He Traveled All Night For Her: A Family Love Story Confirmed in an 1893 Newspaper

How an 1893 Newspaper Confirmed a Long-Held Family Love Story

My family has always told a love story so romantic it sounded made up. The story was that my great-grandfather, Mark, fell in love with my great-grandmother, Luta, from the moment he saw her, and one night he traveled all night to convince her to marry him.  

Mark Shrum and his friend Fred sat on a fence outside a dance hall in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1886, when a very pretty, stylish girl danced by. Mark said, "There is the girl I would like to marry." That girl was Luta Lee Helton, who lived with her aunt and was one of the most popular girls in town. He pursued her and soon began taking Luta to all the college dances and events.

The story continues that for unknown reasons, the two broke up around the time Mark graduated from Indiana University in 1891. Mark began medical school in Louisville, Kentucky, but during his studies, he learned Luta was now dating his friend Charles Hortloff, and they became engaged. Depressed about losing Luta, Mark took an extended leave from school and went to Montana. He and Luta still exchanged occasional letters. She didn’t know why he left for Montana, but she wrote to him once she got his address. After a few months, Mark received a letter from Luta, full of Bloomington news. At the end of the letter she added a P.S.: "By the way, Charlie and I have broken up."

Family lore says that when Mark read that, he dropped everything and traveled through the night from Montana to Bloomington to see Luta.

When he arrived in Bloomington, Luta was at a dance with her friends and dancing with another boy. Mark cut in, got a dance with her, and asked her to marry him that night. He said he would go to her aunt’s house and make arrangements, and to meet him back there when the dance was over. When Luta returned from the dance, he had a minister there waiting, along with a few friends, some of whom were already in bed asleep when he knocked on their door and told them to quickly come over to Luta’s house for a surprise.  The minister reluctantly agreed to perform the wedding but said the marriage would never last, doing it all in such a rush. Mark had wired ahead to Louisville Medical College that he was coming back to finish his studies, but they told him that to keep his name on the roster, he had to report back to Louisville by a certain date or they would give his spot to another young man.

I had heard this story my whole life. My grandmother, mother, and aunt would all recount it the exact same way, dreamy-eyed, saying Mark loved Luta so much he would go to the ends of the earth for her. While I humored them, to me it sounded a little too perfect, like something out of a movie.

Then I found the newspaper.

Inside it was a clipping from the Bloomington Telephone, dated June 16, 1893. It was a small column titled: A Wedding for a Surprise. There it was—not the whole story, but enough to confirm the legend I'd heard all my life.

The 1893 Bloomington, Indiana newspaper article connects Mark Shrum and Luta Lee Helton to a real, documented event—their surprise wedding—preserved in print.

I was absolutely elated how so many details lined up with what the family had passed down for generations. The feelings, the urgency, the surprise, was sitting right there in this article for over 130 years until I found it.  I was so excited and shared it immediately with my siblings and cousins. We all knew this story. We could all recite this story by memory. Seeing how that article validated it all was a sweet moment we all shared together.

This is what newspapers do for those of us who research family history. Confirming family stories of people you will never know, brings them absolutely to life with an assurance that you truly know them on a deeper level. It makes you feel closer to them.  

I knew Mark Shrum as a name in my family tree. I knew he was my great-grandfather who died 20 years before I was even born. I knew he did indeed become a doctor.  But knowing those biographical facts is not the same as knowing him. It was the newspaper that confirmed to me what kind of human being he was, with all the feelings a man in love has. He was the kind of man who heard the words Charlie and I have broken up and didn’t hesitate to go and get his girl.

After they married, and eventually moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, Mark opened his medical practice in the home he and Luta raised their family in. The family always said he chose to do that so he would never have to be away from Luta again. I believe that now in a way I didn’t before I found this clipping.

This is the gift that old newspapers give us, unlike any other genealogical source. A birth certificate tells you when someone arrived. A death certificate tells you when they left. But a newspaper catches them in the middle and shows them as living human beings with stories that shaped who they were.

The story I grew up hearing was true. Maybe not in every detail, but family stories never are.  But it was true in the ways that mattered.

Search Your Family Story in Newspapers

Some of the stories passed down in families feel too perfect to be true—until you find them in print. Search historical newspapers on NewspaperArchive by name, place, or event to see what moments from your family’s past might still be waiting to be confirmed.

About the Author

Jenny Hawran is a genealogist, writer, and educator with a passion for family history research and storytelling. She specializes in Connecticut genealogy research, helping others uncover local records and historical connections. Jenny also works in web design and creates social media content for genealogy organizations, making family history more accessible to modern researchers. She currently serves as Vice President of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, where she mentors new genealogists and supports the broader research community. With a degree in Journalism, Jenny documents her own genealogy journey and research discoveries on her blog, Like Herding Cats Genealogy, where she shares tips, insights, and real-life family history stories.

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