Family Chronicles

Sunday September 5, 1954 – Bridgeport Post
Ceremony Solemnized At 4PM Yesterday Afternoon Followed by a Home Reception, Couple to Reside in Waltham Mass.

The Altar vases in Christ Episcopal church, Tashua, were filled with white gladiolus and chrysanthemums, and the chancel was banked with cibodium fern and cornucopia baskets full of white blossoms, and the pews were marked with white pompons, when Ms Margaret Wheeler Edwards was married yesterday afternoon to Lieut. Robert Frank Vandell. The 4 o Clock ceremony was solemnized by the Rev. George Davidson uniting the daughter of Charles A. Edwards of Madison Rd., Long Hill, and the late Gertrude Wheeler Edwards to the son Mr and Mrs Frank R. Vandell of Malverne, L.I.

For a half hour before service, Fredric Smithson played a program of organ music, offering The Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin as the bride entered the church on the arm of her father, who gave her in marriage.

Her gown of ivory taffeta, appliqued in Alencon lace and perils in a flower motif, was designed in a off-shoulder neckline on an illusion yoke. The short sleeves were made of scalloped edges, and the princesses skirt flared into a chapel sweep. She wore long taffeta mitts, and a silk illusion veil which cascaded to her fingertips from a sweetheart cap of matching taffeta. She carried a spray of stephanotis.

The brides three attendants were gowned alike in blue crystallette fashioned off-shoulder mode with cape-like jackets. Miss Nancy Reed of Rye N.Y served as maid of honor, and Miss Martha Warren of Fairfield and Miss Mary Stagg of Faifield served as brides maid. They wore velvet hats of a dusty pink shade, and carried bouquets of roses and blue delphinium.

John Kahne of Lynnbrook N.Y. was Lieut Vandell’s best man and his ushers were his brother, William Vandell of Malverne N.Y. and Ransom W. Edwards, brother of the bride.

The reception in the Edwards home followed the ceremony, and in the early evening, Lieut. Vandell and his bride departed on their wedding trip. After September 20th they will make their home in Waltham Mass.

The bride is a graduate of Ethel Walker school, Simsbury and Vassar college, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Lieut. Vandell received a BS degree in Industrial Administration from Yale university and an MBA from Harvard Graduate school. He was a member of the faculty of Harvard business school prior to entering service in November 1952.

Services on Monday for founder of Insurance Co.
Saturday January 15, 1966 – Bridgeport Post
Charles A. Edwards 81, of 4733 Madison Ave. Trumbull, president of the Charles A. Insurance company died yesterday in a Bridgeport hospital.

Services will take place Monday at 2PM in the Henry E. Bishop and Sons funeral home 1130 Fairfield Avenue with the Rev. Stephen W. Collins Jr. of the Christ Episcopal church, Tashua. Burial will be at Mountain Grove cemetery.

Mr Edwards was a life long Bridgeport area resident. He started the Charles A. Edwards Insurance company 55 years ago. He was one of the oldest member of the New York Athletic Club and a member of the Seignilory of Montbello Quebec Canada. He was a member of the Brooklawn Country Club and a 50 year member of the Corinthian lodge, 104 AM and AM

Mr Edwards had served as executive director of the Acme Shear Co., a past president of the Woodfield Village and past chairman of the building committee of the St. Vincent Hospital.

Survivors are his wife, Mrs Ora S. Edwards: a son Ransom Wheeler Edwards of Los Angeles, Calif: a daughter Mrs Margaret Edwards Vandell of Charlottesville, VA; a brother Louis R. Edwards of Fairfield; three grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

From writing on the back of the image:
Louis R. Edwards
28 Apr 1877 – 4 Sept 1967
Charles H Edwards (with long hair)
18 Aug 1880
Edwin Edwards
Edith Edwards (with boys hair cut but feathery hat)

Eddie Edwards – Obituary 1888 _ A touching death was that of Edwin Sherman Edwards, son of Louis E. Edwards, at about noon yesterday, at 159 Fairfield avenue. He was in his sixth year, and very bright.

 His illness began on Sunday Fef. 12, and the physician prescribed for a fever. On Friday last it was apparent he had diphtheria. Soon after eleven o’clock he requested to be lifted from the bed and while in the arms of his father, said: ” I am dying, I know I am.”

This he repeated three times and then expired. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. W.V. Garner at 4 o’clock, and the remains were taken to Mountain Grove Cemetery for burial.

Image # – EDW1001
Taken by Branson & Ellis
407 Bridgeport, CT

 Diphtheria (Corynebacterium diphtheriae), an acute bacterial infection spread by personal contact, was the most feared of all childhood diseases. Diphtheria may be documented back to ancient Egypt and Greece, but severe recurring outbreaks begin only after 1700. One of every ten children infected died from this disease. Symptoms ranged from severe sore throat to suffocation due to a ‘false membrane’ covering the larynx. The disease primarily affected children under the age of 5. Until treatment became widely available in the 1920s, the public viewed this disease as a death sentence.