Abraham Strickler and Effie Flock are my 2nd great grandparents.
My records have for years just estimated Abraham and Effie’s marriage date by using the US Federal Census. Although I have seen the exact marriage date listed on several online trees, I just recently found the documentation I needed for my records. This was my first find of the day at the Kansas State Archives last month.
The first microfilm I pulled was the Republic County Marriage Licenses 1868-1990. I found Abraham and Effie’s marriage license in ledger C, page 57. They were married 1 February 1888. Abraham is listed as age 34 from Narka, Kansas. Effie’s age is not listed but she is from Haddam, Kansas. My records show that Effie would have married only a couple of days after her 22nd birthday.
After analyzing this document, I see an interesting pattern. Effie and Abraham had an age difference of 12 years between them. When their daughter, Opal, married Dudley Moses Mitchell, there was a 15 year age difference. Opal’s sisters did not keep with the older man when they married their first husbands.