1888 & 1922 - Anna Stoner and Ola Pigman
Wool and wilk wedding dress, 1881
Wool and silk wedding dress, 1881 side view
Wool and silk wedding dress, 1881 back view
Wool and silk wedding dress, 1881 side detail
Silk satin and lace wedding dress, 1922
Silk satin and lace wedding dress, 1922 side view
Silk satin and lace wedding dress, 1922 back view
Silk satin and lace wedding dress, 1922 sleeve detail
Anna McAfee, 1888
...a novelty weave wool two piece dress with bustle, having a lace collar, wrist ruffles and front skirt tiers, and decorated with a gathered silk satin stomacher and hand-painted satin panels, 1888
…a silk satin below-knee length dress with lace overlay, shoulder train and wide dropped waist sash decorated with a front bow, short satin cap sleeves extend into flowing lace butterfly sleeve extensions caught into satin wristbands, 1922
These dresses were worn by Anna McAfee Stoner and her daughter, Ola Stoner Pigman
Anna McAfee married Daniel H. Stoner on June 27th, 1888, and her daughter, Ola Glen Stoner, married Morris Nathaniel Pigman on June 7th, 1922. Both weddings took place in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, and most likely in the same church.
Anna Laura McAfee was born January 4th, 1868 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and even though her father worked as a day laborer, he was able to afford a special white dress for his daughter’s wedding. Although not ‘white’ according to our thinking today, the natural cream colors of the fabric and lace in this dress were considered
white at this time when many wedding dresses for middle class brides were a more serviceable darker color and could be worn for occasions after the wedding day. The hand-painted floral designs on the satin panels of this dress make it extra special and its full rear bustle puts it in the height of fashion for 1888.
Anna’s husband, Daniel Stoner, was born in 1862 also in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. His father was also a day laborer. Both of Daniel’s parents came from large families. His father was one of thirteen children and his mother one of ten. After Anna’s and Daniel’s marriage, Daniel Stoner worked for the Union Supply Company as a manager at various stores for fifty years until his retirement. Anna and Daniel had only three children, one of whom was Ola Glen Stoner, born June 25, 1889 and married to Morris N. Pigman in 1922.
Ola’s silk satin dress with a hemline between the ankle and knee and train emanating from the shoulder was typically fashionable for 1922. It is much less fitted than her mother’s dress of 1888, and in keeping with the looser fashions of the 1920s. The pattern of the silk lace is beautifully displayed as it drapes from the shoulder to wrist.
Ola’s husband, Morris, was the son of Margaret and Daniel Morris Pigman, a manager of a dry goods department store. Morris was a bank clerk prior to his marriage and continued working in banks in the years following. Ola and Morris had only one child, a daughter, named Margaret Ann, who donated her mother’s and grandmother’s dresses to the Historic Costume & Textiles Collection.
Donated by the brides’ granddaughter and daughter, Mrs. Margaret Dinger
Visit Anna Stoner's individual webpage for additional images.
Vistit Ola Pigman's individual webpage for additional images.