Harry Sennott Marries Clara Ziebold

Society Belle Announces Engagement 

The headline in the Waterloo Times announced the engagement of Miss Clara Ziebold to Mr. Harry Brey Sennott. On Saturday, January 1, 1916, a party was held at the Ziebold house in honor of guests, Miss Marguerite Hubbell of Elgin, IL, Miss Marie Loper of Chicago, and Miss Geraldine Collum of St. Louis. The house was decorated with pink carnations, azaleas and ferns. After an evening of playing 500, luncheon followed. "With the service of the first course guests discovered  little cupids bearing the announcement of the engagement of Miss Clara Ziebold second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Ziebold to Harry B. Sennott only son of Dr. and Mrs. J. S. Sennott of this city."

Clara was active in a number of groups in Waterloo - the sewing club, the Domestic Science Club, the 500 Club to name a few. Members of the sewing club meetings provided the opportunity for Clara's friends to shower her with gifts.

On Thursday afternoon, March 16, Clara's sister in law, Mrs George C. Ziebold hosted the Sewing Club at her home - Whistlecote Farm. "The afternoon was most pleasantly spent at needle work. The guests also enjoyed a number of vocal selections by Mrs. Carlton Ball and Mrs. N Nasseem. At six o'clock delicious luncheon was served by the hostess. The dining room was artistically decorated in honor of St. Patrick Shamrocks, pretty gilt harps, green and white carnations and other emblems of the day were used effectively in ornamenting the luncheon table. The center piece consisted of a large green harp surrounded by carnations. Before leaving the table Miss Clara Ziebold was given a cord and asked to draw it toward her and as she did so the strings of the harp were rent asunder and thru the sides of the harp appeared many beautiful pieces of linen which were showered upon Miss Ziebold, whose marriage to Mr. H. B. Sennott will take place shortly after Easter. The shower arrangement was indeed clever and quite as much of a surprise to the other guests as it was to Miss Clara."

The festivities continued at the home of Mrs. Wallace Mitchell on Saturday, April 8th. The Sewing Club met in honor of Clara.  The guests sewed tea towels for the bride. "A dainty luncheon was served at five o'clock. The decorations were carried out in yellow. Jonquils were used for the centerpiece and the favors and place cards were Easter novelties. At the close of the luncheon an Easter basket of beautiful handkerchiefs was quite cleverly showered upon Miss Ziebold."

The final shower for Clara was a surprise kitchen shower held at the home of Mrs. Roy Gauen who entertained the Sewing Club at her home on the afternoon and evening of Thursday, April 13th.  "The dining room with its table beautifully decorated with pink sweet peas and dainty pink favors made a charming picture. In the center of the table, with a mass of sweet peas grouped around her, was found a miniature bride. Before her, leading from the center of the table, an array of fourteen dainty doll bridesmaids dressed in pink, made their way to Miss Ziebold's place at the head of the table. Covers were laid for fourteen. The hostess served an elegant six-course dinner, which in itself, showed an unusual amount of skill and proficiency in its preparation. Upon leaving the table the bride-to-be was surprised with a large basket containing many useful aluminum gifts."

The Wedding Ceremony

On the evening of Tuesday, April 25, 1916 at 5:00 pm Harry B Sennott married Clara M Ziebold in the parsonage of SS. Peter and Paul catholic church. Harry wasn't catholic so they couldn't marry in the church. The couple, their parents, and the attendants - Miss Evelyn Ziebold and Dr. I.A. Leunig arrived at the residence where they were married.

The bride "was tastefully gowned in an exquisite creation of white tulle hanging from the shoulders. The bridal veil was held in place by a wreath of orange blossoms and she carried a beautiful shower bouquet of brides roses and valley lilies."

Clara's sister Evelyn was her bridesmaid. "She wore white taffeta and silk lace and carried yellow roses."

A wedding feast and reception were held at the Ziebold residence on Moore Street immediately after the ceremony. "The party entered the home to the ever appropriate melody of Lohengrin, played by Miss Pearl Pinkel congratulations were showered upon the happy pair. The Easter colors of yellow and white were the basis of the decorations that adorned the home throughout and festoons of  smilax, Easter Lillies and jonquils made a very beautiful effect. Huge sprays and bouquets of sweet flowers, artistically placed, lent a charming fragrance that mingled with the happy atmosphere. A buffet lunch was served in the dining room; the bride cut the cake over which was suspended a bower of bridal tulle and smilax. The refreshments harmonized in color with the decorations. The entertainment consisted of pretty vocal selections by Mrs. Nazmy Naseem of New York and Mrs. Carlton Ball of St. Louis and numerous instrumental renditions."

The guests included many members of the couple's families - members of the Rickert, Hoffmeister, Pinkel, Brey, Cramer, Voris, Parker, Nasseem, Durfee, Fike, Ziebold and Sennott families all signed the guest book.

