New Britain Herald Newspaper, March 6, 1928, Page 19

Unscrambling the In-Laws the Two Most Infer-Marrie If 4 Brothers Wed 4 Sisters. F I Son Takes Niece and Then 1@MI (SN Papa’s Bride Is Mama-—but Figure It A% Yourself in the Case But the other day Charles W. Sisley, a well set-up rancher of seventy, and Mrs. “ Sara Colerick, who is fifty-nine, were 0 t e 0 erlc S married and—Alliance and the elderly couple woke up to find themselves famous. *he rea. o i . ooty and the Sisleys! in the old-fashioned town have been able to figure out why they flamed forth as first page co, oughout the land. grew up tegether. The Colerick boys They had d quictly enough. But carried the Sisley girls’ books to school before tha ons of Mrs. Colerick 8nd took the girls for sleigh rides over ¥ ughters of Mr. Sisley. the snow-covered prairie country. he matrimonial mix- The romances that resulted in the six . son of Mr. Sisley inter-marriages probably began durin; Erbey miarried a niece of Mrs. Colerick. So six those years, but nothing really happene from one family have married six from for a long time. That is often the way the other. with country people. They frequently This astonishing situation, as ths demen take years to make up their minds about government statistician at Washington in. marriage. forms us, is the American record for Not until 1912, when Melvin Colerick inter-marria; °n two families. The was thirty-eight and Bertha Sisley was Sisleys and Colericks are unique and thirty-six, did they take the step that be- when you're unique you're NEWS. an the series of matrimonial alliances. : here was nothing unusual about th marriage. As Melvin explained: “‘Bertha and I went with each other » long time before I could get up the nerve to ask her to be my wife. None of us Colerick boys rushed into marriage. We had to work hard ;. on our ranch and I guess we didn't have much time for courting. Then, too, all of us boys seemed PAPA AND MAMMA. Charles W. Sisl S Yo N:brnl;‘ Ranche k- ges. Four Daughters of Mr. Sisley Hed Married Four Sons of Mrs, Colerick. town such a proceeding could only result in TALK. The cards were stacked against the banker's son, but he didn't know it. Per- hngs Ethel Sisley had meant te marry John Colerick all along and was merely using her banker “steady” to pique Jehn'y interest. Women aré strange that way, A:] John Colerick would be the fivst admit. They decided quite suddenly to be mar- ried—in 1924. But as they were talking over plans for their wedding they dis- covered that Charlie Colerick, the youn, est boy of that family, and Mabel 8 ley, had been carrying on a romenes which hadn’t attracted much notice. It became apparent that if John and Ethel didn’t burry up and marry, Charlie and Mabel would beat them to it. The clder brother and sister couldn’t have that happen, so_they were married pronte, which is Mexican for quickly,” And Charlie and Mabel had to play second fiddle and marry a month later, in 1928, This, as you can see, had brought aber the inter-marriage of ten Colericks an Sisleys. It didn't seem as if the eom- JOHN AND bination could be carried any further be- ETHEL. Unlike the Other Colerick-Sisleys This Couple Migrated to Another State After Marri They Took Fourth Place in the Marrying List. They Now Live on a Wyoming Ranch. CHARLIE AND MABEL. The Fourth of the Coleri Brothers and Sisters, Who 1925. Charlie’s a Barber and This Family, Too, Lives in Alliance. Colersict. p) %i‘*}.................Mgrrigd L € f,pggg';e e VLI ) - SR Married Jan.1¢ 1928 The Brothers Colerick who married the Sisters Sisley now find that by the rules of inter-marriage their wives are their DIAGRAMING THE COLERICK-SISLEY MIX-UP. The Above Outline Shows Just When Each Colerick Boy Married o Sisley Girl and Vice Verss, and Who Married Wlm:l. Study This snd Figure FIRST ROMANCE. Mrs. Bertha Sisley Celerick and, ot Loft, step-sisters. S s 4 - 0 Vi ips. Her Husband, Melvin Colerick, the Piret ;)t:o})ms:t!el;so t};‘c,i‘;i ;:; h:ii\l'vlndi'rlhr: ::;1‘; ut for Yourself the inshipe. to inquire, in humorous vein: Members of the Twe Families te Marry. mother-in-law, Mrs. Colerick, is their step- forty-one by that time and Edith was married Nellic Pease a niece of the _ “Say, _Wwhen you going to marry that They Now Live on a Ranch Nesr Alliance. mother and Mr. Sisley is the step-father thirty-one. Colericks. y Sisley girl? . 