First of all, my "ghost illustrator" came up with that great picture of the Blagen Lumber Co. when we first saw it in White Pines, Ca. Believe me it looked a lot better when the folks left, or the mill left for West Point. If you are looking up things on a map, the actual name of the place where the mill relocated was Wilseyville, about 5 miles from West Point.
I was telling you about my proposal from Cappy to marry him so I'll write about that today! Believe me, Mother wasn't too happy about the time we had to prepare but believe me! It all worked out that we were married a week after Cappy proposed and yes, he did take the time to ask Dad for my hand. Dad's reply was, "yes, you can marry her, There isn't any way that I could stop her if that's what she wants!" So the fun began! We had to see a priest in Angels Camp and that turned out O.K. Father said that it didn't give him much time to get a dispensation from Sacramento, (Cappy wasn't a Catholic and so the Church had to give me a dispensation to get married. However he told us to go ahead with our plans, that he was sure it would be worked out! I sat there that evening watching Cappy turn on his charm!!! I thought Father would never get through asking him questions about his life in Mexico!!! So Tuesday morning we went to the Calaveras County Courthouse and applied for out license! Then we went to a Doctor's office to get our blood tests, and then went to Valley Springs, where Cappy's folks lived and told them!!They were delighted! I had to borrow a dress from my sister Genevieve, I didn't have money enough to buy one that soon! We talked Cappy's brother, Lafay, (Alonzo Lafayette, Don't ask me where the Farnsworth family came up with their names!) anyway Lafay agreed to be best man, and my Genevieve was my Maid of Honor! Now, remember everyone, this was the week before Christmas, and so Father McGuire told us that we could be married in the Rectory because all the Christmas Confessions were taking place that night in the Church!!!The afternoon of the wedding, Cappy's Mother called and asked if he could go down to pick up his brother Bert! Bert was a somewhat undesirable fellow as I was to find out through the years! Don't ask me why I didn't stay home but Cappy wanted me to go with him to pick up Bert! So time was "awastin" and we couldn't find him after chasing around for what seemed like an hour. He was supposed to be in one place and they, the people told us he had gone to another place, and so it went! We never did find him and we had to get back, pick up Cappy's folks and his two children and then he rushed me home and I got ready and we all went from White Pines, back down to Angels Camp where the Church was! Now it had started to snow and was miserable, to say the least, on the highway, but we made it and so in a very simple "Ceremony" I became Mrs. Afton (Yes, that was his real name, remember?)Farnsworth. We had to go back to White Pines where Mother and Mom Farnsworth had during the week planned a small, buffet supper and Mother had made a cake and all was pretty nice! Or so I thought! We, Cappy and I, had at the first of the week rented a small cabin across from where he met me at the Arnold Inn. He and his brother looked out the door of the folks house and the snow was really piling up!!!! So the Farnsworth clan left and we could, in no way, by the time we got ready to go to our "Honeymoon" Cottage get out of White Pines to go the mile up to our place! Besides, there was no heat there, and the lights had gone out in Arnolds because the snow had piled up so fast on the wires! So, as you have already guessed! A lot of quick changes were made, getting Genevieve a place to sleep and we spent the night at Mom and Dad's!!! Oh Joy!!! Remember it is almost Christmas! More later!
