The Honeymooners: Myron and Effie Culbert

If you read Wednesday's post, you'll know that Myron Culbert wed Effie Taylor on 14 Jun 1911.

Myron Manford Culbert & Effie Pearl Taylor on their wedding day.

The wedding took place at 12 o'clock noon, which in that era was the fashionable time of day to get married.

Vows were exchanged at the home of the bride's parents: William "Bill" Taylor and Mary Elizabeth (Bennett) Taylor of Exeter, Ontario.

Effie's parents: Bill Taylor & Mary Elizabeth (Bennett) Taylor

Below is a photo of 404 Albert Street, Exeter as it looked in 2017, over one hundred years after Myron and Effie's wedding took place here...

The house where Myron Culbert wed Effie Taylor. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert.

Their wedding announcement mentions maiden hair ferns not once, but three times! First of all, the house was decorated with maiden hair ferns. Secondly, the ring-bearers, brothers Harold and Ross Hern carried the ring in a basket containing maiden hair ferns. Thirdly, the bride carried cream roses and ... you guessed it... maiden hair ferns. Ferns were wildly popular in the Victorian era; so much so that a word was coined to describe the craze: "pteridomania." Apparently, fern fever had not died out by 1911, if this wedding is any indication.

The young couple boarded a train that evening for a honeymoon in Toronto, Pickering, and The Thousand Islands.


I can't emphasize enough what a big deal it was to travel to Toronto for any rural person. It was probably the first time in this big city for the bride and groom who both had been raised on farms. 


Myron and Effie honeymooned at the Hotel Mossop in downtown Toronto. Today, the Hotel Mossop is a boutique hotel called Hotel Victoria at 56 Queen Street. These photographs of the Hotel Mossop were taken in 1909 when it opened, two years previous to their wedding...

The hotel lobby. I can picture the newlyweds, giddy with excitement as they signed in at the reception desk for the first time as "Mr. and Mrs. Myron Culbert."

I see ferns! Albeit not maiden hair ferns. Torontonians were probably over maiden hair ferns by 1911. Maiden hair ferns were so nineteen-ten.

What happens at the Hotel Mossop, stays at the Hotel Mossop. Please avert your eyes.

We're fortunate to have a few postcards from Myron and Effie's honeymoon. All the postcards are addressed to Effie's sister, Miss Mary Taylor in Exeter, Ontario. Here's the first postcard, showing a view of Queen Street from City Hall Square in Toronto...

To: Miss Mary Taylor

Exeter, Ontario

Postmarked: Toronto 15 Jun 1911 at 1:30 p.m.

Written: Toronto June 15, 9:30 a.m.

Hello Mary: -

We arrived safely here 10 p.m. last eve. Myron says to tell you they turned us out of the 1st hotel but we had a dandy room at the Mossop Hotel. We called on Lillie Neil this a.m. but she was not at home so we left one of our cards. Going to Eaton's now to buy them out.

Love, 

Effie and Myron

I would love to know why Myron and Effie were turned out of the first hotel. Was the hotel overbooked, perhaps? Or were the young couple too boisterous? We may never know. But it seems they went on a spending spree at Eaton's Department Store...

Eaton's around 1910. Credit: Baldwin Collection, Toronto Reference Library

Eaton's several years later in 1918. Known as "Canada's Greatest Store" it was located at 190 Yonge Street, Toronto. Credit: Archives of Ontario, Item Reference Code F 229-308-0-1700

Myron and Effie's excitement about going to Eaton's "to buy them out" is understandable. No where in their part of rural Ontario offered this range of merchandise on anywhere near this scale. However, for those who couldn't make the trip to Toronto, you could order items through the popular Eaton's catalogue...

Acme Corsets. Helpful in maintaining Effie's teensy-weensy waistline.

Next stop on their honeymoon: Pickering Township, Ontario. Why Pickering? It's not exactly Niagara Falls, is it? Before Effie's family came to Usborne Township in Huron County, her ancestors were some of the first pioneers of Pickering Township; arriving from Norfolk, England in 1836. Effie still had family in Pickering Township. Her great-aunt and great-uncle, Sarah (Taylor) Annis and Andrew Annis lived in Port Union, which at the time was part of Pickering Township. Myron and Effie stayed at their stone "Manor House" during their honeymoon...

The Annis Manor House in Port Union, Ontario. Source.

Below, we see another postcard from Myron and Effie. This one shows Riverdale Park in Toronto, dated 17 June 1911...

They're on their way back to the city to take a boat trip.












And one last postcard, showing Union Station on Toronto's Front Street West, where they caught the train...

My transcription of this postcard isn't completely accurate because I couldn't decipher all the words so please accept my apologies...

To: Miss Mary Taylor

Exeter, Ontario

19 Jun 1911?

Monday, 7 .am.

Hello Sister (in Myron's handwriting)

Am just waiting for this old lady to get dressed so thought I would write a few cards. I have an awful time keeping her dress straight(?) and watching her hat that it don't get out of line with her nose. Are all well and expect to be in Lucan tomorrow night. We leave here on the Boat for Hamilton and train to London ... (next words are illegible.)

Myron and Effie.

9:15 a.m.(in Effie's handwriting)

We are on the boat now. It's grand. When you & C. (Charlie Kerslake) take a trip, take this one.

Say I have been ready for breakfast this long time.

Ha Ha Effie.


So all in all, it looks like the happy couple enjoyed a fun-filled honeymoon. They certainly seemed in good spirits.

To wrap things up, here's their wedding announcement as it appeared in the Exeter Advocate newspaper on 15 June 1911...