Not So Royal, But Always Momentous: Weddings of Ohio’s Past

Not So Royal, But Always Momentous: Weddings of Ohio’s Past

By Kieran Robertson

On Saturday May 19, the world watched as the British royal family filled the halls of Windsor Castle for the second royal wedding in the last decade. 

Weddings are important life events for everyone involved, be they royal or commoners like the rest of us. Because weddings are so personally important, yet so commonplace, they appear often in archival collections. In honor of the royal wedding, let’s take a look at just a portion of the weddings that are documented in the Ohio History Connection’s collections.

 
This ambrotype shows James House and Princess A. Miller of Upper Sandusky on their wedding day in 1856.

This photograph taken by Albert J. Ewing c. 1890s, depicts a rural couple on their wedding day, likely in South Eastern Ohio or or central West Virginia. 

Villa C. Kinley and Joseph Neidhart on their wedding day in 1916. Villa’s brother, Harry, was behind the camera.

This is a familiy portrait from the wedding of Dora Anna Labinski in 1918. Dora’s parents were German immigrants who settled in Cleveland, Ohio.

An unknown wedding party on the grounds of the Athens Asylum, c. 1890s.

Future President Rutherford B. Hayes and his new wife Lucy Webb Hayes, on their wedding day in 1852.

A wedding portrait featuring the Adams family of Toledo, Ohio.

Rabbi Nathan Zelizer performing a wedding ceremony while serving as a chaplain with the U. S. Army during World War II, ca. 1944-1945.

A wedding dress fitting at Saks Fifth Avenue of Detroit in 1940. Photographed by Joe Munroe. 

A wedding from the White Castle Records held at the Ohio History Connection.

Neil Armstrong marries Janet Shearon in 1956.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married in 1945 at Ohio’s Malabar Farm. 

Interested in learning more about historic weddings? All of these photographs (and many more) are all available on Ohio Memory.

Happy wedding season, blog readers!