Marriage certificate, [Washington C. Young to Amanda L. West]
Item
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Title
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Marriage certificate, [Washington C. Young to Amanda L. West]
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Description
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This marriage certificate for Washington Craig Young (January 2, 1860-November 2, 1931) and Amanda L. (West) Young (June 20, 1860-January 20, 1943) features two bust-length, carte-de-visite studio portrait photographs, gold touches, pictorial details, an ornate border, and text.
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The couple was married on May 24, 1883. From as early as 1910, the couple lived at 1806 Catherine Street in Philadelphia (Ancestry.com 2006). Washington C. Young was a clerk, and Amanda L. West was a dressmaker and housekeeper (Ancestry.com 2002; Ancestry.com 2006). The couple had four children together: Helen (Young) Dammond (1885-1950), Washington Persifor Young (1887-1956), Laura May (Young) Smith (1888-1942), and Amanda Isabel (Young) Judah (1891-1919) (Find a Grave 2012).
Amanda L. (West) Young is from Goshen, Cape May County, New Jersey. Her father, the Rev. John West (circa 1799-1888), founded the John Wesley United Methodist Church in 1840, after escaping slavery in 1823, settling in the Goshen area, purchasing land, and raising his family (Conti 2019). This church is the county’s oldest African American church (Conti 2019). It is said that Amanda’s mother, Elsie Smith West (December 25, 1799-April 9, 1872) supported her husband in efforts to establish the church and community, after her husband bought her freedom (Find a Grave 2015). In Amanda’s obituary in Baltimore’s newspaper The Afro-American (1943), it was said that she was “a prominent church woman.”
A detailed description of the marriage certificate paper, as well as the portraits of Young and West can be found in the “description” section of The Library Company of Philadelphia’s website linked below.
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Discover the item on The Library Company of Philadelphia’s website
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Map to 1806 Catharine Street
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Rights
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This work is believed to be in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States. For more information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/
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Date
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[May 24, 1883]
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Format
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Print
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Spatial Coverage
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Contributor
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The Library Company of Philadelphia
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Extent
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1 page
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Identifier
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P.2023.59
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Subject
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African American couples
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African American men
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African American women
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Marriage--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History
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Marriage--Pennsylvania--History--19th century
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Portraits
