It was on 30 April 1923, that Essie P. Koontz and Harold Rudolph Spuhler were married in Columbus, Ohio.  Aunt Essie was my grandmother’s older sister.  Uncle Harold was their ½ first cousin, once removed.   Both shared Elizabeth Derr as their grandmother.  Essie descended through Peter Koontz and Harold through Peter Rudolph.  (I guess it was easier to just marry men named Peter. There were 4 husbands in total, and I do not know the first names of the other two.)

The couple had no children.  Aunt Essie died in January of 1953, so I have very little memory of her — Grandma and Grandpa would take one of the grandsons down to Massillon to visit Essie and Harold annually, so I only have a memory of one trip.  I do not think my older brother or cousin went any more often.

Aunt Essie married Uncle Harold soon after her divorce from her first husband, Louis Kincaid Postle was finalized in October of 1922.   The first marriage lasted, legally 10 years, but Louis was long gone before 1922, although he appears in Grandma and Grandpa’s wedding pictures in 1918.  It was not a happy marriage based on the divorce papers filed by Aunt Essie.   The union with Uncle Harold seemed to be the opposite.   He was very devoted to her.   And, Uncle Harold was around a lot after her passing – after all, he was also Grandma’s cousin as well as her brother in law.  We always enjoyed his visits, probably because he was the fun uncle and made us laugh…