Iowa’s beautiful days of summer were a perfect backdrop to
the wedding of James Edward Wise and Sarah Loranz. The wedding which took place on Thursday, August 8, 1878, may well
have been in the Presbyterian church of Clarinda, Iowa, a church built through the
sponsorship of the bride’s father, Anthony Loranz in 1860. The church tower bell, freighted overland
from Fulton county, Illinois in 1860 also and through the efforts of Mr. Loranz, would have rung in joyous
celebration of this marriage of his youngest daughter. Perhaps the weather accommodated a wedding dinner
held outside under the trees on the Loranz family's property in Clarinda. Many of the prominent citizens of Clarinda would
have been in attendance as well as a large family contingent for both the bride
and groom. The Loranz family were early
pioneers of Page county, arriving in 1858.
The groom’s family were newcomers to the county, arriving in September
of 1875 from Monroe county, Ohio. The
patriarch of the Wise family, Jacob Wise and his wife Mary Dunn, surely
contributed to the wedding picnic or dinner,
perhaps supplying the mountainous platters of delicious chicken,
turkey and beef, and overflowing kettles of Iowa corn, famous as the best in all of Iowa. It is safe to assume these items were provided from the produce of the Wise farm, tended by their own hard work and
prepared with their loving hands. A
wedding cake was most certainly baked by one of the numerous female relations,
as well as pies and treats of all varieties.
The splendor of the harvest of fruits and vegetables would have provided
a hearty banquet for all guests.
Although born and raised in rural America, these young
people were not country bumpkins. Photos
of what is presumed to be wedding portraits, show James dressed in a formal
black suit with a sparkling white collared and button down shirt. Sarah wore a stylish fitted silk dress with dark
lace and darker velvet at the v-neckline.
A high collar of white lace and ribbon provided a beautiful contrast to the dark velvet. Sarah’s dark, abundant curls were secured in
a fashionable french twist or braid, with only her bangs giving away her
natural curl. Beautiful dangling
earrings and a matching choker completed her exquisite ensemble.
Just twenty-two years
before, on a Friday, the 16th of February, in 1855, James came into this world
welcomed by a cold Ohio winter day and two loving parents, Jacob and Mary Dunn
Wise of Franklin township in Monroe county.
He was their fourth child and second son. James
spent his youth as most young men who were farmers’ sons did; working on his father’s farm, learning the
skills he would later depend on to earn his living as an adult. He attended school when able, usually during
the winter months, perhaps walking or riding the mile or so to the icon of
rural American education, the Swazey one room schoolhouse. This small but mighty institution provided
scholarly education to James, his eight siblings and numerous cousins. James surely spent his Sundays in fellowship with family and
neighbors in the adjacent M.E. church and the cold days of winter learning the
three “R’s” … “reading, riting and rithmatic.”
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