At seven o'clock on the evening of Saturday, November 3, 1923, Edith Kingdon Hiatt married Philip Duncan Stevens in the parlor of her parents' house at 29 High Street, Malden, the house her father had built. Fifty guests were invited to the ceremony and two hundred to the reception that followed.
The Bride and Groom
Edith was 28. Since graduating from Malden High School in 1914 she had been working as private secretary to H. C. Hitchcock, assistant superintendent of the gas and electric company. A few years earlier she had been engaged to Victor Gustafson, who died before they could be married.
Philip was 29, the son of Milan F. Stevens and Minerva F. (Bennett) Stevens. The newspapers named only his mother, of 48 Ashland Street, Malden. He had graduated from Malden High School and from Harvard in 1916, and during the World War he had served overseas with the headquarters troop of the 76th Division. In 1923 he was a wholesale representative of the Noyes-Buick Auto Company of Boston. He stayed in the automobile business, and he later retired as general manager of the Providence Buick Company. He was a Mason, a member of Mount Vernon Lodge, and both he and Edith belonged to the Centre Methodist Church in Malden.
“Stevens-Hiatt Nuptials Tonight”
On the day of the wedding a local paper described the plans in detail:
STEVENS-HIATT NUPTIALS TONIGHT
Bishop Hughes Will Officiate at Double Ring Service at Home of Bride's Parents, Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Hiatt, 29 High St.
The nuptials of Miss Edith J. Hiatt, daughter of Mr and Mrs Frederick W Hiatt of 29 High st, and Phillip D Stevens, son of Mrs Minerva F Stevens of 48 Ashland st, will be observed this evening at the home of the bride's parents at seven o'clock. Bishop Edwin H Hughes will officiate, using the double ring service. The bride will be given in marriage by her father and Mrs John W Britton of Melrose will preside at the piano. There have been 50 invitations sent forth for the ceremony and 200 for the reception which follows, also at the bride's home.
Miss Ruth F Hiatt, sister of the bride, will be the maid of honor, with Miss Marion F Harper of Stoneham, a cousin of the bride, as bridesmaid, and Frederick W Rolfe, Jr, as best man. Miss Dorothy Barnes will be the flower girl, with Robert Holden of Stoneham, a cousin of the bride, as page.
The bride's gown will be of beaded white crepe satin, en traine, with a tulle veil caught up with orange blossoms, and she will carry a shower bouquet of bride roses and lilies of the valley. She also wears a white gold wrist watch, a gift from the groom. The maid of honor will be in gold lace over pink georgette, and her bouquet will be of variegated roses. The bridesmaid's gown will be of beaded orchid georgette and she will carry pink roses.
At the reception, Mr Stevens and his bride will be assisted in receiving by their parents and members of the nuptial party. Mrs. Hiatt will be in blue cut chiffon velvet and lace trimmings. Mrs. Stevens will be in brown georgette crepe with Paisley trimmings.
Late in the evening Mr Stevens and his bride will depart on a honeymoon trip to New York and Washington, and upon their return will make their home at 201 Warren st, Allston. They will receive after Dec 15.
The bride, who is a graduate of Malden High has been a private secretary to H C Hitchcock, who is assistant supt of the Gas & Electric Co. Mr Stevens is a graduate of Malden High, Harvard '16 and is wholesale representative of Noyes-Buick Auto Co of Boston. He was with the headquarters troop of the 76th Division overseas during the World War. Both are members of the Centre Methodist church.
The bride's gift to the groom was a gold Masonic ring, the groom being a member of the Mt Vernon lodge. The maid of honor received a string of pearls and the bridesmaid a gold bracelet.
Mr Stevens and his bride have been the recipients of many rare and beautiful presents.
“En traine” means the gown had a train. Georgette was a thin, crinkled silk crepe, and orange blossoms were the traditional flowers for a bride's veil. In a double ring service both the bride and the groom receive a ring.
The Wedding Party
- Bishop Edwin H. Hughes, who performed the ceremony, was the Methodist Episcopal bishop for the Boston area from 1916 to 1924. He was an old friend of Malden. Before he became a bishop he had been pastor of a Methodist church in Malden from 1896 to 1903, and later president of DePauw University in Indiana.
- Ruth F. Hiatt, the maid of honor, was Edith's older sister, then a teacher at Wakefield High School.
- Marion F. Harper of Stoneham, the bridesmaid, was Edith's first cousin, a daughter of her mother's brother Arthur Harper, who died in 1896. Marion appears in many of the family photographs of Edith.
- Robert Holden of Stoneham, the page, was the son of Marion's sister Ruby and her husband George Holden, born in 1916. Mrs. Ruby B. Holden and Robert B. Holden signed the guest book one after the other.
