Bloomington (Monroe County, Indiana) Telephone, March 12, 1936, p. 2. NOTE:
The item below was abbreviated from the original as noted by the ellipsis.
MR. AND MRS. J. M. SOWDER RECEIVE FRIENDS AT GOLDEN WEDDING RECEPTION
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON; CHLDREN ASSIST
Mr. and Mrs. James M. Sowder, Smithville Road, quietly celebrated their
golden wedding anniversary Wednesday afternoon by receiving close friends
and neighbors between the hours of two and five o'clock.Assisted in
receiving were the children of Mr. and Mrs. Sowder, Mrs. Charles E. Cook of
North Manchester, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Sowder of Bedford and Stanley Sowder of
Detroit.
Mrs. Izilla Hutchison, a sister of Mrs. Sowders (sic), was the only guest
Wednesday who attended the wedding ceremony fifty years ago, although seven
others are still living, among them Mrs. Flora Chambers of Harrodsburg..
The ceremony was performed by Rev. Lucien B. Johnson, a pioneer Methodist
minister who served charges in this county. The wedding occurred at the
home of the bride's father, Peter Norman, an early settler from North
Carolina who located at Norman Station in the southern part of Monroe
County.
Mrs. Sowder before her marriage was a teacher in Polk Township having taught
in the Blackwell, Saddle Creek and Burgoon schools. She attended the old
Bloomington preparatory school and received instruction at the hands of Dr.
James A. Woodburn and the late James K. Beck and Prof. Houghton. She
recalls vividly the days when the farm home was the center of all home
industries, her family having spun wool and flax for clothing, dyed the
materials and then wove and knitted the threads into cloth or clothing.
Mr.Sowders (sic) is a native of Lawrence County where the couple lived on a
farm near Bartlettsville for 20 years following their marriage.
They moved to Bedford for two years and then came to Monroe County and have
lived for the past 28 years on the farm where they now reside. While living
in Lawrence County Mr. Sowder held the offices of school trustee in Pleasant
Run Township and county commissioner.