Memories of Charlton County - by Gibson and Mays Back to Table of Contents 43. THE WEDDING THAT DIDN'T TAKE PLACE (Pp 88-89) Uncle Owen Gibson married
many couple in Charlton County and had one experience in which he came within a minute of marrying two young people, but didn't. A young couple who lived near the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp had been courting a short time and had decided to get married. She was much too young to marry and he wasn't any prize, since he didn't have an abundance of brains. In fact he was a Cobbtown sport with just a little too much sense to be put into an institute. He once bought a pair of
gloves and was soon invited to Rev. E. F, Dean's home for Sunday dinner. He thought he looked so stylish that he didn't take his gloves off, even to eat. Mrs. Dean suggested that he would be more comfortable if he removed his gloves but he wouldn't. The couple told Uncle Owen that they wanted him to marry them, but it was going to be a very quiet wedding and that not many of their friends or relatives knew about the plans. The wedding was to be held at her home and when
Uncle Owen rode up with his horse and buggy that evening, several other buggies and wagons were already there. A few friends were in the house and several men were out at the cane mill in the back yard sharing a bottle of whiskey. Four or five neighbors were gathered with the couple in the parlor when Uncle Owen came into the house. The groom nervously told Uncle Owen to proceed with the ceremony and Uncle Owen said to the bride, "Well, where's your daddy?" and
she said "Oh, he's in the bedroom!' "Well, why don't he come in here?" Uncle Owen demanded. "Oh, it don't make no difference whether he's in here or not," she replied. Uncle Owen said "Now I can't marry you people with your daddy in the next room and him not knowing anything about it! I just can't do that!" So someone went into the next room and told her daddy to come into the parlor. When he came in and found out
what was about to take place, a fist fight erupted, along with screams and shouts. Uncle Owen couldn't separate the groom and his future father-in-law, and when the front door was jerked open the fight exploded out onto the front porch and into the yard. Other men began to take sides and a general free-for-all developed, helped along in a splendid way with the spirits they had been sipping. Uncle Owen left at the first opportunity, for he had little reason to stay, saying
as he climbed into his buggy that there'd be no marriage ceremony there that night. Tempers were a long time cooling down and feelings were so wounded that the groom sought grand jury action against one of his opponents. The groom testified in the grand jury room that he was trying his best to get away. He said he ran and Bob Jones "persooted" after' him and knocked him down. Jim Gowen was a member of the grand jury and never missed a chance to have some fun so
he reported to his friends that what had actually happened was that the groom had run into the cane mill sweep and he had hit the pole so hard that it circled all the way around and caught him on the back of the head and knocked him down. That wasn't so, but that was Jim Gowen's version of it ... he always had to fix things up! The young girl never did marry that smart aleck who wore gloves to dinner. When she did marry, she picked one of the finest men in Charlton County and
they raised a large family on their farm on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. | 
