Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Tom and Nora's Wedding April 16, 1919 - More Details

My grandparents were married 100 years ago today! They were Wiley Thomas "Tom" Snyder and Nora Bessie McNeil.

I previously posted their wedding announcement but here are some additional details:

Tom recovered from his Army wounds well enough to get married[1] on April 16, 1919 to Nora, age 18. Tom was 27. They were married by Nora’s maternal grandfather, Rev. Richard Franklin Jarvis, at his home in Wilkes County. Nora sewed her wedding dress by hand. Tom bought her a 1919 treadle sewing machine as a wedding gift.


Tom wanted to show his bride Easter at Old Salem, so that's why they married on April 16.  (Easter that year was April 20.Their honeymoon trip was the train ride to Winston-Salem.  It was Nora's first trip outside Wilkes County. 

Tom and Nora lived in Winston-Salem, where Tom worked at R. J. Reynolds’ Tobacco Company as a machinist and Nora kept house at 721 Devonshire Street.[2] As welcome and good luck, Tom's brother and sister-in-law (next-door neighbors) Will and Myrtle put a potato in a pot, bread in the oven, and had sugar and flour.  Here's a photo of Myrtle (left), Tom, and Nora in front of the house:
721 Devonshire Street, Winston-Salem, NC, about 1919


Other neighbors included Charlie & Carrie Snider [not known to be related] and  Ernie Shore and his wife.  Ernie had been a major league baseball player (for the Boston Red Sox). Ernie later was Sheriff of Forsyth County, and the stadium built in 1956 was named for him.[3]




[1] Wilkes County, North Carolina, marriage certificate, April 16, 1919, Wiley T. Snyder of Wilkesboro, N.C. and Miss Nora McNeil of Millers Creek, N.C. Certified copy privately held by Barbara McGeachy, Raleigh, NC, 2011.
[2] 1920 U.S. census, Forsyth County, North Carolina, population schedule, Broadbay, enumeration district (ED) 70, sheet 11B, dwelling 211; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625,  roll 1927. W.T. Snider and wife Nora at 721 Devonshire Street.  Same page has Willie E Snider and family at 719 Devonshire.
[3] Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Shore : accessed 26 Oct 2011), article about Ernie Shore.