Smith-Thompson 1875: Brides of Yester-year: Cook Memorial Public Library District Local History Digital Collections

Brides of Yester-year

Smith-Thompson 1875

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Introduction Smith-Thompson 1875 Lund-Butler 1886 Schanck-Taylor 1895 Relstab-Richards 1895 Lathrop-Hubbard 1899 Peck-MacGuffin 1908 Triggs-Wright 1910 Luecke-Mesenbrink 1913 Wells-Nicholas 1914 Meyer-Brainerd 1917

Details

Our earliest wedding couple, Mary Smith and Samuel Thompson, were Irish immigrants who married in 1875. We started out not knowing the identity of the bride who wore this pretty, brown print wedding dress. We only knew the name of the donor, who had passed away.

Considering the age of the garment, we believed that the dress might have been worn by one of the donor's grandmothers, probably her maternal grandmother, but we needed proof. Through genealogical reseach we were able to find the name of this couple and locate one of the descendants, who confirmed that the dress was indeed worn by her great-grandmother Mary Smith at her wedding to Samuel Thompson.

Details

Our sleuthing revealed that Mary and Samuel married and lived in Ireland before immigrating to America. Samuel was born on May 12, 1849/1850 in Belfast and Mary was born on March 14, 1856. They married in Belfast in 1875. On her wedding day Mary was outfitted in a practical, but fine, brown print day dress, that was probably worn on special occasions after the wedding. This was not unusual for weddings in the 1870s.

We believe Samuel immigrated to the U.S. in 1883. Mary immigrated to the U.S. in 1887 with her daughters Ellen and Elizabeth on the steamship Nevada. She must have carefully packed her prized wedding dress for the long journey to America.

An Iowa state census record from 1895 shows that the Thompsons settled in Keokuk, Iowa. We are guessing that the family arrived in town at the Keokuk train depot.

Samuel worked at the Du Pont powder mill on the outskirts of town. The mill produced blasting powder for mines and this work was considered quite dangerous.

In 1908 Samuel died at the age of 58 of pneumonia. We wonder if his death was accelerated by his occupation. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Keokuk.

The 1910 census showed that Mary and her children had relocated to St. Louis, Missouri. Mary died several years later on June 3, 1914. She returned to Keokuk to be buried in Oakland Cemetery next to Samuel.

The dress was treasured by two more generations of mothers and daughters, before it was generously donated to the Libertyville Mundelein Historical Society. The dress is charmingly displayed in the kitchen of the Cook House. This dress reminds us of the wave of immigrants who came to America at the turn of the century and who endured so many hardships to create a new life here.