Source:
Madison-Jefferson Co. Public Library, 420 W. Main St., Madison, IND.
Genealogy Department -- the LATTIMORE family file folder:
Newspaper clipping from the Madison Courier 07 OCT 1874
Column entitled: "The County"
Article entitled: Golden Wedding
To the child a half century seems a very long time; to the middle-aged
person, it does not seem near so long; to the very aged it seems but a very
short time. To think of a half century is to carry the mind over many and
varied changes. Yet half centuries come and go. It is a very rare thing that
persons are permitted to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding;
so rare that the occasion is called the golden wedding. It must be very
interesting to those persons who have passed a half century in married life,
to look back and recall he many changes that have taken place since the
minister pronounced them husband and wife till death should part them. But
all of this moralizing is but the preclude to a description of one of those
"golden occasions."
On the 3d. of October 1824, Zephaniah LLOYD and Ann LATTIMORE were united in
the holy bonds of matrimony, b the rev. Amos CHITWOOD. As the fiftieth
anniversary of this event drew near, Mr. LLOYD determined to celebrate it as
became the day, and by special request, your reporter was in attendance to
gather some items. And items there were in abundance. the only trouble was
to select what to note and what to omit.
When your reporter reached Mr. LLOYD's, he found a boy ready to take his
horse to the stable, so he got out and was cordially welcomed by the old
gentleman. By request, he gave some scraps of the history connected with the
occasion. Mr. LLOYD was born in Maryland, November 1805; came to Indiana in
1817, and to the place he now occupies in 1823. Consequently, he has spent
all his married life on the same place. His wife, nee Ann LATTIMORE, was
born in North Carolina, January 1800, and came to Indiana in 1811.
Mr. and Mrs. LLOYD have been blessed with nine children, six girls and three
boys, all of whom lived to maturity and married. One girl is now dead. The
number of grand-children in the family, with first name of parent, is as
follows: Isabel, four, all living; Elizabeth, five living, three dead; Jane,
six living, four dead; Rhoda, eight living, one dead; Rebecca, four living,
one dead; Delpha, three living, one dead; Oliver, two living; Zephaniah, two
living; Marion, one living.
After the recital of these interesting facts, Mr. LLOYD gave some items in
regard to his farm. When he came to it there was but little land fitted for
tillage, the deadened trees still standing on that little. Now he has a
large farm open and the best of improvements, such as a fine stone barn,
brick house, wood-house, engine-room, mill, etc. To illustrate Mr. LLOYD's
energy, it is only necessary to tell a story. One night he could not sleep,
so he got to thinking about a clothes drier, and he thought out the plan of a
decided success. Early in the morning he went to work and completed his
idea, and now he has one of the neatest things in this line that can be
imagined. He laughed about some persons who were going along saying "LLOYD
is going to have great times, he has a flying dutchman up."
Some old relics were then exhibited to your reporter. One was a pair of
pants over a hundred years old. To a modern they looked comical enough.
Next some linen pillow cases, homemade, "made in the times when women
worked," remarked the old gentleman. Then a linen sheet and two samples of
cloth. All these were entirely manufactured by hand. They were all good
specimens of handiwork. Another relic was a bread-tray that had been used
for eighty years.
The dining hall was next inspected. The porch had been extended by a
temporary floor and canvas covering, so as to make room for tables long
enough to seat twenty-five persons at a table. There were three tables. The
canopy was nicely decorated with cedar, white stars, red joined hearts and
bouquets of flowers. Against the wall were hanging large photographs of Mr.
and Mrs. LLOYD, Senator MORTON and General SCOTT.
At 12 o'clock precisely the bell rang for dinner, and the Marshal of the
occasion, Mr. Isaac EARHART, called each old settler to the table; these were
seated at the center table. Then he called until the other tables were
filled up. When it comes to describing this part of the programme, the pen
of your reporter is entirely inadequate to the task. It is enough to say hat
the tables fairly "groaned" under the load of good things. No expense had
been spared to make the dinner worthy of the great occasion. When the guests
had been seated, a blessing was asked by Lewis HARTWELL, and Mr. LLOYD, in a
few words, asked the guess to eat heartily, as it was probably the last
dinner that some of them would eat together. His request was literally
obeyed, for every one seemed to enjoy the dinner to the "fullest" extent of
his ability. At the second table, the center one was occupied by the LLOYD
family, only one seat being vacant, the Rev. Mr. LATHROP, in well-chosen
words, returned thanks to the Creator for His goodness to the family, and
prayed that it might continue through life.
