...got married on September 20, 2008!  

 


 

 

Joanna's Veil

When people think about Joanna, the words dainty, delicate, ethereal, exquisite, and super-cool are among those that come to mind (please remember that the webmistress was handsomely compensated to include the previous sentence on this site). That's why Jo plans to wear an antique family veil that mirrors all the qualities that she most certainly and without a doubt possesses in spades (see again: handsome compensation).

The veil dates back to 1837. It was made for Margaret Ann Morrison (who later went on to found a New York settlement house called the Helping Hand) for her marriage to William Post. And here's another bit of arcane family trivia—Margaret Ann Morrison's grandfather founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and invented the clay pigeon.

The next person known to have worn it was Margaret Morrison Post's great-granddaughter, Louise Herrick Cook, who was Joanna's great-grandmother (the mother of Jo's grandfather, David Cook).

Other family members known to have worn the veil include one of Jo's great-aunts (Anne Cook Murphy, in 1955); Jo's mother (Dana Cook Grossman, in 1972); two of her mother's cousins (Katherine Murphy McClintic, in 1992, and Elizabeth Murphy Evans, in 1994); and her sister (Emily Grossman Reilly, in 2003).

That makes Joanna a seventh-generation wearer of this 171-year-old heirloom. Below are some pictures of previous veil-wearers.


Louise Moore Herrick—Joanna's great-grandmother (who died in 1996 at the age of almost 102)—was married to John Alden Cook on November 8, 1919, in New York City. She is one of the people for whom Nate and Jo's junior flowergirl Meredith Louise Reilly was named.

Joanna's mother, Dana Marie Cook, married Daniel Francis Grossman (Jo's father) on May 28, 1972, in Washington, Conn.

Joanna's sister, Emily Grossman Reilly, married Thomas Michael Reilly on September 27, 2003, in Sharon, Vt.
   

 

       
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