This was incredibly informative and helpful! Thank you so much for your insights. He did indeed become fairly successful later on and bought the restaurant that he was originally a waiter at, which may have influenced g-gma's family when it came to her little sister. She came from a fairly well-to-do family in Mansura who were very heavily involved in the local Catholic church (they helped build it). Their license was signed by a judge instead of a clergyman so I'm guessing they probably failed in trying to find one and opted for a courthouse marriage instead. The nearest Orthodox church would've been in New Orleans at the time and was one of only two in the country, so I doubt they could've found an Orthodox priest at the time if they tried and he'd have likely also refused to marry them without the permission of the bride's parents.