After the dinner had been eaten, Mr. Charles K. LARD presented a Bible to Mr.
and Mrs. LLOYD, with a few words appropriate to the occasion. He concluded
by requesting the Rev. LATHROP to read the 103d Psalm. Mr. LATHROP replied
in behalf of Mr. and Mrs. LLOYD, and a concluding prayer offered by Mr.
LATHROP, and the formalities of the occasion were over.
The cooks upon this occasion were the daughters of the host and hostess, and
the feast displayed their skill and ability in the mysteries of the cuisine.
The relics were exhibited to the guests, and created much amusement to think
of the difference between then and now.
On this occasion there were present to assist in the festivities, four
persons who were in attendance at the original wedding of Mr. LLOYD, viz:
Joshua CHITWOOD, Ellen JONES, Ann THICKSTEIN and D. MCCURRY.
As it was now 3 o'clock the guests began to depart to their respective homes
feeling that they had been entertained in a manner which they would never
forget, although they should be allowed to celebrate their golden wedding.
May Mr. and Mrs. LLOYD live many years to enjoy the fruits of their
temperance, energy and industry, is the fervent wish of your reporter.
List of the names of old settlers in attendance at Mr. LLOYD's golden
wedding, with their ages, nativity, and the year in which they came to
Indiana:
D.L. CHITWOOD 70, N.C., 1807
John DUFFY 72, Penn., 1820
John H. FEWEL 72, Va., 1822
Aguilla ROBERTSEN 70, Ind. Ter.
John L. JONES 58, Ind.
James JACKSON 91, N.C., 1814
S. C. HUMPHREYS 64, Ky., 1824
R. P. NAY 54, Ind.
Stephen RICE 76, N.Y., 1818
James OFFICER 59, Ky., 1815
John TAIT 58, Ireland, 1858
Job HUGHES 60, Penn., 1841
John L. Wilson 55, Ind.
James B. CHAMBERS 50, Ind.
A. W. COOPERIDER 49, Ind.
Anthony ROCK 49, Poland, 1854
Geo. H. BLACK 47, Ind.
John O. LATTIMORE 64, N.C., 1811
Lewis HARTWELL 56, Ind.
Nancy HARTWELL 65, Ohio, 1837
Wm. CHAMBERS 84, N.C., 1809
Thos. DRYDEN 81, Md., 1820
Ephram HARTWELL 81, Vt., 1815
Nancy VAN HORN 80, Ky., 1816
Philip GILTNER 58, Ky., 1837
Elizabeth FEWEL 66, Penn., 1817
Jane G. WILEY 70, Ky., 1810
Sophia BOWLES 56, Ind.
Lockey HUMPHREY 62, Va., 1844
Phebe CHITWOOD 55, Ind.
Francis WYNE 79, Va., 1844
Betsy S. DAVIS 85, Ky., 1815
Rhoda CURRY 51, Ind.
Mary JONES 60, Ohio, 1844
Lucretia MCCURRY 45, Ohio, 1833
Jemma BAXTER 52, Ind.
Charles. K. LARD 65, Vt., 1820
John E. BAXTER 56, Ky., 1824
Wm. MONROE 66, Ky., 1810
Wm. JONES 61, Ind.
Wm. J. CHITWOOD 46, Ind.
Isaac EARHRT 50, Ohio, 1837
Isabel EARHART 44, Ind.
Wm. BOWLES 66, Ireland, 1815
Wm. KISTLER 49, Ind.
Louisa STUCKER 63, Penn., 1811
Henry HAYS 58, Ind.
C. J. NAY 52, Ind.
Nancy GILTNER 50, Ind.
Martha OFFICER 55, Ind.
Ann THICKSTEIN 63, Ind.
P. P. WILEY 64, Ohio, 1816
Wm. DUFFY 69, Penn., 1819
Elizabeth DUFFY 59, Ohio, 1832
Ann WILEY 54, Ind.
Henry WALTON 51, Ind.
Ellen TAIT (no age given), N.C., 1811
Mary A. WALTON 49, Ind.
Thos. L. JONES 55, Ind.
David MCCURRY 58, Ind.
Rebecca MCCURRY 55, Ky., 1821
Sarah JONES 68, Ky., 1815
Betsy CHITWOOD 54, Va., 1820
Joshua CHITWOOD 75, N.C.
Thos. CHAPMAN 49, Ind.
end of record