"A Notable Wedding"

"The courthouse of Colquitt County was destroyed by fire in 1881, with practically all the records kept therein. However, in a small black book in the present ordinary's office may be found a record showing that on the 14th day of October, 1873, Henry Gay, ordinary of Colquitt County, issued a marriage license to James T. Norman and Susan Jane Tucker. This license was returned into that office with a showing at the bottom that the ceremony was performed on the 23rd day of October, 1873.

"Susan Jane Tucker was the oldest child of John Tucker, oldest son of Elder Crawford Tucker, already referred to in this book, and his wife Susan A. Stevenson. This same Susan A. S. Tucker was one of the notable women of Colquitt County, as demonstrated by the character of children that she turned into the body of the citizenship, numbering ten. We shall meet her further on in this book.

"The father of the bride was a conspicuous leader in Colquitt, in 1873. He was the son of Elder Crawford Tucker, Colquitt County pioneer and patriarch. He was the owner of forty-three lots of Colquitt County land, each containing 490 acres, more or less; and his holdings of live stock were of greater value than his lands. He served as Colquitt's representative in the General Assembly of Georgia, at the sessions of 1873-4. He was accordingly the most important man in Colquitt County; and he was 'feeling his oats.'

"James T. Norman, the bridegroom, known by his intimates as 'Sonny,' was the oldest son of Jeremiah Bryant Norman, who was one of the seven sons of James Mitchell Norman and Ruth Tillman Norman, who came to Colquitt County about the same time that Elder Tucker arrived. J. B. Norman, Sr., was himself the owner of much land and live stock; was politically inclined, and was going to represent Colquitt in the House of Representatives of Georgia more than once before his death.

"For all these reasons, John Tucker decided to give Susan Jane a wedding that would set up an all-time record in Colquitt.

"There were no such things as engraved invitations, innocent of initials, and spelling out each name in full; but messengers on horseback carried a most cordial invitation by word of mouth to every family in Colquitt to come to Susan Jane's wedding.

"And, according to all accounts, they responded to the invitation, from Little River to the Mitchell County line, and from the Worth boundary straight south to Thomas. They came in families, the busy housewife bringing along her 'numerous brood,' and grandma with her snuff. Twelve hundred guests, according to the stories related to us in the present year, by Messrs. J. A. Owens, Dan J. Strickland, Henry Monk and Linton Hancock, all of whom are now octogenarians, and all of whom were guests.

And from these 'Merrie gentlemen' comes a fairly unanimous account of whole carcasses, selected from the flocks and herds of John Tucker, barbecued to a turn, and served with all the 'trimmin's.' And every one of them, when the subject is mentioned, will immediately speak of coffee cooking in the yard in a 90-gallon syrup kettle, and chicken pilau a-simmering away in another kettle of the same capacity.

"The opening rite of weddings, in those old days, was the 'charge,' a term applied to a procession of horseback riders made up of the unmarried men friends of the contracting parties. This procession rode two abreast, and was headed by the bridegroom, who was flanked on his right by his mounted 'waiter,' and on the left, by his 'torchbearer.' Such procession was accustomed to gallop about sundown in middle gear, down the road, straight by the home of the bride, and after getting a mile or so beyond it, they would stop, turn the procession around, and return to her home, in a walk, reaching which, they would stop, and friendly hands connected with the bride's establishment, would take charge of the mounts of the groom and his attendants, and tie them up, while all the other members of the procession would perform that office for themselves.

"In the meantime, the groom and his flankers, as their mounts were taken away, would go immediately into the yard, and pass through the front door into the 'front room,' where they would find the bride sitting, and sitting by her her own 'waiter' and 'torchbearer.' There would be plenty of merry talking, of course. The groom and his attendants taking seats by the bride and hers, while torches were being lighted for the 'torchbearers.' The bride and the groom would then go out into the yard; the waiters would come next, and last would come the 'torch-bearers.' Since there were no electric lights in those days, and since marriages were usually performed at 'early candle-light,' and since every one present on the whole premises wanted to see the ceremony, and 'how the bride looked' on such occasions, the 'torchbearers' were a necessary adjunct. We can find several surviving guests, including the ones already listed, who will say that 'Sonny's charge had at least seventy-five young couples in it, and both horses and riders made a very brave show indeed.'

"After the wedding ceremony, the immense feast, prepared for this wedding by the Tuckers was served to the hundreds of guests, the hospitable suggestion made by the host being, 'Eat till you bust.'

"As has been said, the ordinary lighting by tallow candles was quite insufficient for such great gatherings; and so a scaffold was generally erected in front of the house, and on it was spread a good covering of dirt, upon which a big pile of fat "lightwood" was kept blazing, this furnishing abundant light for the dance by the young folks, which invariably followed the close of the wedding rites. And the aforenamed surviving guests assure us that, in relays, the young folks fiddled and danced at Susan Jane's wedding all night long, and 'When music arose, with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell.'

"This is written in August, 1936, and so it will soon have been sixty-three years since "Sonny" and Susan Jane got married. Some of our readers will want to know how their marriage turned out. And so, it is a pleasure to say that, by the united testimony of a whole country-side, this couple were ideally happy, every moment of their married life, till 'Sonny's' death in 1896, leaving Susan Jane to carry on alone in the rearing of their eleven children. How well she succeeded will be shown in a separate chapter herein, entitled "Noted Colquitt County Women," and for the present, we close the account of the pastoral romance of 'Sonny' and Susan Jane by expressing the hope that our unmarried readers may find as much happiness in their marriages as the hero and heroine of this story did in theirs."

Source: Covington, W. A.. "History of Colquitt County". (Atlanta, Ga.: Foote and Davies Co., 1937)