*
1852
Jan 8th Thursday
Frosted the cake over the second time
this morning and it was quite dry at three when
Edwin took it away they are married this evening
Have invited their parents uncles aunts and cousins
here tomorrow. Have presented them with an hour
glass table Mr & Mrs Reed have passed the afternoon
in the other part of the house Two shovel handlers from
Maine to spend the night here
Had a quarter of Beef of fathers The
Ox weighed over 14 hundred
Edwin Williams Gilmore and Augusta Pool were married today in what would have been a small ceremony, probably at the home of Augusta’s parents, Lavarna and John Pool, Jr. Presided over by a minister – Reverend William Whitwell, most likely – the event would have been attended only by close family members. The couple took no honeymoon or “bridal tour,” but moved right into the new house that Edwin had built in the village, barely a stone’s throw away from the Ames compound.
The new house had been furnished not only by Edwin, but also by Augusta herself, who probably brought along household goods as part of what was called her “marriage portion.” Items such as dishes, cutlery, and linens would have been at least some of what Augusta and her new sister-in-law, Lavinia, had labored to put into place over the last two days.
Evelina spent her time preparing for the party she was giving the next day for members of the Gilmore and Pool families. Her domestic routine wasn’t too overwhelmed, however; she was still able to cope with more pedestrian matters, such as accommodating two shovel handlers from Maine for an overnight visit, even as she set up for thirty guests.
* Currier & Ives, The Marriage, 1847
evelinaames 
Somewhere in my notes, I have quite a few references to those shovel handlers from Maine. Old Oliver came to trust them and they supplied hundreds of thousands of handles for all those Ames shovels. I can’t recall how much those handlers finished the wood as opposed to shops in North Easton. Later in the day, I will look for their names and whatever other info is accessible. But for overall context, the shovel handlers “pedestrian” as they may be are essential to the Ames shovel operations and contribute toward the income from which Evelina can entertain the thirty guests. Shades of Old Oliver’s wife taking and feeding the horse of some business-related guest who had come fifty years earlier.
Nice info on the shovel handlers. I remember finding some information about a company in Wayne, Maine that Oliver Jr dealt with (even owning it for awhile and then selling it) and I assumed the company and its representatives were associated with the wood that you rightly point out the Ames operations couldn’t do without.
Describing the matters that Evelina tended to as “pedestrian” in no way reflects the character or occupation of the men from Maine. I live in Maine myself! I only meant that after the excitement of preparing for the wedding of Edwin and Augusta, any other chores or obligations would have seemed ordinary and dull.
Thanks again for your interest!
The company from Maine was Holman and Johnson, although Oliver refers to a Holman Johnson visiting. In one entry he links him to St. Albans, but that may be where he got on a train. The following is something I copied years ago from Oliver’s diary from 1846; it may warm us in this winter chill: “July2 I went to Boston to help Asa Mitchel take the benefit of the two thirds act as it is called in NY. Mitchell and Witherell were owing me at this time $21,500 for what they owed the Salisbury works and at Easton 7/6 began haying today Holman Johnson was here today from St Albans. 6/10 very hot thermometer up to 100. 7/11 Mr Witherell came here today from Franklin Sunday the 12th warm, a shower after meeting in the pm 7/13 We mowed the piece back of George Ames today. 7/15 finsht mowing the Linc spr lot todaySunday, 7/18 hay left cock’t up in field , water situation better in B-tree, (Horatio visits and they go to Taunton together.) Just five years earlier, Witherell and George Ames were still in the land of the living. Much earlier in 1819: Holman and Johnson bill begins June 6 of ’1819 and runs to June 16 of 1821 total- more than 2000 doz handles”
More good info, thanks.