Our Family Love Stories
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When I think of family love stories, the first ancestral couple that comes to mind are my maternal grandparents, Jess and Mabel Baldwin. But, as I have researched my family lines, I feel that most of my direct line grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. had marriages based on love and friendship.
Jess Baldwin and Mabel Leffel
Jesse Baldwin and Mabel Leffel were married on Christmas Day 1917 in Mountain Park, Oklahoma. They stayed married until Jess passed away in 1972 - almost 55 years. Grandpa Jess said it was love at first sight on his part. He first saw grandma standing next to a field with her cousin Della. The sun was shining on her hair and he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
Jess and Mabel loved each other and loved their family. They were the parents of fourteen (14) children and grandparents of 46 (50 including step-grandchildren) and great-grandparents of about 89.
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| Jess, Mabel, and children 1967 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration Montrose, Colorado |
Charles Wilson and Pearl Hatfield
Charles B. Wilson and Pearl Hatfield met at dance in Estell, Oklahoma in 1902. Pearl was sixteen years old and Charles B. was twenty-six years old - ten years older. On December 4, 1902, the local newspaper (Renfrew's Record of Alva, Oklahoma) reported that their marriage license had been issued. They married on Dec 14th, 1902 at the home of Pearl's parents, Martin and Nancy Hatfield.
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| Marriage License Issued |
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| Wedding Day B & Pearl sitting in buggy |
Charles B. and Pearl Wilson were married for 49 years, until B's death on December 16, 1951. They were the parents of eight children, six living to adulthood while the two youngest children died young. During the first ten years of their married life, the Wilsons traveled in a covered wagon around Oklahoma, Arkansas, and New Mexico. In 1915, they finally settled down near the Utah/Colorado border; first near Monticello, Utah, then near Dove Creek, Colorado. Eventually they moved to Cortez, Colorado the last few years of Charles' life.
In 1936, Pearl traveled from Colorado to her sister's home in Wyoming to visit her mother who was gravely ill. After Pearl had been gone from home for a several weeks, daughter Maymie who lived near her father Charles, wrote the following in a letter to her sister in Oklahoma.
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| 1936 Maymie's Letter Excerpt "Dad's Lonesome for Mother" |
"Mother is still in Wyoming. Guess she will stay another week. Grandma is still awful bad. Mother will come back on the train or bus.Dad sure gets lonesome for Mother. We can't hardly keep him here. Dad sold his old jersey cow and I & him made out an order for Mother a new dress, hose, slippers, purse, gloves, and hat - it is all Navy Blue but the shoes...
My we sure miss mother. But look for her next week."
I was touched that Great-grandpa Charles loved and missed his wife so much that he sold his jersey cow in order to buy her a gift. With the help of his daughter Maymie, Charles ordered a gift of new clothes so that Pearl's homecoming would be special. Kind of reminds me of the story by O. Henry -- The Gift of the Magi.
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More love stories from the family will be added in the future.
Baldwin Posts:
Wilson Posts:
2 comments:
I can't believe they got married when she was as 16!! and he was 26! that's older than me haha
Aw, I loved reading this. I love the depiction Jess gave of Mabel when he first saw her, I can envision it in my head and it seems like a scene from a movie where the main character falls in love at first sight. I also love that even after 34 years of marriage it seemed like Charles and Pearl loved each other a lot, and Charles wanted to surprise Pearl when she got back from her trip.🥰
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