Dr. Edgars & Cora Newton, 1895

NEWTON, EDGARS, SCOTT

Posted By: Black Hawk Volunteer
Date: 7/22/2016 at 11:18:24

1895 Marriage of Cora Belle Newton Edgers

Waterloo, Iowa -- the wedding of Cora Belle Newton, at 400 Commercial Street, at the house of her widowed mother-in-law Jane Scott Newton. Her deceased husband, George Chapin Newton, had worked for the ICRR.

At a time when women did not have to finish high school, Cora had gone off to Wellesley College in 1888, back east for three years, then came back and taught in the local Waterloo elementary school. She taught 5th grade for one year, which I know because I have a photo of the class. Then she met and married a dentist, a successful naturalized citizen from Canada. This was written up in "The Week's Review of Waterloo, Saturday, June 22, 1895", and was worth about one and one half columns of elaborate description, including flattering descriptions of the hard work done by the local "kooking klub" (Cora was a member and left us a photo of them), a fortune telling cake, and a shower of rose petals raining on the newly married couple.

I quote the ending section about the honeymoon and the out-of-towners:
One of the pleasant features of the affair was the beautiful ice well in the library from the cool and crystal depths of which Misses Grace Wilhoite, Katie Hustead,and Frankie Mullan served delicious lemonade.

At 11 o'clock Dr. Edgers and his newly made bride left on a three-week honeymoon trip to New York, Boston, Detroit, Montreal, and through the Thousand Islands of the beautiful St Lawrence. During their trip they will visit the doctor's old home at Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada.
On their return they will be at home Thursday in August at 625 Washington street.

The guests from abroad were:
Miss Doe, Davenport, Iowa
Miss Edgers,Smith Falls, Ontario [Canada]
Miss Sutliff, Big Rock Iowa
Miss Wilhoite, Wall Lake, Iowa
Mrs. Judge Fletcher, Clarksville, Iowa
C.H. Woodruff, Spencer, Iowa
Mr. Lesslie, Meadville, Pa.