Joseph Gulde left the US for Europe towards the end of World War One. He remained there as a soldier long past the war as nations bickered over the doomed Treaty of Versailles. During his time in Europe, he maintained correspondence with a beautiful young woman named Anna Ayres of Raysville, Indiana. They met before the war at a party in a home near Knightstown, Indiana, where Joseph was playing the piano. The two fell in love and upon his return to the US, he proposed marriage to her. Although his prospects at this point in his life remained unclear, Joseph decided that he would leave his family's hometown of Madison, Indiana and move north.
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| Joseph Gulde courting Anna Ayres in 1921 in Raysville, Indiana |
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| Marriage License for Joseph Gulde and Anna Ayres--1921 |
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| Small blurb in Rushville Republican about the wedding. |
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| St. Elizabeth Catholic Church and Rectory, Cambridge City, Indiana in 2012 |
For a short stint, he rolled cigars in Cambridge City, Indiana, and maintained his music career both performing and giving private piano lessons. His sister Mary Newbold Gulde lived in Rushville, Indiana and so Joseph and Anna decided to call that community home. Before they moved, they married in the rectory next to St. Elizabeth's Church in Cambridge City on May 30, 1921. Anna was not yet a Roman Catholic so the couple would not have been allowed to marry in the church. It would be many years before she would convert. Her father was a Quaker and her mother belonged to a couple of different Protestant churches.
It was a solid marriage as they remained together until Anna's passing in 1982. Joseph died months later in 1983. Below are a few photos and documents that record their courtship, marriage, and subsequent anniversaries.
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| Newspaper article in Rushville Republican, 1971 |
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| Anniversary Invitation--1971 |
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| 60th wedding anniversary announcement in Rushville Republican, 1981 |
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| Gulde family celebration, Rushville Republican, 1981 |
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