52 Ancestors - Week 18 - Love & Marriage

52 Ancestors – WEEK 18 – Love & Marriage

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

As I was working my way through obtaining documentation about my grandparents on Mom's side, I was not able to find a marriage record for Donald O. Mahanna and Margaret Robson in Washington County, Pennsylvania where they lived.

I decided to check the adjoining state of West Virginia, and there it was. They, and many other members of our family it turns out, went over the border to get hitched.

They did on January 20, 1927, in Wheeling, West Virginia.[1] Like is often the case, their first child was born in April of 1927. The marriage record said the groom was 23 and the bride 21. She was actually only 18 and he was 22. So………

By the 1930 census[2], this little family was reporting the true ages to the enumerator, but still not being truthful about the length of their marriage (adding that extra year to make their child born in wedlock).    

MAHANNA, Donald, head, Age 24, married at age 20

MAHANNA, Margret E., wife-H, Age 21, married at age 17

MAHANNA, Donald, Jr, son, age 2 11/12, single

I do believe that when Donald, Jr. joined the Navy, his true birthdate was recorded and shows up on many records after that.

As the little song goes – “first comes love, then comes marriage….”.

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[1] Vol 85, p 412, 1927

"West Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1776-1971", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BJ-8F6Y?cc=4375852 : 18 July 2022), > image 263.)

[2] 1930 U. S. Census, Washington County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Washington City, p. 261 (stamped), ED 123, sheet 12-B, dwelling 248, family 278, Donald O. Mahanna; NARA microfilm publication T626.