The Marriage of Fred and Norine Jones

St. Rose Church

On December 16, 1909 my grandparents, Charles "Fred" Jones and Norine Cronin married.  St. Rose Church played a central role in the life of my grandmother.  She was a devout Catholic.  

Based on the collage of the interior of the church below, I'd love to imagine my grandmother walking down the aisle of this historic church dressed in a beautiful dress that she undoubtedly sewed.  The reality is that they most probably were married by the priest in the rectory and never set foot in the church.  My wonderful, religious grandparents were a "mixed" marriage.  When both potential spouses were not Catholic, they had to be granted a "dispensation" to marry and the non-Catholic spouse had to agree to raise all children Catholic.  I have several relatives on both sides of my family who got "married in the rectory."

There are so many interesting connections between the location of this church and my Jones family ties to the river.

• My gg-grandmother, Elizabeth Kinley Jones, had a "cottage" located behind the church on the river bank.  The family lived there for at least 10 years after she was widowed.
• Her son, Charles Henry, lived in that home and probably contributed to his family's support.  When he married in 1882, he and Rachel moved into a home on Gladstone.  This location was pretty much "up the hill" from St. Rose.
• Charles died on September 9, 1909.
• My grandparents married at St. Rose on December 16, 1909, a couple of months after his father's death.  I believe they were initially living on the Gladstone property.
• On February 7, 1910 (102 years ago today), Edith Jones Hodges filed a lawsuit forcing the eventual sale of the property.
• Fred and Norine became borders of the Zins family on Eastern where they began their new lives together.
• Following the birth of their first-born, Edith, John and Caroline Zins became the Godparents of Edith who was baptized (where else) at St. Rose Church.

It doesn't look like we will be leaving the East End and the Ohio River any time soon.