Twenty-One Years for James and Effie

On the evening of July 14, 1919, James and Effie Chester were surprised in the Water Street home by family and friends come to help them celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary. They had been married that very day in 1898, when James was about 23 years old and Effie Spencer about 27.

I've never seen a picture of James, but his 1918 draft card describes him as "Bald headed." As for Effie, I know almost nothing about her. Again, on the draft card, James gives her name as "Mrs. May Chester," and I do find a May Spencer in the 1880 census, living in Hobart, her age matching Effie's, and her birth state, as well as her father's and mother's, matching those she gave to the 1920 census-taker. So perhaps that's her, but I can't say for certain.

The reports don't say exactly who attended the anniversary party, but James' sister Luella Olson was in town from Fort Wayne, along with her husband Charles and daughter Flossie, staying with sister Carrie Raschka; no doubt the Olsons as well as the Raschkas were among the guests. Someone came in from East Gary — probably brother John Chester and his wife, Emma; and there were guests from Ainsworth as well, so likely the families of Charles Chester and Lovisa Chester Nelson were represented.

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Another ad from our old friends, Lee & Rhodes, on the front page of the Hobart Gazette of July 18, 1919.


(Click on image to enlarge)


Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Given Pleasant Surprise." Hobart Gazette 18 July 1919.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 17 July 1919.
♦ WWI Draft Cards.