Notes |
- Lloyd Cassel Douglas, an American minister and author, was born Doya C. Douglas.
Lloyd C. Douglas was a well known author, he wrote quite a few books. A few of the books he wrote were: The Robe, Magnificent Obsession
Excerpt from newspaper article by Edwin Meitzler
It was on April 7, 1904 and a wedding such as few in Columbia City had ever witnessed before. This was the marriage of the Rev. Lloyd C. Douglas to Miss Besse Io Porch, daughter of the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. F. M. Porch. Dr. Porch had given up a large church in Louisville, KY, due to failing health to administer to the congregation a Grace Lutheran Church here.
The engagement was a Valentine's Day event in the Porch household and Lloyd Cassel Douglas himself announced it. During the party, Mrs. Clyde Keirn was called to the parsonage telephone. The young minister had made the call, and he announced the news.
After congratulations, the party went to the dining room where plates were set for 18. Hearts and carnations were the decorations, red being the color. Besse was the first of the three Porch girls to be married, and her parents did it up properly.
Douglas told his daughters that he planned an elaborate campaign of courtship "but the first time I was alone with your mother, I blurted out the whole thing and asked her to marry me."
Besse said no, giving as a reason that she didn't want to be a minister's wife and she wanted to go on the stage. But Besse soon changed her mind, mentioning that although she at first rejected the author, she really loved him.
The author, son of the Rev. and Mrs. A. J. Douglas was born at the Northwest corner of Main and North Streets. His father served as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church and was superintendent of the town's schools. His grave is in the Masonic section of Greenhill Cemetery. His wife, who was sometimes blunt of speech, was laid to rest in Salem Cemetery at Wilmot near her girlhood home.
Over the wedding plans she muttered at the Porch family's extravagance, "The Reverend will be ready for the poorhouse by the time his wife gets the three of them (daughters) married off.
Church Manipulation
In a biographical account of Lloyd Douglas, his two daughters, Virginia Dawson and Betty Wilson, told how the engagement came about through some church manipulation played by the bridegroom-to-be, his father and none less than President Ort of Wittenberg College.
Dr. Ort had taken a fatherly interest in the young minister because of his long friendship with the Rev. A. J. Douglas. He asked the young North Manchester minister to visit him on campus when convenient and questioned him about his work. As Douglas was getting up to go and feeling bewildered as to why Dr. Ort had sent for him, President Ort said "By the way, Lloyd, I have a letter here from Dr. Porch. He says his daughter Besse has broken her engagement. Douglas returned to his chair and the two of them grinned at each other. Besse and Lloyd had been fast friends during their Wittenberg days.
Quoting from the daughters book "The Shape of Sunday" Douglas mentioned to the college president that Louisville was a long way for a poor preacher to go courting.
Ministerial Plotting
Dr. Ort informed his young visitor that the pulpit at the Columbia City church had been vacant several months and the Rev. A. J. Douglas had considerable influence with the Church Council there. He advised his young caller that he might suggest Dr. Porch to the elder Douglas as a possible candidate.
Church "politics" followed and soon Dr. Porch was installed at Grace Church and Lloyd Douglas became a frequent caller at the Porch home when he stopped to see his parents in Columbia City.
Elaborate Wedding
Of course, Dr. Porch officiated at the elaborate wedding in his church at a 4 o'clock Thursday ceremony. Present were several hundred people, including members of the church.
Invitations had been sent out to special friends of the families so that "when the bridal party entered, the auditorium and gallery were crowded with guests." This was the comment of the Columbia City Post's society editor.
The newspaper account went on to say that the church was elaborately decorated with palms and flowers. The section occupied by the honorary guests was marked by ribbons and flowers "in great profusion".
Ceremony Starts
The newspaper reported that "When Miss Jessie Weber, stuck the first notes of the wedding march on the pipe organ, little Ruth Mills, the ribbon girl, entered from the rear of the church, Ed Weber and Clyde Douglas were the ushers.
Following came the Misses Glen Porch and Mary Makemson, and in turn the bridesmaid, Miss Nell Porch, the the bride on the arm of her father, Dr. Porch.
Organist Jesse Weber is now Mrs. Homer Kitt of Washington, D.C. The Mary Makemson later was to marry Tom Peabody of North Manchester. They were lifelong friends of the Douglases
The newspaper reported that all the ladies in the wedding party carried "large bunches of flowers" and those carried by the bride were white lilies. "The bride wore a beautiful white French lawn dress trimmed in Teneriss lace and presented a very charming appearance," so wrote the Post's society editor.
The groom was attended by Joe E. Brown of North Manchester. They came down the steps from the pipe organ left and met the bridal party in front of the altar, whereupon Dr. Porch proceeded with the marriage ceremony, so the wedding account continued.
"Immediately after the vows had been taken, the bride and groom entered a cab and were driven to the home of the Rev. A. J. Douglas (ill and unable to be present) that he might be the first to offer congratulations. They returned to the church parsonage and received congratulations of those who were there by special invitation," so the reporter wrote.
Five Course Dinner
The Post's wedding story mentioned that later on a wedding dinner was served, "consisting of five courses." Waiting upon the guest were the Misses Marie Meyers (later to be Mrs. B. J. Bloom), Hazel Harrison and Mrs. Joe Adair-Keirn. The decorations were in white, consisting largely of white carnations and lilies.
The guests from out of town were Mr. and Mrs. Joe Brown and two daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Holly Sheller (landlords of the groom who lived at the Sheller Hotel in North Manchester), Mrs. John Mills the Zion Lutheran Church's coterie girls, all of these from North Manchester; Mrs. W. J. Stuart, R. M. Hatcher, sister and father of Mrs. F. M. Porch from Springfield, Ohio; and Miss Nell McGavern, Van Wert, Ohio.
A Bag Of Gold
According to The Post's writer, the bride received "many beautiful and useful presents, and the groom was especially pleased over his bag of gold, consisting of 20 $5 gold pieces which came from his congregation at North Manchester.
His call to Zion Church in 1903 set May 1 for the date of his ministry's start there. This had come to him before he had completed his theological course.
After the wedding dinner, the bridal couple "departed for the east at 7 O"clock". This was not factual, the honeymoon was at Lake Wawasee.
This story of the Douglas-Porch wedding serves to introduce a series of book reviews which will appear in the newspaper from time to time. The novels were written at later dates by the 1904 bridegroom. He became not only one of the country's most famous ministers, but also carved a place for himself in American literature. The Robe is probably the best known work of more than a dozen of his best sellers.
Books by Lloyd C. Douglas
The Robe, Magnificent Obsession, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, Precious Jeopardy, Green Light, White Banners, Disputed Passage, Home For Christmas, Doctor Hudson's Secret Journal, Invitation To Live, Time To Remember, The Big Fisherman.
Time To Remember, is a book about his Papa and Mama and his life, sort of a biography.
The Shape of Sunday, An Intimate Biography of Lloyd C. Douglas. By his daughters, Virginia Dawson and Betty Wilson.
|