COX-M'HENRY
YESTERDAY'S EVENT AT HOLY TRINITY.
Marriage of Miss Mary McHenry, the Well-Known Philanthropist, in the Presence of a Large Circle of Friends, including a Number of the Little Fellows from the Soldier's Orphans' Home.
Miss Mary McHenry was married yesterday morning at eleven o'clock in the Church of the Holy Trinity to Mr. J. Bellangee Cox, a member of the bar of this city. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Howe, of the central diocese of Pennsylvania, assisted by the rector, the Rev. W. Nelson McVickar.
About fifteen hundred people were present, representing the numerous friends of Miss McHenry as well as of the groom, together with a number of young people, inmates of the various charitable institutions founded by Miss McHenry or with the management of which she is connected. To those outside the city it may seem worth while to state that the bride is a sister of James McHenry, the Anglo-American banker and railroad magnate; but no one in Philadelphia needs to be told who Miss McHenry is. In a front room of the massive four-story building on South Eleventh street known as the Lincoln Institution there hangs over the mantelpiece a striking picture - the picture of a lady with a sweet, good face, strongly-marked intellectual features, a broad, womanly forehead, above which floats, in heavy masses, a head of dark, wavy hair. Beneath the picture is this inscription:
MARY HcHENRY
To whose loving zeal Philadelphia owes the "Church Home," founded February, 1856; the "Lincoln Institution," founded April, 1866; the "Educational Home for Boys," founded November, 1871.
This tells the story of some of Miss McHenry's work, but not all. Scores of other charities, the founding of which have either been wholly or partially due to her exertions, attest the earnestness and sincerity of the labors which she has at heart. Left with a large fortune in her own right, it has been her mission to make use of it for the good of others. Homeless and friendless children, particularly soldiers' orphans, have been her great care, and hundreds of these, to-day occupying good and comfortable positions, look back on their benefactress with a gratitude too strong and deep to ever be forgotten. Many of them were present at the wedding yesterday. The Lincoln Institution attested its affection for the bride by presenting her with a handsome escutcheon of her past life, the gift of the boys, including those who have gone out of the institution and are now doing for themselves. On Miss McHenry's part there were presented to the boys several large wedding cakes, each containing a gold ring, which prize fell to the boy who was lucky enough ot get the piece containing it. In addition to the lads present from the Lincoln Institution there were some from the Educational Home, on Darby road, West Philadelphia. The bridal party appeared in the church a little after eleven o'clock, and to the music of the Lohengrin "Wedding March" from the grand organ passed up the aisle. Mrs. McHenry, the bride's mother, leaned upon the arm of one of the ushers, and next her came the bride leaning on the arm of Mr. William Lippincott. The groom was attended by Mr. Henry Hazlehurst as best man. After the ceremony the bride and groom were driven to the house of Mrs. William Lippincott, at 1717 Spruce street, where the breakfast had been prepared, and later they departed East upon their wedding journey.
Notes and References
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Times, 4th June 1880.
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