TRIPLE WEDDING CEREMONY FOR 79+ YEAR OLD CSA VETS & WIDOWS
Biloxi, Mississippi (JFK+50) On February 18, 1923, three veterans of the army of the Confederate States of America and three widows of CSA veterans were married in a triple wedding ceremony at the Jefferson Davis Soldiers' Home* at Beauvoir**.
The youngest of the CSA veterans was 79 while the youngest of the brides was 72. The ceremony was performed at three in the afternoon by Rev. Dr. H.W. Vanhook.
A general invitation "to residents of the entire Mississippi coast" was extended.
*JD Soldiers' Home opened in Dec 1903 & served as home for CSA veterans, wives & widows. It was located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Biloxi.
Originally called Orange Grove, JDSH was built between 1848 & 1852. Over 1800 impoverished Confederate veterans, wives & widows lived here over a 54-year time span.
**Beauvoir was Confederate President Jefferson Davis's seaside retirement estate located on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.
SOURCES
"Jefferson Davis Soldier Home-Beauvoir," by Susannah J. Ural, January 2017, Mississippi History Now, www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/
"Three Dixie Vets To Wed Widows; All Past 70," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., February 18, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
