Marriages and Related Items Abstracted from the Mendon Dispatch of Mendon, Adams County, Illinois, 1877-1905

The first white pioneers to settle the Mendon prairie arrived in 1829. By 1833, lots in the 160-acre village of Mendon were being sold to more and more newcomers. Many of these early settlers were from Kentucky and Connecticut. In 1867, Mendon was incorporated as a town. The first privately owned newspaper in Mendon, the Mendon Enterprise, was published in 1877. The following year its name changed to the Mendon Dispatch. While conducting their own genealogical research in twenty-five years’ worth of early issues of these newspapers, Mrs. Beal and Mrs. Kirchner realized that other genealogists might be interested in the wealth of family names and interesting information they were discovering. Accordingly, they created this alphabetical listing, which contains more than three thousand names. The abstracted wedding or related announcements from the newspapers are transcribed under the names of the husbands, but brides’ names are usually listed, too, with cross-references to their husbands’ names. Most of the abstracts are wedding announcements, but significant anniversaries and an occasional divorce are listed as well. The amount of information in individual abstracts varies widely but usually includes the names of bride and groom, with their place of origin and the wedding date. Many listings are much more gossipy and contain such information as occupations, ages, honeymoon plans, previous marriages and officiating clergy. Additionally, all listings include the newspaper’s publication date. (1997), 2015, 51/2x81/2, paper, alphabetical 238 pp.