I have written about marriages that were entered into with what some might consider undue haste, and I was surprised by those marriages. But I encountered yet another of those marriages, but not because the marriage ended in tragedy or a temper tantrum.
In the July 28, 1898 Pantagraph the marriage of Mrs. Eveline Stiles of West Front Street was announced. Mrs. Stiles operated a small business at 603 Main Street, but the Pantagraph did not say what wares she offered. Mrs. Stiles was a widow and it was said that her husband died in a dynamiting accident in March of 1897. Oddly enough, the death of a man named Thomas Stiles was announced in the Pantagraph in March, 1897, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, but no comment was made of any connection with a family in Bloomington. This death was notable simply for the fact that three men were blown to atoms in that accident. How Mrs. Stiles came to be in Bloomington was not elaborated on.
Mrs. Stiles marriage was notable for the fact that she had acquired her new husband through an advertisement in a paper that specialized in printing the ads of those seeking marital partners. The Climax was an "eastern publication issued for the sole purpose of bringing about weddings." In fact, Mrs. Stiles told the Pantagraph that she had met her first husband in exactly the same way.
Mrs. Stiles sent her ad in, and was very truthful in her ad, merely stating that she desired to be married. She did not claim to be wealthy, she was not. She did not claim to be unencumbered, she had two children. She waited for a response and finally one and only one came, from Mr. E. C. Grattan of Marine, Michigan. The two entered into correspondence and exchanged a total of five letters, and the fifth "sealed the engagement."
Mr. Grattan was a carriage maker, the only one in Marine. He was six feet tall in his stocking feet and a refined looking man. He came to Bloomington with the express purpose of meeting Mrs. Stiles and marrying her. They were married at the home of the First Methodist pastor and planned to move to Michigan just as soon as Mrs. Stiles and her children could be ready.
Unfortunately, the story of this couple could not be traced even so far as the next census. I certainly hope that Mrs. Grattan was as lucky in her second marriage!