On This Day -- The marriage of Joseph Norman Gorrell & Matilda Pearl Davey, 19 December 1900

Joseph Gorrell and Matilda Davey met at a boarding house in Kansas City, Missouri where they were both living. She was a maid at the Washington Hotel and lived at 1221 Broadway.[1]

They obtained their marriage license on the 19th of December and were married on the same day by the Circuit Court Judge of Jackson County, Missouri.[2] On their application, they were living in different places: he lived at 1121 Central and she lived at 1207 Hasbrook Place. This differed from the city directory for 1900 but perhaps she had moved before the book was printed. Joseph was 31 years old and Tillie was 20.

Then fifty-five years later, Joseph and Tillie celebrated their anniversary and it was written up in the newspaper.[3] The Joplin Globe printed lots of newsy articles about citizens of their community. This nice article gave the date of their marriage, the address they had lived in Webb City, the number and names of their four children, and the occupation of Joseph and social activities of Mrs. Gorrell. They had no “open house” celebration but welcomed those who would come visit during the day. Two of their daughters were expected to attend.

Here are photos of Joe and Tillie from their grandson's baby book, 1952.

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[1] Kansas City, Missouri Directory, Hoye Directory Co, 1900, p 271, Matilda Davy, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 Feb 2014).

[2] Jackson County, Missouri, Recorder of Deeds, Marriage License, Return, & Application, no. 21336, 1900, Joseph N Gorrell & Tillie Davey.

[3] "Webb City Couple Will Observe 55th Wedding Anniversary, " newspaper article, Joplin (Missouri) Globe, digital image, Newspaperarchive (http://newspaperarchive.com : accessed 17 Dec 1955).

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