John “Jack’ Albert Wills (John A. Wills) and Marie Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Bissonnette married on 26 August 1903. My mother told me they ‘honeymooned’ in Key West, Florida where John wanted to remain and make a living by establishing a photography studio where he would take portraits like this one. I have no evidence of that but there is a small piece written on the back of a card indicating they were in Charleston, South Carolina for a period of time.
In 1903, marriages between a Protestant and a Catholic were rare. They were called ‘mixed marriages’ and strongly discouraged, banned by Catholic and Protestant churches and outright opposed by parents of the couple.
That was the case for John A. Wills. His parents JAB Wills and Anne Reed, devout Methodists, opposed the union of their son and namesake with a Roman Catholic.
