Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A June Wedding

Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) married Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) on 21 June 1900 in Leominster, Massachusetts. Frederick was born and rasied in Leominster, the son of Frank Walton and Harriet (Hildreth) Seaver. Bess was born in Killingly, Connecticut, and was the daughter of Thomas and Julia (White) Richmond. The Richmonds resided in Leominster in the 1895 to 1905 time period.


Seven children were born from this union, and six lived to adulthood and five had children, but none are living at this date. They have eleven grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren, and several great-great-grandchildren and 3rd great-grandchildren, all living except for one great-grandchild.
One of my favorite sayings is "there are things that happen in a second that take a lifetime to explain." Couples meet perhaps at random, a spark of interest flares into a flame of passion and then into a fireplace full of love. A union occurs and new life begins.

Were Fred and Bess thinking about the next 100 years of family history when they got married? I'm sure that Fred was dazzled by the mental and physical charms of his 18-year old bride, and I imagine that Bess enjoyed the attention paid by the dashing young combmaker with stories about exciting escapades.

They spent the rest of their lives in Leominster raising their children and enjoying their circles of friends. Fred rose quickly to be a manager of the Paton Manufacturing Company and the family moved into the house adjacent to the factory on Central Street. In the 1920s, they bought a home on Hall Street, but lost it during the Depression and lived in a rental on West Street in their "empty-nest" years. Bess was an accomplished pianist and organist, and played the organ at St. Mark's church for many years. She was also the organist and music director for several churches in her later years.

I am very fortunate to have quite a bit of narrative material from their sons and daughters concerning life in the Frederick Seaver household. I have shared this material with the extended family over the years in my yearly Christmas Journal. Many of the Seaver family pictures that I have came from my father's collection, and some came from my aunts, uncle and cousins, including Aunt Geraldine's fine albums.

I am so grateful for the lives of my grandparents, Fred and Bess (Richmond) Seaver. I met my grandmother only once, and my grandfather died before I was born. I wish that I had had more contact with them, but that's life, I guess. My impression is that they worked hard, raised a fine family, and were exemplary members of their community. On that wedding day in June 1900, they could not know what their future would hold - all they knew was that they were in love and ready to begin their great life adventure together.

1 comment:

Judith Richards Shubert said...

This is a wonderful story of your grandparents' love and devotion, Randy. They made a beautiful couple on their wedding day. Thank you for sharing them with us.