September 24, 1900: Birthday Surprise on Mrs. James Nickel
It seemed that husband Jim was going to pull off the perfect surprise for his wife Mary Emily. It was her 50th birthday, and a big afternoon was planned. Jim was being secretive. He invited family and neighbors to come for a surprise supper for his wife of 29 years. Would he get away with it?
Through word of mouth, invitations went out. Guests were asked to bring a dish to share plus bring their own plates and eating utensils. Daughter Almina was baking a cake to bring. They were to assemble at noon. So when vehicles began to arrive, Mary Emily gasped in surprise at the company. “Jim Nickel, what have you done?” she questioned. “Nawthin'”, was his response.
All the little details of the day were reported by the small weekly Kansas county newspaper, The Osborne County Farmer. Such a little event merited eight paragraphs. As was typical of the social event reporting of the day, the article touted the couple as “good people and have raised a good family and made a good home.”
James Nickel and Mary Emily Weaver are my second great grandparents. I never heard anyone speak of them. I first met them in a county history book. In investigating their lives, I used that same county newspaper to flesh them out as real people. Amazingly, little social gathering details were reported in that newspaper. I was able to meet them and get to know them. They were pioneers who first came to Osborne County, Kansas, with their family in 1878. Jim was from Pennsylvania while Mary Emily was from Ohio. And so, a little surprise birthday party became an avenue of making their acquaintances.
Once Upon A Lifetime: Tales And Vignettes Of My Ancestors 
Loved this! I too enjoy the descriptions of gatherings in social pages… my grandmother fancied herself a socialite (she was an ordinary middle class lady) and often got her parties in the newpaper in the 1930s. These tea parties sound very silly to us, but I understand how deeply meaningful they were to her, since she’d given up her work and life in the worl to get married and stay home. And of course it tells us so much about the Irish community in which she lived and how these events built that community over time.
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Isn’t it lovely to read about what they enjoyed? Such windows into their daily lives!
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