Just 57 years ago today 13-year-old Emily Jane Annear became the bride of James Henry Prater at a ceremony performed at the
home of the bride's stepfather and mother, Mr. and Mrs. James Northcott, at Tepo mine, near Mount Hope, N. J. Today, Mr. and
Mrs. Prater are celebrating their 57th wedding anniversary. They were married May 24, 1873.

For a year Mr. Prater, who was nearly 21 years old, lived with his bride in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., until the words of Horace
Greeley echoed in his ears and he and Mrs. Prater left for Virginia City, Nev. For nearly 50 years he was a miner in Nevada,
California and Idaho. Eighteen years ago the couple came to Gladstone, just north of Oregon City, and built the home where they
now live.

Their golden wedding anniversary was celebrated at their Gladstone home, and many friends called to wish them happiness.
Joys and sorrows of life have been shared, prosperity and need, success and failure have been met, but many are the interesting
stories of western life in pioneer days which Mr. and Mrs. Prater can and do relate. Three of their six children have been
buried, Theodore, who died in California when he was 17; Edna, who was 22 when typhoid fever claimed her at Gladstone, and
Chester, a victim of drowning in the Columbia river when he was 31.

Mrs. Prater was born near Oporto, Portugal, October 27, 1859, the daughter of Captain Thomas and Mrs. Susan Annear, who were
stationed in Portugal through the diplomatic service of England. After her father's death Mrs. Prater, then nine years old,
crossed the Atlantic with her mother and settled at Hibernia, N. J., later moving to Mount Hope. Her mother married James
Northcott, who, Mrs. Prater said recently, "was the best stepfather a girl could have asked for."

Mr. Prater was also of English parentage, and was born in Cornwall, England, June 6, 1852. He was the fourth of the 13
children of Nicholas and Mrs. Elizabeth Prater. With his parents he lived in Wales for some time, and when young came to the
United States to live in Pennsylvania until his marriage. A brother, Alfred Prater, lives in San Francisco and two sisters, Mrs.
Katherine Dawe of Melbourne, Australia, and Mrs. Ellen Rickard of South Wales, are living.

Mr. and Mrs. Prater have three children, Mrs. Carrie Conneck of Klamath Falls, Albert Prater of San Francisco and Mrs. John
(Matilda) Hollowell of Glen Echo, near here. They have four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Mrs. Edith Mann and her
son Ray Jr., live in Pacific Grove, Cal.; Edwin Edwards and his two children, Billy and Patricia, live in Longview, Wash., and
Gertrude Edwards lives in Modesto, Cal. The fourth grandchild, Mrs. Gladys Prater Durkee, lives in San Francisco.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Prater are very active in the work of the Gladstone Christian church and are very much content with their
cheerful home in Gladstone.