2017 Christmas Theme Celebrates 150th Wedding Anniversary of Governor Upham
UPDATE 2/18: The historic wedding dress collection will remain on display through the month of February 2018. A special program on the dresses and their stories will be presented at the Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library on Monday, February 5, 2018 at 7 p.m. in the J.P Adler Room. This event is free and open to the public.
Watch our special video to learn more about the event and the Adopt-A-Dress program, which aims to properly store the dresses so that they can remain preserved for years to come.
A hundred fifty years ago on December 20, 1867, future Wisconsin governor William Upham and Mary Upham were married.
In honor of the significant anniversary, the North Wood County Historical Society is hosting a reception-style gathering at Upham Mansion with wedding cake and punch on December 2-3 from 1-4 p.m. The mansion will be decked out in decorations which reflect an 1890s wedding, and over twenty local dresses from the 1870s to the 2010s will be on display on the first and second floors.
“The house looks exceptionally beautiful all decked out for the holidays,” said Donald Schnitzler, Board Director and chair of the decorating committee. “I think of our open house as an opportunity to showcase the house, and at the same time share some unique aspects of the family or community’s history with our visitors.”
Each year, the Upham Mansion is decorated for the Christmas season in various ways.
“Over the past few years we’ve shared the evolution of Christmas Tree lighting, from candles to fairy lights, traditions associated with various German ornaments, and a variety of Christmas customs from around the world,” he said. “There’s always cookies and cider too.”
William Upham married on the same day as his sister Ellen at his bride’s father’s home in Racine. The newspaper announcement did not provide many details, and Mary Upham’s diaries haven’t revealed any information about her wedding day. Instead, the decorations will reflect that of their daughter Elsie’s wedding ceremony, which took place in the Upham Mansion itself.
“We’re not having the traditional Christmas. It’s more decked out as a wedding reception,” explained Kim Krueger, coordinator.
Even so, the décor has an air of holiday festivity. The door frames and staircase are draped in greenery infused with white and gold flowers, and a dazzling Christmas tree sparkles with gold ribbons and red flowers. All the greenery started out plain and was decorated by Schnitzler.
A Charming Wedding
A newspaper article about Elsie’s wedding described the ceremony in detail:
“The decorations were natural flowers, and ground pine tastefully draped from ceilings and caught here and there in loops, throwing over all an artistic effect that was charming in the extreme. This was heightened by portieres of smilax trailing gracefully from door and archways, and a shield of pine boughs hiding the fireplace, while the mantels and windows were banked with white roses and carnations. In the first parlor between the two large windows fronting the street, a beautiful canopy was arranged with smilax and ribbon entwined, with a base and a rail of ground pine and back of smilax.”
The marriage took place at 5 p.m. in October 1893. The bride’s flowers were roses and lily of the valley. Elsie Upham entered on the arm of her father, Major Upham, in “an exquisite gown of cream faille silk trimmed with bertha of duchess lace with slippers to match, over which tastefully draped a beautiful bridal veil caught with a wreath of lilies of the valley. Her only ornament was a pearl and diamond pendant, a gift of the groom.” The couple left for a honeymoon that included the World Fair and visits to relatives around Wisconsin.
While the wedding including natural flowers, Upham Mansion has recreated the decorations with artificial flowers and greens in the parlor, library, and dining room on the first floor.
His youngest daughter, Caroline Upham, was married at the Governor’s Mansion in Madison in 1896. There was great interest in the society wedding, but it was “a very quiet affair.” The mansion was decorated with roses, ferns, chrysanthemums, and violets. The newspaper article described the bride as wearing a “white satin bridal gown, trimmed with point lace, and the long veil of tulle setting off her fresh girlish beauty to its best advantage.”
The article was accompanied by sketches of the couple and of the governor, and one of the wedding gifts included $100,000 from a former senator.
Featured Wedding Dresses
While the historical society does not have either daughter’s wedding dress in its collection, it does have about forty dresses that have been donated over the years, covering a period of time from the 1870s to one on loan from 2014. Over twenty of these will be displayed, the ones dated through the 1940s in the downstairs parlors, and the 1950s through 2010s exhibited upstairs. Each will have a description of the dress and the year of the wedding.
Though Mary’s Upham’s dress isn’t part of the collection, visitors will be able to see a silver tea service dating to her 1867 wedding in the dining room.
One featured dress includes Elizabeth Upham’s, the daughter in-law of Gov. Upham. She married his son by second wife Grace, who was 40 years his junior. Gov. Upham passed of old age when his son was seven and therefore never met Elizabeth. The elegant dress dates to 1937.
A beautifully detailed dress from the 1890s was worn by Robert Connor’s first wife. The Connors were a prominent local family with connections to the Lairds, also well-known. The couple was later divorced. Another dress, dating from 1914, was worn by Rose Adler. She was the wife of J.P Adler, a theatre owner.
The Upham Mansion collection does not have any dresses from the 1980s or the 2000s. To fill the gap, local resident Haley Klein is loaning two dresses to the exhibit: her own from the 1980s, and her daughter in-laws dress from 2014. Klein, who owned a bridal boutique before it became Circle the Date, didn’t wear her wedding dress just once, but every anniversary.
“When my kids were growing up, I made them breakfast before school in my wedding dress,” she recalled. “They thought it was funny.” Klein continued the tradition faithfully except for her tenth anniversary, when she gave birth to her second child, and still tries it on every year.
Some of the wedding dresses are not displayed due to fragility or repetition. Krueger undertook the task of displaying each on mannequin busts donated from Marathon Heritage Center, and a few from Circle The Date, and researching which fabrics can hold up to a steam press.
Krueger is considering starting an “Adopt a Dress” program to help with the costs of properly preserving and storing the historic dresses, which costs upwards of $50 each.
“We try to maintain as best as possible,” she said. “Nowadays, if you go to places that pack away wedding dresses, they will use acid-free paper.”
Meanwhile, the special decorations and exhibit will remain through January, or longer if there is enough interest. The mansion or wedding dresses can be viewed during normal visiting hours Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1:30-4 p.m or by special appointment. Donations are greatly appreciated to help continue the mission of the historical society.
