Excerpt from the diary of Oliver Morton Wallen,
dated Sunday, May 6, 1900:
May 6 – A damp, rainy morning. At home until noon . Went to Friendship* to S.S.* at two P.M.
Called on Miss Sarah Davis to get some books. Talked over old times, made up,
and agreed to soon get married. Came home through the rain.
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| LOVERS - Béla Iványi-Grünwald [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons |
On this day, 112 years ago, my paternal great grandparents, who were not yet married, "made up". What did that phrase mean in 1900; the same as today? Did they have a lover's spat? They had become engaged to each other two years earlier on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1898. Now, Oliver says, they "talked over old times", indicating there was a time between the engagement and this day that they were, perhaps, not engaged.
Intrigued, I searched back through the diary for the cause of this lapse in their romance.
And then, I found this reference:
Jan. 16 – Tore down the old meat house and made a hen house out of
it. Got a letter from my old sweethart, Sarah Davis, dated Jan. 15, 1900 .
How long was the separation? Six months? A year, or more? What caused it? There is nothing in the diary that gives me any more clues. Darn. I can only imagine.....
*Note: "Friendship" = Friendship Church. "S.S." = Sunday School.
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What a great mystery!
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