This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Burnett, Schneider, Hanna, O'Donnell, Lee, Matthews, Bartlett Classification: Marriage Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/pBC.2ACE/4247 Message Board Post: Seattle Post Intelligencer August 16th 1912: Land at Pier in Shower of Rice. No Old Shoes on Watson After California Girls Step Ashore. Fiancés on the Wharf. British Columbia Boys and Brides to Be Hurry Off for Marriage Licenses. In a shower of rice thrown by passengers from the decks of the Steamship Watson, and dodging boxes bundles and old shoes, Miss Mae Schneider of Oakland, and Miss Gladys L. Burnett of Salada, Cal., blushing brides to be greeted their prospective husbands at the Grand Trunk Pacific dock yesterday morning. A courtship of several years was about to terminate in a double wedding and the grooms to be William R. Hanna and Mark G. Burnett, both of Elburne, B. C. were on the pier to greet the young women and lead them to the marriage alter. Mock Marriage at Sea. The passengers, learning of the mission of Miss Burnett and Miss Schneider to this city, made things interesting for them during the voyage up the coast from San Francisco. Mock marriages were held nearly every night. The larder of the Watson was exhausted of its bounteous supply of rice and every member of the crew was called upon to donate old shoes for the send-off planned on arriving at the Seattle pier. The wedding march was the only music tolerated aboard the vessel by Capt. E. P. Bartlett, who entered into the spirit of the pranks of the passengers. Tom O’Donnell in Dress Suit The mock marriage ceremonies were performed by Rev. Wallace H. Lee, assistant to Dr. M. A. Matthews, who was a passenger on the Watson and Tom O’Donnell also led the wedding march in a dress suit borrowed for the occasion and did the Highland fling following the ceremonies. The young people, as soon as they reached the pier, hurried to the courthouse where they obtained licenses to wed, and then went for a minister. Mr. Hanna is a brother of Capt. D. A. Hanna, master of the steamship Hanalei, which is operated between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Mr. Burnett is a brother of Miss Gladys Burnett, the bride of his chum, William Hanna. Same page, photograph “Brides To Be Meet Their Future Husbands When Steamship Watson Reaches Dock. From left to right – Mark G. Burnett, Miss Mae Schneider, Gladys I. Burnett and William R. Hanna.