Adlore Vadnais and Ellen Peltier Wedding

These are my paternal grandparents, Adlore Joseph Vadnais and Ellen Lucy Peltier, on their wedding day, January 11, 1910. He was 20 and she was 21. Both Adlore and Ellen were born in Minnesota – Ellen in Little Canada and Adlore in White Bear Lake. I see strong family resemblances in this image!

Adlore and Ellen’s wedding announcement contains a wealth of information!

How nice to know the colors of the dresses worn and the description of the bouquets. I know that I just assumed that her wedding dress was white. I did not even entertain the notion that Ellen was wearing a pale blue colored gown.

Other documents led me to believe that they had a church wedding. However, this document tells us that the wedding took place at the home of her parents and on a Tuesday. During the winter I suppose that the church would have only been heated on Sunday for services.

The list of guests from White Bear was enlightening – Mr. and Mrs. Thom[as] Peltier, Mrs. Vadnais, Miss Stella Dupre, Howard Bloom and Edmund Vadnais. Thomas Peltier was one of Ellen’s uncles. Mrs. Vadnais is Adlore’s mother, Jennie Vadnais. (His father, William, was no longer in the picture at this point in time. I will have more to say about that at a later time.) Stella Dupre was one of Adlore’s first cousins. Howard Bloom would marry Ellen’s sister, Vina, about a year later and Edmund was another of Adlore’s brothers.

Finally, the article mentions the residence, at the [northeast] “corner of Murray Avenue and Third Street, White Bear” where they would start their married life. This was Adlore’s childhood home, where he was born, and where his mother still resided. It is the same home where Ellen and Adlore’s first two children, George Albert and Charles Adlore, would be born.

The official Marriage License and Certificate¹ for Adlore and Ellen was issued by the state of Minnesota. It is as follows:

It shows Adlore’s first name as “Edelore” and Ellen’s first name as “Helen.” They applied for their marriage license on 4 January 1910 and the certificate shows they were married on 11 January 1910. William Vadnais and Vina Peltier are listed as witnesses. I assume that they did not actually sign the certificate as witnesses because the handwriting is consistent throughout. In case you don’t know, William was Adlore’s second oldest brother and Vina was Ellen’s next younger sister. Lambert N. Nicholas was the priest who performed the marriage.

I have three other marriage certificates for Adlore and Ellen. Two of them appear to be decorative and the last appears to be an official church record documented mostly in Latin. All three are interesting in that each contains different (but mostly the same) information about the one event.

The first certificate² shows that L. Nicholas, the priest at the New [Little] Canada church, performed the rites of “Holy Matrimony according to the rites of The Holy Catholic Church.” Additionally it shows that William Vadnais is Adlore’s father and Albert Peltier is Ellen’s father. Finally it has William Vadnais (Adlore’s brother) and Vina Peltier shown as witnesses. Again, it looks as if they did not actually sign as witnesses because of the consistent handwriting throughout.

The back of the first certificate lists Adlore and his siblings along with each respective spouse. In the case of Joseph Vadnais the certificate only shows his first wife, Nellie McGee. He was actually married three times. Harvey Vadnais is listed, but he never married. Amis Henry Vadnais, Adlore’s only younger brother, passed away at age 9 and is not listed.

The second certificate³ is titled “Memorial of Marriage”. Aren’t the colors vivid and the graphics wonderfully ornate? I believe this was never put on display and spent its “life” rolled up. On this document the information is a bit different from the first one. It states that Adlore and Ellen were married in the church of “St. John the Evangelist of New [Little] Canada.” The groom and bride’s names are given as “Adelard Vadenais” and “Helene Pelletier.” The ceremony was performed by “Rev. L. M. Nicolas” and the witnesses were “William Vadenais” and “Vina Pelletier.” The misspelling of the names leads me to believe that this memorial certificate was filled in by someone that did not know Adlore and Ellen very well.

I only have a facsimile of the third certificate.⁴ The original is in the church records at St. John the Evangelist Church of Little Canada. It is mostly in Latin so using Google translate I’ve included a loose translation following the certificate.

Translation: “On January 11 of the year 1910 with the promise of banns announced, L. M. Nicolas Pastor married Adelard Vadenais [Adlore Vadnais] , from the parish of St. Mary of the Lake of White Bear, Diocese of St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of William Vadenais [Vadnais] and Jeannette Bellargent [Jennie Baillargeon], baptized into the Parish of St. Genevieve, Centerville, Diocese of St. Paul, Minnesota and Helen Pelletier [Ellen Peltier], from the parish of St. John the Evangelist, the diocese of St. Paul, Minn., Daughter of Albert Peltier and Celestine Derosiers, baptized in the parish of St. John the Evangelist, the diocese of St. Paul, Minn. Witnesses present were William Vadenais [Vadnais] and Vina Pelletier [Peltier]. L. M. Nicolas pastor. Notice of marriage contracted as above on January 11 of the year 1910, the pastor of St. Mary [?], White Bear Lake, Minn.” End of translation.

Based on other early Catholic marriage records I’ve read, “Promise of banns announced” was familiar, but I thought it would be a good idea to look for more information on the topic. At CatholicDoors.com I found: “The banns of marriage were traditional ecclesiastical announcements of the names of the persons who were planning on getting married in the Catholic Church. These announcements also included the date of when the couples planned on getting married. The purpose of the banns of marriage was to discover any impediments to a proposed marriage. If someone knew something that could prevent a marriage from proceeding, such as the bride or groom to be were already married elsewhere, that person was required to report it to the priest of the parish where the couple planned on getting married.”

Throughout my genealogical research I have not encountered another couple with so many documents associated with their marriage. This array of documents, with the variety of misspellings, is a good example of the difficulties one can encounter when searching for information on ancestors.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cynthia

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Footnotes for Adlore Vadnais and Ellen Peltier Wedding post