The couple traveled to St. Louis and later took the train to Chicago. They were supposed to spent their honeymoon at the Hotel Brevoort; however, they were called home early. Clara's brother George and his wife lost their daughter, Rose Marie.

The couple made their home in Danville, Illinois where Harry was working for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Sources
1. Waterloo Republican, microfilm of newspapers from 2015-2016.
2. Waterloo Times clippings from the scrapbook of Clara Ziebold Sennott.
3. Autobiography of Harry Brey Sennott.

Waterloo's Columbian Club

The Columbian Club was formed in Waterloo to represent Monroe County in the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The exposition was held in Chicago from May 1, 1893 through October 30, 1893 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. It covered more than 600 acres and featured approximately 200 buildings (many were temporary), canals, and lagoons.

According to an article from the Metro-East Journal from October 31, 1968 the group "decided on a work of art with an agricultural motif as a device to symbolize the county, in which agriculture was - as it still is - the predominant occupation. From materials gathered by the members of the Sisters of St. Joseph created a design of a crescent and star, with a sunflower center, composed of grains, seeds and grasses, all grown in Monroe County. It was an elaborate piece of work. Doves and swallows fashioned of melon seeds, a millet seed grasshopper perching on a stalk of timothy, flowers made of grains, and wax fruits surrounded the centerpiece. On the crescent the words "Monroe County" were spelled out in gilded wheat. The device was mounted against a background of velvet in a five-foot-long glass case."

The group continued to meet monthly; their purpose was to help charitable causes. One was furnishing Thanksgiving Dinner for the County Alms House. The members prepared the food and delivered it via horse and buggy. Later the food was sent to the Alms House and the custodian's wife prepared the meal. The boy scouts and the Tuberculosis Association also benefited from the contributions of the Columbian Club.

The charter members pictured above included many of our ancestors.

Front Row (left to right):
Mrs. James Sennott (Mary Ann Newsham Starkey Sennott)
Mrs. William DeMint (Caroline Durfee DeMint)
Mrs. William Erd
Mrs. Marie Hoener
Mrs. George Ziebold (Wilhelmina Hoffmeister Ziebold)
Mrs. Joseph W. Rickert (Wilhelmina Ziebold Rickert)
Miss Owen (not shown)
Middle Row:
Mrs. Livingston
Mrs. Bode
Mrs. Sam DeMint
Mrs. Thomas Payne
Mrs. Fike (Cora Alice Starkey Fike)
Mrs. Frank Durfee
Miss Elizabeth Rainey
Back Row:
Mrs. Louis Adelsberger
Mrs. Matthew Crowe
Mrs. Alphonse Wetmore
Mrs Paul Brey (Sophia Durfee Brey)
Mrs. Hugh Murphy
Mrs. Fred Jobusch
Mrs. William R. Morrison

I am lucky to have a quilt made by the group in 1901 that was given to me by a descendant of Mrs. George Ziebold.

The quilt is pink and white and the square in the center says Columbian Club 1901. All around the quilt the names of the members are stitched into the quilt. They include Mrs. P.C. Brey (pictured above) Mrs. M.A. Sennott, Mrs. G.W. Ziebold, Mrs. S.C. DeMint, Mrs. F. Jobusch, Mrs. M.T. Crowe, Mrs. M. Talbot, Mrs. H. Murphy, Mrs. L. Adelsburger, Mrs. M. Bode, Mrs. L. Voris, Mrs. M. Payne, Mrs. C. Wetmore, E.A. Rainey, Mrs. Wm. Winkelmann, Mrs. J.M. Drury, Mrs. W.T. DeMint, Mrs. J.W. Rickert, Mrs. Frank Durfee, Mrs. Bainum, and Mrs. G.P. Livingstone.

One thing that stood out when I first got the quilt was the fact that except for Elizabeth Rainey who wasn't married and Mary Ann Sennott, who had been widowed for almost 40 years all of the women sewed their husbands initials into the quilt instead of their own.

The group celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1943, the only charter member that was still living was Minnie Ziebold (Mrs G. W. Ziebold). The club disbanded eight years later in 1951.

Sources
1. Article clipped from the Metro-East Journal. The date Oct. 31, '68 was written on it by Mina Sennott.
2. Picture of the Columbian Club given to the author by Mina Sennott, grandaughter of Mrs. George Ziebold and great-grandaughter of Mrs. Mary Ann Sennott.
3. Quilt made by the Columbian Club in 1901 given to the author by Jane Sennott Coakley, grandaughter of Mrs. George Ziebold and great-grandaughter of Mrs. Mary Ann Sennott.
4. The Newberry Digital Collections for the Classroom - 1893: Chicago and the World's Columbian Exposition website http://dcc.newberry.org/collections/chicago-and-the-worlds-columbian-exposition
5. The World's Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath website http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma96/WCE/title.html