Eight couples celebrate 50th anniversaries

I was among those who eagerly awaited the publication of Brenda Protz’s "Images of America" pictorial history book of Vandalia several years ago. Many of the pictures in the book were just what Brenda had hoped for – one-of-a-kind, unpublished photographs.

One of my favorites was on page 82 – a group of older Vandalia residents gathered on the front steps of James and Mary Evans’ house on South Fifth Street, now the site of the Evans Public Library.
Of the eight couples featured in the photo, only Mr. and Mrs. Myron Harding, great-grandparents of the late Don Jones of Vandalia, had been identified. When the book was first published, I wondered who these Vandalia people were and why they were together posing on the front steps of the Evans’ home.
While seated at the microfilm machine in the Evans Library looking through old copies of The Vandalia Union newspaper, to my surprise, this very picture appeared on the screen in front of me with the headline, “A Remarkable Picture – Eight Vandalia couples married 50 years or more attend golden wedding celebration at the Evans home.”
The news article accompanying the photograph answered all of my questions. It supplied the answers to who, what, where and why.
The picture was taken on Nov. 17, 1920, on the front steps of James and Mary Evans home, by Browning Studios. The photographer was hired to record this important event in the life of the Evans family.
The 16 men and women in the photo are a Who’s Who of early Fayette County and Vandalia, and were right in the thick of the history making.
As I researched them, I was surprised to learn that several of the couples were related – as you will see in the following brief biographies.
James S. and Mary A. Mitchell Evans, front row, were married on Nov. 17, 1870, in Fayette County. His father, Aiken Evans, was the first sheriff of Fayette County, having come from Washington County, Va., at the age of 12 years, with his parents, Jeremiah and Ruth Larrimer Evans.
Jeremiah Evans built a log cabin south of Vandalia, and when Ruth died in 1824, he started a cemetery around her grave.  The Evans Cemetery is still in use today. It was Aiken’s two-story log cabin that Charles Evans, son of James and Mary, moved to his farm east of Vandalia along the National Road. Charles and wife, Josie, gave Vandalia a library, the Scout House and the Hotel Evans.
Mary Mitchell Evans was the daughter of Albert Lytle Mitchell and Jaily Brown, who died within 45 days of each other in 1858, when Mary was 9 years old. The children were parceled out, and Mary was reared in the household of her father’s brother, Robert Mitchell, near Belleville. They returned to Fayette County in 1867. Robert’s wife, Minerva, was a sister to Mary’s mother, so they were doubly related.
Myron Harding and Mary L. Cooper, she a native of Ashborough, N.C., were married in Watson, Effingham County, on Oct. 27, 1870.  A few months after their marriage, they came to Vandalia, where Myron engaged in the mercantile business. At the time that rural free mail delivery was established, he was one of the first mail carriers out of Vandalia.
Myron’s father died while crossing the LaPlatte River in 1849 on his way to the California gold fields. He, with his mother and stepfather, settled in the pioneer village of Howard’s Point in 1852.
In the second row are James H. and Ann Marie Ross Johnson, who married on Oct. 25, 1868. James, a native of Bond County, moved to Fayette County in 1854, and from here enlisted in the Civil War. His wife came to Vandalia at the age of 5, and was a sister to Robert W. Ross, who served in the Illinois legislature and compiled Vandalia’s first pictorial book, the "Historical Souvenir of Vandalia, Illinois," in 1904.
Jacob S. Hackleman and Ida M. Jenkins were married in Vandalia on Oct. 24, 1870.  Jacob was a native of Fayette County, Ind., and served with the Indiana Infantry during the Civil War. Ida was born in New York State. Her father, John Jenkins, came to Vandalia in 1857, and served in Co. D of the 43rd Illinois Infantry. Ida’s uncle, Ezra Jenkins, was remembered as teaching the first "free school" in Vandalia in the mid-1850s. Jacob and Ida were parents of eight children.
William Humphrey Townsend Hammond and Harriet Angeline Reeves were married on Dec. 10, 1868, in Fayette County by William Allen. They were both born in the county; William in Seminary Township in 1846, (his father, James, a native of Crowhurst, Sussex, England), and Harriet in Bear Grove Township, the daughter of the Rev. Raford B. Reeves, a well-known early settler and preacher.
William was a carpenter and house builder, constructing many homes in Vandalia. He also served as a Vandalia alderman. He and Harriet died within 10 days of each other in 1938.
Sidney B. Stout, son of Captain Philip Stout of Mexican War fame, and Eleanor S. Dieckmann, were married on Aug. 3, 1869. Both Sidney and Eleanor were born in the county, she a daughter of George H. and Elizabeth Kerr Dieckmann, her father emigrating with his family from Brüggen, Hanover, Germany, in 1839.
Sidney Stout entered into a partnership with George H. Dieckmann, his father-in-law, in a general merchandise business, under the name of Dieckmann and Stout. When George  died, Sidney carried on the business alone.
William Samuel Adams and Julia Melissa Hammond were married on May 18, 1867, in Seminary Township by Raford B. Reeves.  Julia was a sister to William Hammond, mentioned above.
William was the son of Charles Adams and Sarah Houston, his mother dying in the Campbell Settlement in Effingham County in 1845. His father disappeared one night when William was very small, and was not heard from for 55 years.
In a yellowed news article found by Mildred Hackleman in William’s Bible, it told that the father had learned of Sarah’s death and had been told that the child had died.  The child who died was an infant daughter that he did not know about. Thinking his wife and son both dead, he moved to Troy, N.Y., and remarried, fathering four daughters. At the time of his visit to Vandalia around 1910, all were dead and he was reportedly overjoyed to discover that he had a living son.
Sarah’s parents, Sam and Jane Evans Houston, spent much time and money looking for their son-in-law, but never found him. William Samuel was reared in their home. Mulberry Grove was at one time called Houston, named for Sarah’s father, who was here as early as 1817.
Martin Finley Houston and Lydia Snyder married on March 10, 1864. He is sharing the back row with his nephew, William Samuel Adams, mentioned earlier. Martin F. was a younger brother of Sarah Houston, who married Charles Adams.
Lydia’s father, Augustus Snyder, was 14 years old when he came with his family to Vandalia in 1819 from Hanover, Germany, as a member of the Ernst Colony. His father, Emmanuel Snyder, was the colony’s shoemaker.
Lydia’s father started farming, and later turned over management of his land to his son-in-law, Martin F. Houston, who later turned it over to his sons.
Martin then engaged in the hardware business with his cousin, James S. Evans, whose 50th anniversary they were celebrating.
Martin and Lydia built a lovely Queen -Anne-style house on the corner of Gallatin and Seventh streets in Vandalia, currently owned by Bret and Bunny Brosman.
The picture was remarkable; the people in it were, too. They were the history makers of the last century; we are the history makers of this one.

Pictured are, front row, from left, Mr. and Mrs. James Evans and Mr. and Mrs. Myron Hardin