# 20 Romance in Real Life--Jennie Sophia Willey and John Wesley Hannah

   

John Wesley and Jennie Sophia (Willey) Hannah and their children

If you just looked at the marriage record from Missouri for my great grandparents, John Wesley Hannah, (See blog # 5--Build Me a Palace) and Jennie Sophia Willey, you would see that they were married on December 18, 1866 in Butler Missouri by George W. Chandler, a minister from Rich Hill.  However, if you read the account of their wedding in the Butler Daily Democrat, you would see that this was not a routine marriage.  In fact the headline is “Romance in Real Life."

Jennie Sophia Willey had come to Butler in 1866 to visit her brother and was courted by John Hannah. However, on December 17, she was to return to Indiana under the supervision of Captain E. P., the land agent and a resident of Butler.  As luck would have it, the stage did not arrive.  

     I seriously thought about writing my own account of their marriage based on the article.  However, after some thought, I came to the conclusion that a great many of the details and nuiances would be lost.  Hence I scanned the article and here it is:

Jennie and John Wesley Hannah were married for 26 years and raised five children. I would really like to be able to talk to them about their wedding.  I would like to know how much of the article is true, how the families reacted when they heard about the wedding, and, if  Captain E. P. had not offered Jennie the land, would they have married anyway that night.  Also, I would like to know what Jennie did with that land?

What would you like to know?  Put your questions in the comments section.

Source:
DeArmond, J. K. (1990)   Mike's Story. n,p.

Since I did this blog I found the following article in the Butler Missouri paper about their 25th anniversary party: