Brubaker-Phend Marriage

I'm in love with newspapers, one of my favorite resources. Countless hours have been spent viewing the microfilms of the Whitley County newspapers at the Peabody Public Library in Columbia City and the South Whitley-Cleveland Township Library in South Whitley. Many precious tidbits of information have been found that have added to the 'humanization' of my family tree and many more interesting items, unrelated to my family, have been contributed to Whitley County Roots, the quarterly publication of the Genealogy Society. The first of what, hopefully, will be many posts from these items now follows:

Columbia City Post, Whitley County, Indiana
Wednesday, October 19, 1921

"The marriage of Miss Hazelette Brubaker to Rolland Victor Phend occurred at the United Brethren parsonage Saturday evening at 8 o'clock Rev. Oscar B. Wells officiating. The young people were unattended. The bride has been employed for some time at the Goble & Garber Electrical shop and she is a young woman who has many warm friends, due to her universal cordiality to all. The bridegroom is local manager of the Jackson Coal Company and he is a young man who stands high in this community. During the late war he spent many months in France and while there he was gassed, but he has pretty fully recovered from the effects of it. Mr. and Mrs. Phend moved into an already furnished home on north Walnut street, which the bridegroom had provided and they will be at home to their friends there. Congratulations are extended to them."

Note: Grandma and Grandpa were married October 15, 1921, divorced in 1937 and married a second time on October 15, 1939. They divorced again about 1944. Grandma was married two more times, but Grandpa remained unmarried. They both attended our family gatherings but I don't recall them ever talking to each other. He sat at one end of the very long table and she at the other. In later years, when he spoke about her, at least to me, she was always 'my wife' - kind of sad in an odd sort of way. Grandma was 82 years old when she died on May 3, 1984. Grandpa died June 18, 1991 - the day before his 98th birthday.