Bertha Benson married Leo Regis Roy on Thursday morning, November 25, 1926, Thanksgiving Day, at St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church in Auburn, a village of Cranston, Rhode Island. Seven years earlier she had arrived at Ellis Island as a fourteen-year-old stowaway with nowhere to go. Now she was 21 and marrying into the Roy family of Norwood, in Warwick.
The Wedding Party
Leo's brother Napoleon was best man, and his sister Dora was Bertha's attendant. Bertha wore a gown of white satin trimmed with seed pearls, with her veil held by a crown of orange blossoms, and she carried a shower bouquet of white rosebuds.
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In the Newspaper
Two days later the wedding was reported in the Norwood column of the Providence Evening Tribune.
NORWOOD
Leo R. Roy, son of Alfred Roy and one of the firm of Roy & Sons, market gardeners of this village, was united in marriage to Miss Bertha B. Benson of Providence Thursday morning at St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church, Auburn. The ceremony was performed by Rev Fr Diviney followed by a high mass. The bride wore a gown of white satin trimmed with seed pearls and her veil was held in place by a crown of orange blossoms. She carried a shower bouquet of white hose [rose] buds. The bride was attended by Miss Dora M. Roy while Napoleon C. Roy was best man. Following a turkey dinner and reception held at the residence of the bridegroom on Apponaug road the couple left for a motor trip over the Mohawk Trail, to Niagara Falls, Washington and New York and upon their return will make their home with Alfred Roy.
The Evening Tribune, Saturday, November 27, 1926, page 5
The paper calls the bride Bertha B. Benson. Her full name was Bertha Albertina Benson, so the “B.” is probably a misprint for “A.”
A Wedding Trip and a New Home
After a Thanksgiving turkey dinner at the Roy home on Apponaug Road, Leo and Bertha set off by car. The Mohawk Trail, across the Berkshire hills of northern Massachusetts, had been opened as a scenic automobile road in 1914 and was a popular drive. From there they went on to Niagara Falls, Washington and New York.
When they came home they lived with Leo's father, Alfred Peter Roy, whose family firm, Roy & Sons, grew vegetables for market at Norwood, in Warwick. Bertha lived in Warwick for the rest of her life, and she and Leo raised six children there.