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These are the 4 x 6 memoirs written by family members and others for the photo albums I made; many of the photos I scanned for you tonight come from the album. The latter pages are vignettes about your/our great-greats....

Memoirs #1

My father was so pleased with Emerson. He said “I’m in love with Emerson, too.” Dear Papa. I was married in the parlor [at 5 Branch Street, Mansfield, Mass.]. We were to have been married in the Mansfield Methodist Church, but my father died August 16, 1938. His funeral was in the church and I could not go through with our wedding there so soon afterwards. Glen gave me away. Garland, my oldest brother played the piano and sang “Because”, and I think one other song. Prescott ran many errands. I could drive, but had no license. The wedding dinner was at the Mansfield Tavern; $1.00 each---a wonderful dinner. I could have only 40 guests, as I had only $40 left. I paid for the wedding dinner with the last of my money.

Christine, as noted on the back of her wedding photo

My dress had a long train [and orange blossoms made of wax from which the veil hung]. Eugenia wore the same orange blossoms in 1965. Carol made her own [wedding] dress but put mine on in the afternoon. Today is Dec. 6, 1999. I am 87.

Christine, as noted on the back of another wedding photo

Memoirs #2

Mother and Dad were married in her home in Mansfield, Mass., on Oct. 1, 1938, just a week or so after the big hurricane. Dad was barely able to get to Mansfield because the roads were so littered with trees and debris. When he got to Foxboro, his car became hemmed in by fallen trees. He had to walk the last five miles.

Mother was to have been married in her local church. However, her father had died of a heart attack six weeks before the wedding. She could not bear the thought of getting married in the church where his funeral had just taken place.

She had only $24 to spend on her wedding celebration, money she herself had earned/saved. (To illustrate what $24 meant: this was at the end of the Depression. Mother, with her mother’s help, had sent herself to college by sewing aprons for ten cents apiece.) Mother had her wedding reception---a sit-down dinner---at the Mansfield Hotel. The cost was $1.00 per person. The Norrises brought an extra (uninvited) family member, and Mother didn’t have the money to pay for that person’s dinner. Grandpa Norris paid.

Cynthia and Carol, their daughters

Early family pictures donated by Carol Foord - Click on each photo to see full size.