Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Love

This year's challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by Amy Johnson Crow.

The topic:

Valentine's Day is this week, but that doesn't mean you have to focus on romantic love. Besides the ancestral love stories, you could share an ancestor who you love to research. Are there any "love" names in the family tree, like Lovie or Valentine? (Come to think of it, "Amy" is based in Latin meaning "beloved"... )

How did some of my ancestors/family meet and marry?

My Parents
This is interesting time for the topic to come up as about a month ago, I was talking to my father and asked the one question I had wondered.

"How did you and mom meet?" I asked sitting on the couch behind his recliner.

My stepmother sounded shocked at the question and then made a comment about this being good and sat down interested. This wasn't expected and I didn't even realize she was in the room as I later thought it could have went pretty badly if she took offense to the question. However, the reaction was different - she was interested enough to sit down in another chair and turned to my father interested.

My mother and father in January 1956 just after they married. My uncle (boy), Grandpa Charlie and Grandmother are in the picture. Taken in Newburgh, NY. Copyright J. Fitzgerald

I was told he saw my mother when she came into the movie theater he was working at as an usher. I know they got married in October 1955, so it had to be prior to this.

The Groom Marriage index for 1955. The entry is the last one. Credit

I did go looking to see what theaters were around Newburgh, NY around that time and two of the bigger ones was the Broadway Theatre and the Ritz Theatre. It could have been either of these.

Credit

Credit

A few days later, my Uncle Jimmy, told me my mother used to take him to the movie theater and pay. They would go in and sit down. Without him knowing, she would get up and leave. He would turn to say something to her and she wouldn't be there. He would look around and see them in the back of the theater together.

Later, he filled it in a bit more and said they started to see each other when he started serving with the US Navy. Once he had gone back for his second lot of training, they had broken up. However, when he came back on leave, one of their friends, who was dating a friend of Mom's, went and picked her up and my father, who they knew was interested in her, was in the car. They had started to date again and it resulted in marriage, 5 kids, and a divorce.

My mother's paternal grandparents - Jules and Annie Gauquie

This one requires a bit more of imagination.

Jules arrives in the US in the mid 1890s with his father and siblings. After a bit of time, he decides to go to Minnesota to visit his father's cousin (or it could have been another relative but due to age and where the ancestor Camille Gauquie was born (Elverdinge in 1881 below) I would say he went to visit him and his family.

Credit Belgium archives. This shows Camille's birth information in Belgium.

Anyway, along the way he met up with Annie. They applied for a marriage on April 25, 1896. They married on April 28, 1896 by a Justice of the Peace in Ramsey, Minnesota.

Credit: FamilySearch, Minnesota, County Marriages, 1860-1949, image 005193152
Jules and Annie's wedding certificate

They traveled all the way back to New York and settled into Blooming Grove where they had a huge family and farm. They both died in the area as well.

My father's parents - Jean and Mattias 'Matthew' Schmitz

My grandparents both lived in NYC. I know from my grandmother she was a cigarette girl in the speakeasy's. She was very popular because she was so small so when the cops did the raids, she would hide in the bottom of the telephone booth. When they disappeared, she was back in business.

1930s cigarette girl in a speakeasy

I do know my grandfather liked his alcohol, so I'm once again using my imagination on this one. I believe my grandmother was working and my grandfather was in having a drink and they met. I do have to say that it must have been really quick because the middle of 1940 when the US Census was done, she lived at home. By the time January 1934 happened, she was getting married at the courthouse and living in NYC. March 1934 was the second wedding in a church in NYC.

Copyright: FamilySearch. This shows the January marriage.

Copyright: FamilySearch. This shows the March marriage.

My father arrived in August 1934. I'm doing the math and finding it must have been a really quick 9 months.

Credit. You can see the Schmitz ... male entry. This is my father. 

They ended up having 2 sons, owning a few houses and businesses, and then going their own ways around the late 1940s to early 1950s.

My brother's marriage - Charles and Kathy Schmitz
My brother's friend, Glenn, introduced them. However, my brother was dating someone else at that time. Soon after, my brother went over to Kathy's house. He asked her out to a Christmas party, which she accepted.

They married in 1985, had a child, and bought a house.

Their marriage photo in 1985. Credit Kathy Schmitz.

They were married 33 1/2 years before his death in January 2019.

My marriage - Jo Ann and Brett Fitzgerald
This is one for the updated ages.

I was attending State University at New York campus' and had many different email pen pals. It was cheap and easy way to make friends and meet others. One of these people was Brett.

He set up a newsgroup looking for someone to email with. I found it and emailed him using the information he provided. We emailed, called, and talked on the phone in 1995. He visited the states in September that same year and we met and spent a lot of time together. He went to do some business stuff but ended up back in New York before he flew home.

Brett and I in October 1995. Credit J. Fitzgerald

We got engaged in November 1995.

Thirteen months later, I came to Australia to visit as we were talking about where we wanted to live. I needed to meet everyone and see if I could live here. I went back in January 1997.

Brett and I before I head back to the US in 1997. Copyright J. Fitzgerald

I flew out in early May 1997 to live in Australia. We married on May 24, 1997 in Croydon, Victoria after having 3 fires and a wedding.

Brett and I at our wedding with Celebrant Beverly Prosser in May 1997. Credit J. Fizgerald

Yes, its a long story...

Jo Ann and Brett make the Leader newspaper weeks until the wedding. Copyright Leader Newspaper.

We currently live in Narre Warren, Victoria with one dog, Buddy. We built our house, but found difficulty in having children.

Currently we've been married 22 years but been together 24 years.

February 2, 2019 Brett and I at Sam's Point in New York. Copyright J. Fitzgerald

Everyone can have a marriage but it depends on how much effort you put into it.

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