McGinness, 50th Wedding Anniversary 1911

MCGINNESS

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/11/2020 at 16:18:38

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer Dec. 1, 1911, FP, C3

Mr. and Mrs. J. J. McGinness Celebrate Golden Wedding.
On Thanksgiving Day. 1861, which that year occurred on November 28th, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. McGinness were united in marriage at Level Corners, Pa., near Williamsport, on the west branch of the Susquehana, and to properly celebrate their golden wedding anniversary a large company, numbering probably 300, gathered in M. W. A. hall to spend the afternoon with this most worthy couple. The large number in attendance was a reminder of the event of a half century previous, when over 150 invitations were issued and accepted.
Mr. and Mrs. McGinness spent the first years of their married life in the vicinity of the place in which they were wed, moving in 1868 to Illinois, where they resided for five years, coming to Howard county in 1873, settling in Saratoga twp., where they resided until their removal in 1893 to Cresco where they have since resided.
The successful anniversary celebration was arranged by Mr. and Mrs. McGinness’ only daughter, Mrs. T. J. Gibbons, with the willing assistance of friends and neighbors. The hall was decorated in gold and the tables with chrysanthemums. Mesd. Frank Blanin and W. H. Taubman received the guests at the door; Mesd. Cleghorn and Otto Johnson distributed the wedding favors, and the Misses Bessie Gibbons, Myrtle White, Helen Lent. Ruth Converse, Ouida and Esther Dillingham, Kate Davis, Emma Swenson and Mary Fairbanks were the young ladies who decorated the guests with white ribbons bearing the inscription in gold, “1861—McGinness—1911” and later served them with brick ice cream in white and gold, and delicious cake, the latter made by Mrs. McGinness whose fame for good cookery is fairly won.
After the guests had assembled, they were called to order and J. J. Sobolik, one of “her boys” as Mrs. McGinness’ boarders call themselves, and in their behalf presented Mr. and Mrs. McGinness with a decorated purse containing $85 in gold and bearing the inscription ‘‘To Daddy and Mother” suggestive of the intimate friendship existing between them all. Rev. Gammons next presented a purse of gold contributed by the other guests and in his short address congratulated Mr. and Mrs. McGinness upon their good fortune in being able to so long enjoy the companionship of each other and to so win the esteem and respect of their friends and neighbors as to call forth such a large and happy gathering as was there assembled. Mr. Gammons closed his remarks by wishing Mr. and Mrs. McGinness many more anniversaries of their marriage during the golden glow of the sunset of their lives.
In addition to the gold given, a table in the McGinness home is loaded with gifts from absent relatives and friends, and while every gift is rich and hand¬ome, they are valued chiefly by the recipients as expressions of the friendship that prompted the giving. One gift is especially pleasing to them—a beautiful bound book in white and gold, in which are inscribed the autographs of those in attendance at the celebration.
The only disappointment in connection with the celebration was the unavoidable absence of relatives residing at a distance, detained by illness or other hindrances, and also the absence of the old Saratoga friends who were prevented from coming by the storm and rough roads. The only persons from a distance in attendance were Mrs. Hazelton, of Calmar, and Mr. and Mrs. McGinness, only son, Rollo, and wife, from Jackson, Oklahoma.
Mr. McGinness is now nearing the age of 75 and Mrs. McGinness is past 70 and both are enjoying robust health and bid fair to spend many more marriage and Thanksgiving anniveraries together, thus giving Mr. McGinness further opportunity to follow the injunction of the preacher who married them to “Render thanks every day for the wife you have got,” although Mrs. McGinness naively remarked in telling this that “he didn't get much at the time for I was pretty small those days.”
It is almost unnecessary to speak of the esteem in which Mr. and Mrs. McGinniss{sp} are held by all, the gathering of friends of all ages, social conditions and denominations told the story completely of well spent lives in the community, the story of a honorable and happy married life which ought to be and is an example and an inspiration to those who have more lately launched their matrimonial barks upon the sea of life to so order their future that should God grant them many years of companionship together, they may be able to look back like Mr. and Mrs. McGinness upon a serene life filled with many kind but unostentatious deeds, and with a host of true friends.