In my previous post, I asked “Why Did Grover & Millicent Go to St. Louis to Marry?” I conjectured about possible reasons they traveled from Louisville to St. Louis to get married. This post is about what we know about their wedding.
 |
Millicent Tschudi & Grover Brown (on their wedding day?) |
Eighty-one years ago today, on Tuesday, August 12, 1941, my maternal grandparents, Grover Brown and Millicent Tschudi, were married in Saint Louis, Missouri. But they lived in Louisville, Kentucky.
Why did they travel to St. Louis to get married?
Today the trip would take about 6 hours (279 miles) while
avoiding interstate highways. I imagine that it took much longer back then. Of
course, they could have flown (unlikely) or taken a train. But why?
 |
| Google Maps - Louisville to St. Louis without highways |
I want to believe that it was a romantic elopement. But who knows?
They did not need to get married because she was pregnant.
Their first child, Linda Lee Brown, was born nine and a half months after their marriage.
Did they elope because the families disapproved of the
marriage? Could be. Remember from the 1940
Census we learned that Grover had been unemployed for 2 years, and before
that he pumped gas. I could imagine that her father (Peter C. Tschudi) might
not have been too optimistic about Grover’s potential to provide for his daughter.
However, legally they did not need to get their parents’
permission to marry since she was 23 years old, and he was 21.
A reason they may have wanted to get married was the military draft. (But this doesn’t explain why they went to St. Louis.) Grover registered for the draft on July 1, 1941. Although the United States was not at war, the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 required all men between 21 and 36 years of age to register for the draft. On July 1, 1941, the second registration was held. All males who had reached 21 years of age since the first registration on October 16, 1940. As required, Grover registered for the draft in Louisville on July 1, 1941. At first married men were not drafted, which led to a marriage boom. 1
%20-%20US%20-%20Grover%20Brown.jpg) |
| Front of Draft Registration Card 2 |
%20-%20US%20-%20Grover%20Brown.jpg) |
| Back of Draft Registration Card 2 |
My mother thought they may have selected St. Louis to marry
and to attend a fair (like the St. Louis
World’s Fair, but that was in 1904.) I can find nothing about any fairs in
St. Louis in 1941. The 1939/1940World’s Fair was in New York City, and it ended in October 1940. So, I
think we can rule that out.
Along that line, was it a destination wedding? Did
they go to St. Louis with some friends and/or family members? Often witnesses
were required to sign the marriage license or application and friends or family
would act as the witnesses. Sometimes these witnesses could provide some clues
in our research. Unfortunately, there are no witnesses were required by St.
Louis on the marriage documents. So, we don’t know if anyone was there with
them. I also looked at the marriage licenses issued the same day to look for
familiar names or couples from Louisville, but I found none. Thus, we cannot answer this question.
Read my post The Wedding of Grover Brown & Millicent Tschudi for details on their
marriage documents.
Could it have been to avoid restrictive marriage laws in
Kentucky? Kentucky had some restrictive marriage laws at the time, including a
waiting period between the application for a marriage license and its issuance.3
Thus many Kentuckians married in other states, like Indiana. I can find no
reason why they could not marry at home in Louisville, Kentucky. And if that
was the case, why didn’t they just cross the Ohio River to Indiana?
What do you think? Why do you think they traveled to St.
Louis to get married?
Please post your thoughts and comments below.
1 John W. Jefferies, World War II & The American Home Front: A National Historic Landmarks Theme Study: Part One, (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 2007), page 21.
2 National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Kentucky, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 77
3
Dawn Mitchell, “Indiana was a scandalous marriage mill and Valentino took
advantage,” IndyStar, 4 July 2019, online archives (https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2019/07/04/indiana-scandalous-marriage-mill-and-valentino-took-advantage-gretna-green-weddings/1621342001 : accessed 6 August 2022), para. 3.
In the 1950 census, we found Grover and Millicent married with three kids living in Louisville, Kentucky. Where were they ten years earlier during the previous decennial census?
Millicent was living with her father Peter C. and her two brothers, Peter H. and Frederick C. Tschudi. They lived at 1308 Rufer Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky.
 |
| 1940 Census Image - Peter C. Tschudi Household |
After my first post on the 1950 Census, I received some comments back from my aunt and uncle, Peter Brown and Julia Brown Herrin, about their childhood in Louisville.
Pete replied:
I had forgotten the projects were called "Clarksdale". At the north end was a barber college where I would get a haircut for 25 cents. We went to school at Nicholas Finzer School. There was a silo type fire escape with a circular metal slide inside. Once a year the students could pay a penny to slide down. It was for cleaning purposes.
We also frequented an amusement park called Fontaine Ferry.
The United States has the "72-Year Rule" concerning information about individuals collected during the decennial US Census. Thus the information from the 1950 US Census was released on 1 April 2022.
Recently, I found my mother's family in the census records.
