The Week 8 theme is "Courting." Is it courting as in the law or courting as in romance? You decide!
Courting: to engage in social activities leading to engagement and marriage - Merriam Webster Dictionary
Dating as we know it today, did not really exist in our grandparents' day. Most of the time, instead of dating, courting took place. This involved two people getting together in social activities to get to know each other better in the presence of friends and family. Most of the time it was family. That was the case with my husband's Grandparents.
Samuel Galen Swope was born on August 15, 1895, in Clinton County, Missouri. He was the firstborn child of James Albert Swope and Mary Alice Hoover. The Swopes were a prominent family in Western Missouri around the Kansas City area and in the county where Galen was raised. Looking through the newspapers for the area, I found quite a few mentions of the Swope family in the "Happenings" or "Society" sections.
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 2 Jan 1914 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 9 Nov 1917 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 17 Dec 1920 |
Pearl Mildred McGrew was born on June 6, 1907, in Kansas. She was the fourth child born to Reverand Hudson Taylor McGrew and Sadie Emma McCullough. As you can see, her father was a Reverand in the United Brethren Church (which eventually became a sect of the Methodist Church). The United Brethren Church had traveling ministers that were appointed to different churches in their area for a specific time. So Pearl's family moved around quite a bit.
Since Pearl's father was a respectable man in the United Brethren Church, his children were also expected to be on their best behavior. Rev. H.T. McGrew was mentioned in the newspapers quite a bit as well. From the new appointments to the families he would visit and many other circumstances.
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| Wichita Daily Eagle Wichita, Kansas 15 Sep 1889 |
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| The Times Clay Center, Kansas 3 Aug 1911 |
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| Lecompton Sun Lecompton, Kansas 18 Jul 1902 |
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| Lecompton Sun Lecompton, Kansas 5 Apr 1901 |
Since both of them belong to very prominent families and their lives were documented publicly in the paper, they would have had to have been on their best behavior. When Mark asked his mom about his parents courting, she said she wasn't told much about that time except that they met in church and that they were not allowed to "date" so to speak in private. All their meetings would have been in public with family present. Thanks to newspapers, I was able to track some of the meetings.
Mark's mom said they met in Church. This would have been the Lebanon Baptist Church in Clinton County, Missouri. The area consisted mostly of Farmland and the nearest town was Stewartsville. Plattsburg is about 15 miles south of Stewartsville and Lebanon Cemetery, where the Church used to be, is about halfway in between the two towns. Pearl moved to Stewartsville to be a teacher in the Martin School District. Mark's mom said this was a one-room schoolhouse. Pearl did such a great job as a teacher, they elected to keep her for three years.
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 15 Mar 1929 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 13 Sep 1929 |
As you can see, there are only eight students in this school, all ranging from different grades. We are talking VERY small town. So it would have only been a matter of time before Galen and Pearl met. Galen worked in Kansas City for a time, but he would frequently visit his family.
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 11 Jan 1929 |
When Galen was back in town, he would stay with his parents, James & Mary. Pearl did not originally live in Stewartsville when she was hired as a teacher. So she rented a room from Rae Berryman and his family. When school was closed for the season, she would go back to visit her parents in Guilford, Missouri. As stated, this was a small town, so almost everyone knew each other. Everyone would make visits to each other's houses, they would attend church together and even celebrate occasions with each other. This would be perfect for Courting situations. As would be the case for Galen & Pearl. And it would then be published in the local paper for everyone to read about.
Thanks to Newspapers.com, I was able to track down these articles. Articles mentioning dinners, reunions, health & well-being posts (who was sick, who was recovering), and who was visiting who. This made the courting process more apparent.
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 17 Apr 1931 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 6 Feb 1931 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 2 Jan 1931 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 13 Nov 1931 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 29 Apr 1932 |
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| Maryville Daily Forum Maryville, Missouri 2 May 1932 |
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| Galen & Pearl Swope 1 May 1932 |
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| Plattsburg Leader Plattsburg, Missouri 6 May 1932 |
This prompt also caused me to do some more research on the area they lived. If you want to see what else I found out, check out my next blog post: Maps of Clinton County, Missouri - (How Galen & Pearl Met Cont.)
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