Westchester County Department of Parks

Frances and William were married on November 22, 1904. The wedding was the social event of the season. It took place in the early afternoon at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City followed by a reception at the bride's parents' home on 5 West 49th Street.

During the afternoon, a wedding spread was set up in the New York W & J Sloane store for employees who didn’t attend the wedding. 

In the evening, the department heads and salesmen were treated to a complimentary dinner at a hotel, as a “thank you” from William Sloane for a wedding present. 

In Brooklyn, at the Naval YMCA, a company of sailors and marines cheered the bridegroom who was the Chairman of the Army and Navy Department of the International Committee of the YMCA.  

The wedding train The elegant dress, as a detail of the train shows, was described as “a creation of embroidered white silk and point-lace.” The bride also had a point-lace veil and wore a pearl necklace that the groom gave her.

Media frenzy In the social strata of the Sloane’s, weddings created the same frenzy as that of a celebrity wedding today. Media hype came in the form of numerous societal articles in the local press leading up to the wedding. Even the wedding gifts were written about in newspaper articles noting what was received and from whom plus the total monetary value of all the gifts.

Page from the "Bride Elect" For the Sloane’s, the wedding presents they received were recorded in a book called the "Bride Elect." Unlike their peers, no mention was made in the press about the total value of the gifts. The "Bride Elect" contains 412 entries with gifts coming mostly from the New York area, but also from Japan, Scotland, and India. The gifts reflect the social milieu of the Sloane family. Gifts were received from old family friends such as Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie and Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller and from relatives such as the Hyde Park Vanderbilts.

A wedding present, Black Lion Wharf by James McNeill Whistler, 1859 A book entitled Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler with a bookplate marked, “Frances Church Crocker Xmas 1903” suggests that she liked the works of Whistler. It may also explain why she received four Whistler etchings as wedding gifts from Mr. and Mrs. John Hammond which includes Black Lion Wharf, one of James A. McNeill Whistler’s most famous etchings and his favorite. It even appears in his famous painting of his mother.

Linen towels with fringe, 1904 In addition to wedding presents, another important aspect of the wedding was the trousseau. The groom was expected to furnish the home, but the bride purchased the linens for the trousseau. The linen towels with a long linen fringe are the penultimate expression of elegance. They are very understated with minimal decorations, yet made from a high quality luxury fabric. If the bride selected them, one wonders why they were found unused on the very top shelf of a linen room wrapped up in a linen sheet?