History of Christian Matchmaking

In 1904, The New York Times picked up an unusual story from Omaha. A wealthy Nebraska rancher named James Snell had requested the help of Omaha pastor Charles W. Savidge in finding a spouse. In exchange, Snell offered to finance a matchmaking agency that would be run and owned by the Rev. Savidge. According to the story, Savidge—a back-to-the-Bible revivalist and pastor of an independent holiness church—turned the offer down. Still, the details made for sensational type, and newspapers across the country printed the dispatch.

Despite rejecting Snell’s offer, Savidge received hundreds of letters expressing romantic interest in the wealthy rancher. Suddenly realizing the potential demand for a matchmaking agency, Savidge reconsidered. News of this development apparently spread across the Atlantic, leading London’s St James Gazette to report that Savidge “is thinking of inaugurating a matrimonial bureau for Christian men and women.” Eight years later the minister did launch a matchmaking service, complete with an office in downtown Omaha and a secretary. The oddity of having a preacher playing the role of Cupid made the rounds in newspapers for decades, with stories on Savidge’s matrimonial bureau and on-demand wedding services appearing in print from Spokane to New York. “I just simply bring the man who wants a wife and the woman who wants a husband together,” Savidge told the Boston Globe. “God and nature do the rest.”

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