Charles Edward and Keturah Cranston
Charles Edward Cranston was born April 19, 1833, at Woodstock, Ohio, Champaigne County, and died at Galesburg, Illinois, on August 5, 1805. He married Keturah Taylor Parke on March 15, 1860 in Milford Center, Ohio. She was born on March 30, 1835 and died on September 18, 1902.
A certified copy of the Union County, Ohio, marriage register is below.
Charles and Keturah are the Grandparents of Marion, Helen, Bill, and Tip. Charles was 43 years old when Chris (Doc) was born and Keturah was 41 years old.
One of their daughters, Josephine Parke, was our “Aunt Jo” to whom Charles’s sister, Josephine Park Cranston, gave the Cranston documents. “Aunt Jo” give these documents to Helen in 1947 and Helen gave them to me (Charlie). These documents are the main source of content on the Cranstonline website.
Charles Edward Cranston had two sisters, Josephine Park Cranston and Mary Park Cranston. A primitive painting in oil of Josephine P. Cranston has long been cherished by her nieces and grandnieces. Neither Josephine nor Mary married.
Nine children were born to Charles and Keturah as follows:
Lora Park – 1861 Married Benjamin Olinger
Maude Taliaferro – 1862 Married Marcus Terry Burnside
Josephine Parke – 1864 Unmarried (Aunt Jo)
Keturah Taylor – 1866 Married a Dr. Walker, no children.
Charles – 1868 Died in infancy
Sarah – 1870 Died in infancy
Victoria Ann – 1872 Married Ira Benjamin Cummings
Christopher Charles – 1876 Married Elizabeth Campbell
Edna May – 1878 Married George McClellan Mugg
The Marriage Certificate (See details below)
What the document is
This is a certified copy of the Union County, Ohio, marriage-register entry for C. E. Cranston and K. T. Park. It is not the original marriage license and not the sort of decorative marriage certificate commonly given to a couple. It is the county’s official record showing:
1. when the license was issued;
2. when the marriage ceremony was performed;
3. the minister’s return certifying that he performed it; and
4. apparently, when that return was filed.
The document itself gives only initials. Your Cranston family material identifies the couple as Charles Edward Cranston and Keturah Taylor Parke—so the filename should probably say “Charles Cranston,” not “Chris Cranston.” The Union County index independently matches the initials and dates.
Best transcription
I would transcribe it this way, preserving the spelling in the record while marking the uncertain portions:
[Returned or received] and filed March 17th 1860
C. E. Cranston
[faint number—probably 33] with
K. T. Park
License issued March 8th 1860
The State of Ohio, Union County, ss.
I hereby certify that I this day solemnized the marriage
of C. E. Cranston & K. T. Park. Witness my hand
this 15th day of March A.D. 1860. Rev. C. F. Wait
The punctuation is faint and somewhat irregular, but the wording and dates are quite clear.
What it means
The sequence was:
• March 8, 1860: the county issued the marriage license.
• March 15, 1860: the marriage ceremony was performed.
• March 17, 1860: the minister’s return appears to have been filed with the county.
T
he Union County marriage index confirms Marriage Record, Volume A, page 200, with license number 03004, license date 8 March 1860, and marriage date 15 March 1860.
The officiant’s signature appears to be “Rev. C. F. Wait.” Union County’s minister-registration index identifies him as Cyrus F. Wait, registered there in 1845. That makes the reading of the signature quite strong.
“Witness my hand” does not mean that Rev. Wait was naming himself as a witness to the couple’s signatures. It is conventional legal language meaning that he personally attested—by his signature—that he had performed the ceremony.
The abbreviation “ss.” after “Union County” is also conventional legal language identifying the jurisdiction. It is not part of the county’s name and not anyone’s initials.
The Park/Parke spelling
The record plainly writes the bride’s name as:
K. T. Park
There is no final e visible. That does not necessarily establish that her family consistently spelled the name “Park.” Your family material identifies her as Keturah Taylor Parke and acknowledges that the surviving family records alternate between Park and Parke.
For a rigorous archival presentation, I would preserve both forms:
K. T. Park [Keturah Taylor Parke]
That records exactly what the document says while also identifying the person.
The faint number
The two-digit figure at the left looks more like 33 than 93, although it is not completely secure. It should not be interpreted as an age. These early Union County marriage records generally recorded the license information, ceremony date, and parties’ names, but not the detailed ages, parents, birthplaces, and occupations that appeared in later records.
It was probably an internal ledger, docket, or return notation. It is not the license number, because the county index gives that as 03004.
The later certification stamp
The rectangular stamp was added much later and reads approximately:
PROBATE COURT
STATE OF OHIO, UNION COUNTY
I certify this to be a true copy of the original
as compared by me and filed in this Court.
Witness my hand and seal this
12-5-77
ROBERT F. ALLEN
Judge of the Probate and Juvenile Court
Union County, Ohio
By [deputy clerk’s signature]
The date appears to be 12-5-77, almost certainly December 5, 1977. Thus, the image is probably a photocopy requested from the Union County Probate Court in 1977 and formally certified as matching the original 1860 register.
The faint handwriting beginning below the Cranston entry—“State of Ohio, Union County … I certify that on the 11 March …”—belongs to the next marriage recorded on the page, not to Charles and Keturah.
Suggested archival identification
Marriage record of Charles Edward Cranston and Keturah Taylor Parke, Union County, Ohio, 15 March 1860. License issued 8 March 1860; minister’s return apparently filed 17 March 1860. Union County Marriage Record, Volume A, page 200, license no. 03004. Ceremony performed by Rev. Cyrus F. Wait. Certified Probate Court copy dated 12-5-77.
The document establishes the legal marriage date and county, but it does not identify the particular town, church, residence, witnesses, parents, or ages of the bride and groom.
Eturah