Wedding Wednesday: Frank E King and Alta E Smith

Frank E King and Alta E Smith were my paternal 2nd great grandparents. Frank was the son of John Ferrell King and Celia Rose Grossenbacher. Alta was the daughter of Isaac N Smith and Caroline B Kocher.

Marriage certificate and return for Frank E King and Alta E Smith

Both were born in Wetzel County, West Virginia. From census records, it appears that both grew up in Green District. Frank's mother and both of Alta's parents were born in Ohio. Frank's aunt Caroline Grossenbacher was married to Lewis Phillip Kocher, also born in Ohio. I'm still researching to find out for sure, but he may have possibly been a relative of Alta's mother.

However the couple met, whether due to proximity or family connections, they were married in Reader, West Virginia on 6 Jan 1918 by Rev. JE McVey. Frank was 25 and Alta was 23. Witnesses to the marriage were Edna C King and H T Dotson. Edna was Frank's sister. I haven't been able to determine who HT Dotson was.

Unfortunately, the couple didn't get to enjoy a long marriage. Shortly after their wedding, Frank left to serve in World War I. Just two weeks after the couple's first anniversary, Alta passed away giving birth to their first and only child, Evelyn Edith King. Unable to care for a child alone, he left her with her Smith grandparents.

A few years later, he remarried, this time to Anna Belle Jones, daughter of William Draper Jones and Maud Harris, and went on to have eight more children, but Evelyn remained with her grandparents through most of her childhood.