MARS - Man from Mars weds woman from Venus in June ceremony!

If that sounds to you like a freshly printed headline from a supermarket tabloid, you could be right. But in the case of Charles Schwab and Grace Springer, it's history, not fancy.

The interplanetary, or at least trans-Pennsylvania, couple wed June 14, 1905, 100 years ago yesterday. They both grew up in Venango County, explained Mary Schwab of Mars, one of the couple's eight children.

Grace had lived in the town of Venus and Charles grew up on a farm just outside the tiny hamlet. But in an effort to find his fortune, Charles headed for Mars to work in his cousin's store, Zeigler's Hardware.

"He lived in Mars for several years before he married," added Doyle Schwab, also of Mars and eldest of the eight.

"Venus was a very small town," about 14 miles outside of Oil City. "Mars was a city alongside of Venus."

After the long-distance courtship, Charles and Grace were married in Tionesta. "Our mother had other choices, but chose our dad," said Mary.

The marriage of Charles, 27, and Grace, 23, was heralded in the Oil City Derrick with the headline "Man from Mars Marries Girl from Venus" according to grandson, Dennis Reiter of Connecticut.

"Our family has always had fun pointing out that they had the only inter-planetary wedding on Earth. When a book comes out with the title, Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus, our riposte is 'Well, of course; we've known that since the beginning of the century. What took you so long?'"

The Schwabs made their home in Mars from the start, first building a house in town and living there until 1911. Later they relocated on a rural property, originally their summer home - along what became the Mars-Valencia Road, said Mary with a smile.

"The people in Mars thought they were crazy for going out in the woods." Out in the woods was about a mile out of town proper.

"Mother liked it so well she didn't want to go back to Mars," said Doyle. "There were only dirt roads and dad didn't expect mom to walk. He was the first one to own a surrey in Mars."

The summer house Charles winterized for his family burned in August 1917. On the day of the fire, their seventh child was 10 days old. The family moved to what had been the one-room shed behind the original dwelling and camped out there until the rest of the house was built adjoining it.

The shed is now the kitchen for the house that has been expanded in three stages over the years.

The couple was married for 57 years. Charles died Aug. 1, 1962, and Grace on Aug. 28, 1973.

The Schwabs of Mars make a trek to visit with the Schwabs of Venus every July without having to calculate a launch window in order to arrive in time for the family reunion.