesting that he cut a bold and colorful figure all his days.
Just not colorful enough to lure a Mount Vernon bride!