- Frederick W. Rolfe, Jr., best man, grew up with Philip in Malden. His parents and his sister Beulah also signed the guest book.
In the Boston Papers
The next morning, Sunday, the wedding was reported in both the Boston Herald and the Boston Sunday Globe.
WEDDINGS. Stevens—Hiatt
Miss Edith J. Hiatt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Hiatt of 29 High street, Malden, was married last evening to Philip D. Stevens, son of Mrs. Minerva F. Stevens of 48 Ashland street, Malden. The ceremony took place at the home of the bride's parents, and was performed by Bishop Edwin H. Hughes.
Miss Ruth F. Hiatt, sister of the bride, was maid of honor, and Frederick W. Rolfe, Jr., of Malden, was best man. A reception followed the ceremony, after which Mr. and Mrs. Stevens left for a wedding trip to New York and Washington. On their return, they will live at 201 Warren street, Allston.
PHILIP J. STEVENS WEDS MISS EDITH HIATT, MALDEN
MALDEN, Nov 3—Bishop Edwin M. Hughes of the Methodist Episcopal Church officiated this evening at the wedding of Miss Edith J. Hiatt, daughter of Mr and Mrs Frederick W. Hiatt of 29 High st, and Philip J. Stevens, son of Mrs Minerva F. Stevens of 48 Ashland st, at the home of the bride's parents. Miss Ruth F. Hiatt, sister of the bride, was maid of honor; her cousin, Miss Marion F. Harper of Stoneham, bridesmaid, and Frederick W. Rolfe Jr of Malden best man.
The couple will make their home at 201 Warren st Allston. Mr Stevens was graduated from Harvard in 1916 and served overseas with the 76th Division during the World War.
A week later both the Herald and the Boston Evening Transcript printed Edith's wedding portrait, taken at the Berkeley Studio.
Recently Married in Malden. Mrs. Philip D. Stevens
Mrs. Stevens, Previous to Her Marriage in Malden Last Saturday Evening, Was Miss Edith J. Hiatt, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Hiatt of That City, at Whose Home in High Street the Wedding Took Place. Bishop Edwin H. Hughes of the Methodist Diocese Officiated. The Bridegroom, Mr. Stevens, Is a Harvard '16 Man.
The Marriage Certificate
On December 2, 1923, Philip wrote to Bishop Hughes. The bishop answered on December 18, 1923, from the Episcopal Residence at 235 Summer Street, Malden, and enclosed a certificate of the marriage.
Mr. Philip D. Stevens
201 Warren Street
Allston, Mass.My dear Mr. Stevens:
I am most pleased to receive your letter of December 2, which comes to me after my long absence in the west, and in New York.
It was only a pleasure for me to officiate at your wedding. You may know that I knew your father for many, many years, and that his sisters have been among my very special friends.
I am pleased to enclose herewith a certificate of your marriage. This is supposed to be your wife's property, so that in case you depart at any time she may have the document wherewith to call you back promptly!!
I pray God's blessing on your home. I trust sincerely that you and Mrs. Stevens will relate yourself to the Church of Christ, and take an interest in the higher and most worthwhile causes.
With all good wishes, I am
Yours ever,
Edwin H. HughesDecember 18, 1923
The bishop wrote that he had known Philip's father, Milan Stevens, for many years, and that Milan's sisters were among his special friends. He had been a pastor in Malden from 1896 to 1903, which may be when they met.
The certificate says that on the third day of November 1923 Philip D. Stevens and Edith K. Hiatt “were by me united in Marriage at Malden according to the laws of the State of Massachusetts.” It is signed by Edwin H. Hughes, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The witnesses who signed it were not the maid of honor and best man who signed the guest book, but an older relative from each family: Edith's father, Fred'k W. Hiatt, and Philip's aunt, Helen M. Pitcher. Helen was born Helen M. Stevens, a sister of Philip's father, Milan, and she married Horace Pitcher in 1868. She was one of the sisters the bishop counted among his “very special friends.”
Edith J. or Edith K.?
Every one of the newspapers calls the bride Edith J. Hiatt, but her middle name was Kingdon, as it is on her birth record and her high school diploma list. The marriage certificate the bishop signed has Edith K. Hiatt, so the family knew it as K. The papers probably all copied the same mistake from a single notice sent in by the family, where a handwritten K was read as a J. The Globe made two more slips, calling the groom Philip J. Stevens (the certificate has Philip D.) and the bishop Edwin M. Hughes.
The names of the guests who signed the wedding book are on the Wedding Guest Book page.