The marriage of Miss Emeline Butler and Henry Dixon Posey took place November 8, 1860, in Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky.  The couple had eight children – William T., Harvey, Henry Dixon II, Harbison Butler, Eliza D., Mary W., Marshall W., Jahleel Woodbridge, and Wallace Wadsworth Posey.

The Henderson Evening Journal, Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky

November 11, 1910

A Golden Wedding Celebrated

Just half a century ago at Beach Bluff plantation, the country home of Mr. Harbeson Butler, near Henderson, a wedding took place when Miss Emeline Butler, one of the younger of the fourteen sons and daughters of Mr. Butler, was given in marriage to Mr. Henry D. Posey, a member of a well-known Kentucky family, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Thornton Posey, of Revolutionary fame, for whom Posey County took its name.  The wedding was a brilliant one, with all the elaboration in entertainment of the old plantation days preceding the civil war.

There were ten bridesmaids and as many groomsmen, the bride in white Duchess satin, with veil and orange blossoms; the maids all in white in the quaint fashions of the civil war period.

The pastor of the first Presbyterian Church of Henderson, Rev. Jahleel Woodbridge, performed the ceremony, which was witnessed by a wedding company of one hundred guests.

The ceremony of November 8, 1860, was set amid stirring events, for the war atmosphere around them, and Abraham Lincoln, the war President, had just the day before been elected to office.

After the ceremony the couple went to reside in Henderson, where they lived for a decade or more, but in 1871 came to Evansville, which has since been their home.

Yesterday, the fiftieth anniversary of that Kentucky wedding day, Mr. and Mrs. Posey, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, celebrated their golden wedding at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Charles Fuhrer, on South Third Street, where they have for some years made their home.

In honor of the golden wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Fuhrer entertained the members of their family, a number of whom were from out of town, at an anniversary 5 o’clock dinner and family reunion of thirty guests.

All in golden yellow was the table at which were seated the golden wedding guests, with fifty yellow roses in Bohemian vases of gold at either end, yellow candles down the length of the table burning in gold candlesticks, which numbered eight, for the eight children of the Posey family.

The favors, which were little gold bells tied with yellow ribbon, were pinned by little Miss Algean, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wood Posey, the individual ices at the close of the elegant menu being in the design of which roses.

Golden chrysanthemums with autumn foliage marked the decorative arrangements of parlors and dining room, lending an autumn attractiveness to the interior.

Of the six living children of the family of eight sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. posey, several were present at the golden wedding, with some of the remaining brothers and sisters of the golden wedding couple, and others who were guests at the wedding fifty years ago.

Among the guests seated with Mr. and Mrs. Fuhrer and MR. and Mrs. Posey were their sons, wood Posey and family, of Terre Haute, and Wallace Posey, of this city, and Mrs. R. I. Radford, also of this city, their sons Harbison and Marshall Posey, of Douglas, Arizona, being unable to be here.

The other relatives and friends present from a distance were Mr. John Posy and Will Posey and wife of Henderson; Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Grady, of Henderson; Mr. and Mrs. Marion Duncan, of Henderson; Mrs. Martha Butler, of Covington; Mrs. Susan Shackelford, of Henderson; Rev. J. H. Butler and wife, of Southfield, Kentucky; Miss Mary Radford, of Owensboro.

Mr. and Mrs. Posey belong to the families of the good old-fashioned size of half a century ago, the children of the Posey family number fourteen, and the family of Mrs. Posey’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Butler, including thirteen children, but few of the number remains to celebrate the anniversary of yesterday.

Of the ten bridesmaids, but few are now living to offer congratulations to the golden wedding bride, among the number being Mrs. Martin Beatty, of Slaine, Kansas; Mrs. Annie Major, of Henderson; Mrs. Maria Bethel, of this city; Mrs. Helen McClain, of Henderson, and Mrs. Fannie McCallister, of Henderson.

Mr. and Mrs. Posey were the recipients of numerous gifts in gold as well as quantities of beautiful flowers, and many telegrams of felicitation as well as showered with congratulations from the golden wedding guests.  Evansville Courier.

Emeline Butler Posey died five years after the golden wedding celebration.  Henry Dixon Posey lived an additional six years, dying at the age of 85.

Buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Evansville, Indiana

Henry Dixon Posey, January 17, 1836, Henderson, Henderson County, KY, January 22, 1921, Evansville, Vanderburgh County, IN.  Son of William Thornton Posey, Sr., and Eliza Jane Dixon.

Emeline Butler Posey, September 15, 1836, Henderson, Henderson County, KY, December 31, 1915, Henderson County, KY.  Daughter of John Harbison Butler and Mary A. Worsham.