June 8, 1851 - Invitation to a party

Sunday 8^th (June)

Rose tolerable early, but did not go to Sunday school nor church. Mr. Printiss left rather late, and about 11 o-clock Father came home. In the afternoon I went to class, and after I came home, Mr ? and Thomas L (?) called. After tea Caroline and I took a little to try and find where Lewis Wilson, lived but were unable to do so. So I stopped in Mary Massons and Caroline came home with the children. I found Jimmie Jackson there who informed me they were to have a ..?..party this evening Monday. After a while, Will Masson came in and asked me to go with him, I told him it was very uncertain, but I would give him an answer to-morrow. Came home as did Father, and having received the answer, no, sat right down and wrote a note to Mary Masson.
 

Lewis Wilson is Serena’s cousin, the son of Timothy H. Wilson and Serena’s aunt, Roxana Tolman Lewis. He is about twenty-one years old, working as a house-carpenter. He married Henrietta Packer on January 29, 1851. Their first child will be born in the fall (Spooner 179).
 

Who were the children that were walking with Serena and Caroline? We don’t know of any children other than little brother Albert Henry Lewis.
 

James Jackson is a popular name. One James Jackson was a twenty-one year old chair maker at the time of the 1850 Census. He was born in Maryland. He lived in Ward 4 in a household that included ten young men. It may have been a boarding house. Another James Jackson was a twenty-three year old printer, born in Canada. He lived in Ward 10, in the household of John Jackson, age twenty-nine, Ellen Jackson, and three small children. The most likely Jimmie Jackson was nineteen years old at the time of the 1850 Census. He was working as a clerk, and lived in Ward 9 of Cincinnati, in a large family, all born in Ireland.
 

Will Masson is Mary’s brother, age twenty-two.
 

Serena’s sister Libby and Thomas Hunt will be married in two days, but we would never know it from this journal entry. There seems to be no drama – no flurry of dress fittings, hair styling, florist visits, wedding cake selection, reception planning, stag parties and bridal showers. It seems that weddings are simple affairs in 1851.