William Haggerty and Carrie Ritzenthaler

Click any image to enlarge.

Married Half-Century Ago in Livonia Center

Couple has lived in Metropolitan Hotel for Years

Bridegroom of 50 Years Known as Horse Owner

Hemlock, 14 April 1932 - Fifty years ago next Tuesday, on 19 April 1882, William J. Haggerty of Lima was married to Miss Carrie Ritzenthaler of Livonia Center, the ceremony being performed by Father Murphy. They will celebrate their 50th anniversary Sunday afternoon with a reception from 3 until 5 o’clock in their home, the Metropolitan Hotel in this village.

Soon after their wedding Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty moved to Hemlock and occupied the hotel, which is one of the landmarks in this part of the country, having been erected more than 100 years ago, and all these years they have resided there with their family. A familiar figure throughout the several counties adjacent to Livingston, Mr. Haggerty with his string of horses always attracted attention at the county fairs and other places where fine steeds were on display. By many he was called the “David Harum” of Livingston County.

There is to be a special mass for the couple on Sunday morning, in the same church in which they were married, the Reverend Father John A. Smith officiating. This is to be followed by a family dinner at the home at which 52 members of the immediate family will be present. The reception in the afternoon will be for all friends.

Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty have had three children, a son, George, who died in 1927; one daughter, Miss Elizabeth, at home, and Miss Susanne, a nurse in the Bureau of Health in Rochester. Mr. Haggerty is 82 and Mrs. Haggerty is 77, and both are in the best of health, as their pictures, taken within a fortnight, indicate.

Mrs. Haggerty, smiling hostess of the Metropolitan Hotel at Hemlock, recalls having ridden, as a little girl, over the plank road once traveled by the ancient stage. The tavern she now conducts was a stage-terminal in those days.