A Silent Wedding in Seattle
A young couple, both deaf, marry in a quiet ceremony at the Seattle National Bank building.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A wedding ceremony, uniting Clarence K. McConnell and Miss Katie Grant, both deaf mutes, was performed by Justice of the Peace Humphrey last evening at his court room in the Seattle National bank building. There were three witnesses to the ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. P. Otto Cedergren and Robert Turner, all of them deaf mutes, and the necessary conversation between the judge, the witnesses and the contracting couple was carried on by signs and writing. The groom is a tall, well built young man who gave his occupation as a 'baseball player and a painter,' and is 25 years old. The bride is a sweet looking, slender young woman of 21 years and blushed profusely when Justice Humphrey handed her the wedding certificate. The wedding party of five, all deaf, entered the justice court about 5 o'clock and after an animated conversation in writing with the justice their mission was made known. Justice Humphrey was puzzled for a time as to how he should proceed; he had never before married a deaf couple. He finally wrote the necessary questions and answers on a pad of paper and held the writing before the couple, who, after reading, answered by gravely nodding the head. The bride and groom shook hands with all those who happened to be present in the court room and departed as happy as two mortals could comfortably be.
“Justice Humphrey was puzzled for a time as to how he should proceed; he had never before married a deaf couple.”
This rare, sensitive snapshot of life in the deaf community in 1894 Seattle reminds us that while institutions were often ill-equipped to accommodate non-standardized needs, the community often created its own workarounds. It provides a humanizing glimpse of a subculture that was often ignored or pathologized by the press of the time.
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