Outside the church with the bridal procession stands the bride, Minnie Gaudineer, who will be twenty-seven in two days. Her gown is white satin, with Irish point trimmings and veil of tulie. Standing with the bridal party is the six year old flower girl, Minnie's niece, Wilhelmina Gaudineer Lockwood, and Minnie's bridesmaids, including Harriet ("Hattie") Little who will soon marry Minnie's younger brother, Charles William Gaudineer. Charles is standing at Minnie's side and will give her away. The bridesmaids are wearing rose pink bengaline, with velvet and pearl trimmings. All carry pink roses.
The groom, Albert Gray Whaley, twenty-nine, and his groomsman, Oscar Conner, wait at an entryway beside the sanctuary to join the bridal procession as it reaches the steps of the altar. Let's meet some of the Gaudineer and Whaley family members who are waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Minnie's grandparents, Elisha Gaudineer and Sarah Warren, have passed away. Sarah died only five months earlier in July, 1894. However, their four children and spouses are all sitting here on the bride's side of the church. Next to Frederick Peter sits his wife, Sarah Dickerson, Minnie's mother, a very quiet, unobtrusive woman. Frederick's brother, Charles Warren Gaudineer, sits with his wife, Mary Esther Crist ("Mate"). A successful interior decorator, Charles has already moved from Brooklyn to Prospect Street in South Orange, New Jersey, and Albert and Minnie will follow in a couple of years.
Nearby is the third brother, William John Gaudineer ("Uncle Will"), and his wife Evelyn Thompson ("Millie"). Uncle Will is in mid career as a doctor, practicing in Manhattan. He has earned his A.B. degree from the University of Michigan, and his M.D. degree from N.Y.U. in 1878. He practices general medicine and some internal medicine, and will continue practicing into his 90's. For many years Minnie will bring her children from South Orange to New York City to see "Uncle Will, the doctor" whenever there is serious medical problem. It is a tribute to Elisha and Sarah Warren that all their four have found satisfying professions.
Nearby sits Elisha and Sarah Warren's youngest child, kind and generous Ida May Gaudineer. She inherited the Gaudineer estate in Bloomingburg, Sullivan County, New York, and turned it into a resort for guests called Seven Acres which attracted guests from New York City. Ida and her husband, John Allan Lockwood, have two daughters, Wilhelmina Lockwood, six years old, the flower girl for Minnie's wedding, and Carlotta Gaudineer Lockwood, four years old. Carlotta will become beautiful and so charming that she "could charm the birds off the trees." Wilhelmina will be the steady, reliable one to help around Seven Acres and Carlotta will charm the guests. Ida is only three years older than Minnie, but Minnie never lets people forget that Ida is her aunt. Minnie will often take her four children up to Seven Acres in the summer.
Minnie's siblings are all here. At nearly twenty-five, Minnie is the oldest. Next comes her brother, Charles William Gaudineer, twenty-three, now standing outside the church with Minnie on his arm, with the bridal procession. In a year Charles will marry Harriet Little ("Aunt Hattie"), one of the bridesmaids.
With the Gaudineers sits Edward Harris Gaudineer ("Uncle Harry"), the next brother, sixteen, who will become a physician, but will die at age thirty-seven from tuberculosis, apparently from overwork and perhaps contact with infected patients. The youngest brother, Elisha Frank Gaudineer, fifteen, sits with the his parents Frederick Peter Gaudineer, and Sarah Dickerson. He will become a successful banker in New York City, very trim and well-dressed. He will do research on the Gaudineer family and pass down family knowledge and momentos to later generations.
Albert is the youngest child. Next to George and Margaret sits their daughter Margaret, a little older than Albert, known to us later affectionately as "Aunt Mag." While away from home as a young girl, she received a lot of attention from a young man, but her mother called her home, believing it the duty of the the youngest daughter to take care of the aging mother as was the tradition she knew. Aung Mag will never marry, but will become extraordinarily loving and motherly to the children and grandchildren of her brother, Albert. She will be the keeper of the Whaley family, with its notations of weddings, funerals, and births, and will eventually pass it on to Warren Whaley Warbasse, Albert's grandson.
Albert and his sister, Mag, adore their mother. A decade later as his mother, Margaret Dunlop will pass away. Albert will view the cradle of his fourth child, born only ten days later. The griefstricken Albert will see his mother's image over the cradle and will name the baby Margaret Gordon Whaley. A generation later she will become my mother. All his children will bear Albert the same deep affection he bore his own mother. Margaret will refer to him as "my dead sweet Daddy."
Albert's older brothers are sitting nearby, William Gordon Whaley, and George Washington Whaley.
Afterwards a reception will be held at the residence of the bride's parents, 236 Walworth Street.