4 Nebraska. to the young men who married his After that eight vears passed be- By this time the ranch folk and natives And 'if the vouthful Colerick replied daughters. Mr. Sisley’s son whe married Mrs. Colerick's niece is now Mrs. Coler- ick’s step-son. If this revaluing of relationships makes you dizzy the diagram on this page may help to clarify the situation. As for the Sisley-Colericks they aren’t bothered They simply know that by their many marriages they have abolished all in-laws from their joint family. When the climax in the marital tie-up was capped by the latest marriage the town of Alliance, which has five thous- and inhabitants, took the event calmly. There are two newspapers in Alliance, but only one thought the amazing inter-mar- riages worth mentioning. That mention, however, sufficient. Somehow or other the news slipped out of town on the telegraph wire. And a few days later a slick city reporter came clear from Omaha to interview Mr. and Mrs. Sisley. They were living on Mr. Sisley's ranch outside of the town. M Sisley chuckled and his bride broke Epsr in with: “It seems as if everybody wants vaitin, pictures of us. What for, I don't know. ¢ make the ?i"; bresk. . We've had telegrams and telephone calls “0Of course we went with lots of girls from Omaha, Denver, Kansas City, and besides the Sisley sisters, but we 'oqld even 8t. Louis and Chicago. From ed- always come back to the Sisleys. We fin- itors.” : ally decided that they were about the fin- Thq Twe Phet Then Mrs. Sisley exhibited a double est girls in the world.” handful of telegrams from news agencies In spite of this feeling the other Coler- and new.papers asking for photographs ick boys didn't rush rl-mfl into mar- { thi lerick brother, John, of Alliance were growing used to Col- indignantly, “What Sis 4 ) n’\’:;efl::p h;:dnfi(r’l;rtl; Ll Sisley ericks mlrryi:x; Silfiry:lq:d any of them usual answer would be, “Any Sisley girl.” ";’g" '“‘{. Sikiay g!"‘ fo marry one gn- girl. But another diversion had oc- who remained unmarried were marked All this chaffing and curiosity on the ?nm’e‘ et the big climax was otill to curred in the meantime when Roy men lnd(_wnmon. lf.ncil':lbcr met #iton P‘::;’nf ’!“Yh‘}:o':;‘lhb‘?“!'l“fl}ghav: brfe.;]h- U . isley, e Sisley girls, the Colericks it 1 thing certain stu ness in the breasts of the of the Sisley girls . Sisley, & brother of the Sitley girls, of the Colericks it was the usual d unmarried Colericks and Sisleys. It may wife and the mother of the Colerick boys have been responsible for the fact that had a husband, but soon after, Mr. Coler- John Colerick didn't get around to marry- ick died, leaving his widow in fairly ing Ethel Sisley until 1924, when he was circumstances. But with her soms thirty-eight and she was thirty-seven. mnrrie: Mrs. l('olerick :—u not l;filfll‘ e But another reason contributed to the sit at home alone in the ranch house hold-out, too, and that reason must be do nothing. So she moved to Allhue.::“ told. During the ei%ht long years when opened a boarding house. it seemed as if John Colerick might break A year ago Mrs. Sisley wag taken I v g nt‘m’ vm—".fih:lef:{ Sh:I lhldgbun an ;;nu_lid for some time, company, at that—with afhanknr'.- son. ;:;nnfioki:m::re: ;lg,'l:u,u;usbb‘:.’ro, “r‘ll;};'r.r: ::dl ir:h?n:“;)‘l.cr}\;\f{n:n :S;‘”: !e_lth thhe Lng\;]ineu of éile ou‘ his rench 3 steady llow, wit . So, banker's son is a banker's son, especially ke used to drive in to Alliance ang she in western Nebraska. That is, he is a rare at Mra, Colerick's boarding house. Vebraskan Route monar EF¢ " Then came one day when the lonsly Then Ethels engagement to the Farents of the intenmarrying sons banker’s son was reported and it seemed :ug ;r:h -"“_ by = °' i °‘§°"hfi" foot- as if the Colerick-Sisley inter-marriages :;pifix.m_:“ .n? f;zears X &‘ sixth vould end. If they had there would have @) Juibice, saw 1028 mar been no fame for the two families and P : for Alliance, Nebraska, and this article The triumphant mother and father would not have been written. But Fate, ©f the inter-marrying broods have m ley girl?” the Cause there weren't any more Colerfek I A s for one of the others L or something, ruled otherwise. stolen the fame of their children. ; _ John Colerick, instead of being awed kept their plans for marriage a seeret into retirement by the glamorous banker Uuntil after the ceremony. DAN AND EDITH. boy, rose to the occasion. “And vou can say for us,” explained The Second Members of the Celerick-Sisley Families to When Ethel went to dances with her clderly Mr. Sisley, with a twinkle in his of all the Colericks and Sisleys. riage once brother Melvin had broken the Marry. Their Wedding Took Place in 1916 and They Liv voung banker-swain John went along eye, “that ours is not one of those com- Some twenty vears ago the Colericks ice. Hardly. Dan Colerick, whe married e ¢ 4 % i with some other girl, but it was noticed panionate marriages we read sbout in the and Sisleys lived on adjoining ranches. Edith Sisley, waited for four years, untll Marvying Line of in Alliance, Nebrasks, Where Dan Colorick ls & Firoman. ypot he danced with Ethel almost as often papers. We married in the old-fashioned The boys and girls of the two families 1916, before he took the step. He was C.l-rk{-!i-loy-. @s the banker's son. In a small Nebraska way—for life!” Copyright. 1028, Interastional Festure Gecvice, 1nc., Grest Britaln Rights Reserved. adobblnded raphs