DANVILLE — Sometimes a piece of paper provokes questions.
Just such a piece of paper can be found in the Knox County probate court records. It is dated Jan. 9, 1915, and it is a marriage certificate for Edwin V. Gray of Spangler, Pennsylvania, and Martha E. Holmes of Danville. The odd thing is, the marriage apparently never happened.
Probate court judge Philip Wilkins took the couple’s application and filled it out on Jan. 7 that week. Two days later, according to an article in the Democratic Banner, Wilkins received an envelope in the mail containing the certificate. On the line where the minister performing the wedding ceremony was to sign confirmation of the event was instead scrawled in large print “CHANGED OUR MINDS.”
The certificate’s postmark showed that it had been mailed from a train in Pennsylvania. Since the license had been issued, it had to be recorded in the court’s permanent record, and so it was, with the “changed our minds” notation duly included in place of the minister’s signature. It remains on file today.
The odd thing is, a little genealogical sleuthing suggests that Edwin and Martha changed their minds again, because they are listed in later census reports as a married couple with children, living in Spangler, Pennsylvania. Interestingly, though, there is no recorded marriage license or wedding certificate for the pair elsewhere in Ohio nor Pennsylvania.
One wonders if perhaps they had a fight, then reconciled without bothering to go to the trouble of getting their relationship formally solemnized. Whatever the case, they certainly acted like they were married later on, and could have defended their union as a common-law marriage.
Why did they file for marriage in Knox County? That’s not clear.
Census reports show Edwin Vincent Gray, born 1891 or 1892, growing up in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, with his family.
He was born in Carrolltown, where his father ran a hotel. At some point before 1900, the family relocated to Spangler, a tiny village just a few miles up the road. The whole area is west of Altoona, and north of Johnsville, in west central Pennsylvania.
Martha Holmes was born in 1892 in Houtzdale, a village in Clearfield County, the next county to the north of Cambria. So, the two were born less than 20 miles apart.
But the 1910 census suggests they may have crossed paths early on. By 1910, Martha is being raised by her grandparents and is already working as a dressmaker in Spangler. In the same census, Edwin is still living with his parents and isn’t listed as having a job, though as his father’s occupation is now listed as “liquor distiller,” it’s very possible that he had his children help with the new family business.
Spangler is a long town, stretched out along the Susquehanna River in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, but it was not large in population, so it isn’t hard to imagine the two young people crossing paths and catching each other’s eye.
On the marriage license, Martha’s residence is given in Danville, and her occupation is listed as seamstress. Why would she have come to Danville?
According to the 1910 census, Danville already had five dressmakers, an embroiderer, and even a milliner, a maker of women’s hats. They weren’t exactly hurting for people who could sew.
And Edwin’s occupation is even more puzzling. This young man who had grown up with a distiller and is later listed as a railway worker and general laborer, here claims to be a stenographer!
What these sketchy details suggest to me is a possible explanation: Perhaps Edwin and Martha were already heavily involved and decided to elope to escape family pressures in Pennsylvania.
Maybe they came far enough west to be among strangers, filled out the paperwork claiming residence for the young woman, and got the marriage license, but then had a falling out. Perhaps they ultimately patched it up and returned home, claiming to be married, even though the official event never actually took place.
Or, perhaps Martha Holmes really did have some connection to Danville and stayed here for a time until her beau came to fetch her back, including a promise of marriage. Whatever volatility the relationship may have had, it lasted.
The couple had four children (at least one of which dates from before the marriage!) and remained together through tough times: during the 1930s, Edwin became debilitated from arthritis and a heart condition, leaving him unable to work. Martha’s dressmaking activities were the family’s sole income after that.
Edwin died, only 51 years old, in 1942. Martha outlived him by 30 years. They are buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Spangler.
If anyone knows of any more substantial connection to Knox County that Martha or Edwin may have had, let us know!
