The Truth Always Outs . . . even if it takes more than a century!
Thanks to my Uncle Bill for turning me on to the New York Times' searchable database of old articles dating back to 1851. It was there I found the details of a long-suppressed family "scandal" surrounding the marriage of my great-grandparents, which I will now shamelessly broadcast (verbatim) across the blogosphere:
March 10, 1905
STUDENT SECRETLY WEDDED.
Marriage Discovered by St. John's
College Faculty Member.
Thomas A. [*] Norton, a student at St.
John's College, Fordham, was married on
Feb. 26 last to Lillian [**] Irving of 179 Mont-
gomery Street, Jersey City. Norton is a
son of ex-Alderman Patrick Norton of
Jersey City, and was preparing to study
medicine. He is twenty years old. His
bride is two years younger, and was grad-
uated from St. Aloysius Academy two
months ago.
The marriage was kept a secret until
yesterday. It then was discovered by a
member of the Faculty, who informed the
young man's father.[***]
[*] Tom's middle initial was actually J, for Joseph.
[**] My great-grandmother's actual name was ELIZABETH. Her nickname was LIL, and a lot of people (including the reporter, evidently) assumed this was short for Lillian. It doesn't pay to assume, does it?!
[***] I bet daddy was so happy to receive the news from a third party . . . but, given our family's notoriously even disposition, I'm sure he handled it well!
Labels: genealogy, Norton family
posted by wsmv at
9:48 PM
2 Comments:
So what was the original story that everyone heard? I'm curious to know how it differs with the news article!
Well, I guess it would be fair to say there was NO story until the article was discovered this year. At least none of the surviving family members I've spoken to had ever heard about a secret wedding before . . . And, we still don't know the reasons for the secrecy. The good news is, Tom and Lil were married for 38 years and had 5 children.
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