#52 Ancestors Week 7 - Love - AND THE WINNER IS

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #7  and the suggested theme is LOVE.  I'd been pondering this topic for the past week.  I didn't know of any great love stories, no Wallace and Simpson giving up the throne type stories.  No Burton and Taylor on again off again can't live with you or without you type loves.  I couldn't decide on just one ancestor I love to research, because I can get thoroughly involved and fall in love with each and every one.  Then I was watching the "Sunday Morning" TV show with its theme of love this week.  Their last story was about the longest married couple - 81 YEARS! They are each 99 years old and the wife says the key to a long marriage is "I always let him have it my way." Priceless.

Katrina and Peter Tendick
From the Moehlmann Family Collection 

So I started looking to see which of my ancestor had the longest marriage. My great-great grandparents, Peter and Katrina (Kukes) Tendick were married in 1858 in Neukirchen, Prussia at ages 28 and 20 respectively.  They had been married 31 years and had 10 children by the time they immigrated to America.  They farmed in  Indiana and helped raise their grandson Alfred Moehlmann. They had been married 51 years when Peter died in 1909 in Indiana. 

Helen and Alfred Moehlmann
From the Moehlmann Faimly Collection

My grandparents Alfred and Helen (Bovenschen) Moehlmann were married in 1921 at the ages of 27 and 25 respectively.  Alfred was an only child, his parents divorced in 1907. But his grandparents, Peter and Katrina had set a good example. In his later writings, Alfred relayed this story about his wedding day:

 "March 26, 1921 was a beautiful day - bright sunshine all day. I cranked up the Model T and went to Mom's [he always referred to his wife as Mom] house. The trip to Bloomfield was a sort of joy ride. I don't think we had been together in the morning before. Yes, we were a little embarrassed when we went to the county clerk's office to get the license. We ate dinner at Mom's home and then the long wait for 6 pm, the hour set for the ceremony. Cranked up the Model T - Mom was ready and dressed in a new suit and all, Aunt Grace and Uncle Russell were waiting too, they were out witnesses and we drove to the parsonage and were married there in a simple ceremony - not even a ring.  I had a feeling of my own, relative to a ring. I saw the wide, plain band wedding ring my mother wore and somehow I felt it took something more than a ring to make marriage a success and also a happy one."

Their marriage was a success and they had a big celebration for their 50th anniversary. Alfred died in 1974 after 53 years of marriage.

Arnold and Jane Sargent's Wedding
From Sargent Family Collection

Alfred and Helen had set the example and three of their children celebrated their 50th anniversary as well.  One of them was Jane Moehlmann, my mother, who married Arnold Sargent in 1946. They had two children and in 1959 moved from Indiana, where all their relatives lived, to Florida. Their rule was that they never went to sleep without a "goodnight kiss."  They too had a big celebration for their 50th anniversary.  In fact they had several: one at the church, one in their community recreation center, and one with the family at their home.  They also win the prize among my direct ancestors of being married the longest - 61 YEARS.

  

Arnold and Jane Sargent - 50th Anniversary
From the Sargent Family Collection